SIJ 37

Siglum: SIJ 37
Transliteration: l ṭrṣ bn bnklbt bn mṭr bn mʿz bn fḍg w mlḥ f h lt s¹lm w fṣyt m- bʾs¹ ʾ- s¹nt
OCIANA
Translation: By Ṭrṣ son of Bnklbt son of Mṭr son of Mʿz son of Fḍg and he went to get salt and so O Lt [grant] security and deliverance from distress this year.
OCIANA
Language and Script: Safaitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: SIJ 37: bn klbt for bn bnklbt; ʿhe journeyedʾ for ʿhe traded in saltʾ; bʾs¹ ʾs¹nt ʿthe danger of lanceheadsʾ for bʾs¹ ʾ-s¹nt ʿdistress this yearʾ. Al-Jallad in press, a, Appendix 4: w mlḥ f h lt s¹lm w fṣyt m- bʾs¹ ʾ- s¹nt "and Aquarius appeared (rose ?) and so O Lt may he be secure and may this year bring deliverance from misfortune".
Commentary: All the letters are clear. The verb malaḥ is still used among the Bedouin of ḥarrah for going to buy salt from the villages of the northern Wādī al-Sirḥān or those of the Jabal al-ʿArab (pers. comm.and see Denizeau 1960: 502). The ʾ before s¹nt is clear on the photograph and may represent one of the forms of the definite article in Safaitic (see Al-Jallad 2015: 74–76), i.e. "this year". On the other hand, ʾs¹nt could be the equivalent of Ar. isnāt the maṣdar of asnata (Lane p. 1440c) both meaning ʿto experience droughtʾ.

Al-Jallad, A. An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions. (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics, 80). Leiden: Brill, 2015.
Al-Jallad, A. An Ancient Arabian Zodiac. The Constellations in the Safaitic Inscriptions. Part II. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 27, 2016: 84–106.
Denizeau, C. Dictionnaire des parlers arabes de Syrie, Liban et Palestine. (Supplément au Dictionnaire arabe-français de A. Barthélemy). (Études Arabes et Islamiques. Études et Documents, 3). Paris: Maisonneuve, 1960.
[Lane] Lane, E.W. An Arabic-English Lexicon, Derived from the Best and Most Copious Eastern Sources. (Volume 1 in 8 parts [all published]). London: Williams & Norgate, 1863-1893.
[SIJ] Winnett, F.V. Safaitic Inscriptions from Jordan. (Near and Middle East Series, 2). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1957.

Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA