SIJ 124

Siglum
SIJ 124
Transliteration
l {ʾ}ḥs¹n bn s¹ḫb bn ḏʿẓr w rdf mw b- rʾy ʿqbt
OCIANA
Translation
By ʾḥs¹n son of S¹ḫb son of Ḏʿẓr and he followed [i.e. sought for?] water during the rising of Scorpio
OCIANA
Language and Script
Safaitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
SIJ 124: ḏfy bn s¹ḫr for s¹ḫb bn ḏʿẓr; mw for m wn. JVR p. 36: mwn for m wn; b- rʾy ʿqbt “in sight of ʿqbt”. WH comm. 1016: b- rʾy ʿqbt “within sight of ʿqbt” Al-Jallad (in press, a): w rdf mwn b- rʾy ʿqbt "and he followed [the animals] experiencing much fatigue during the rising of Scorpio"
Commentary
The text is enclosed in a cartouche. The first name is written vertically and the text then splits with bn + a name running to the left and another bn + name running to the right. The statement of the text is enclosed between these two and the edge of the cartouche. It is impossible to be sure which of these names is that of the father and which of the grandfather. It could even be a joint inscription by two individuals called ʾḥs¹n with different fathers, though the peculiarities of the letter-forms suggest that it was written by only one person. We have placed the names in the above order simply because ḏʿẓr is followed by the w of the statement. One fork of the second letter appears to have merged the preceding l. The third letter of s¹ḫb (read as r by Winnett) is like the other b's in the text and quite different from the the r's. There is a clear ʿ after the ḏ of ḏʿẓr and the third letter, read as f by Winnett, is quite different from the f of rdf. The next sign cannot be a y (as read by Winnett) and is a straight line with a slight curve at one end like the r's in the rest of the text. Note that an addition has been made to the base of the r of rdf (which could thus be a ġ) and that the r of rʾy is clear on the photograph even though marked as uncertain by Winnett. After rdf mw there is no n (as read by Jamme and Al-Jallad). There is a small dot between the w and the b, but in this inscription a dot represents ʿ while n is represented by a clear line. The dot here is smaller than the other examples in the text and it seems likely that it is extraneous to the inscription. We have tentatively taken mw as an alternative form of the more usual my meaning "water" (compare C 1679). We follow Al-Jallad 2016: 102–103 in his interpretation of the phrase b rʾy ʿqbt.

Editio Princeps
OCIANA

Associated Signs
Cartouche

  • Al-Jallad, A. An Ancient Arabian Zodiac. The Constellations in the Safaitic Inscriptions. Part II. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 27, 2016: 84–106.
  • [C] G. Ryckmans (ed.), Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum. Pars V. Inscriptiones Saracenicas continens, Tomus 1. Inscriptiones Safaiticae. (2 volumes). Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1950-1951.
  • [SIJ] Winnett, F.V. Safaitic Inscriptions from Jordan. (Near and Middle East Series, 2). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1957.
Site
Ǧaṯūm, Al-Mafraq Governorate, Jordan
Current Location
In situ
Subject
Genealogy
Old OCIANA ID
#0016798
Download Image
Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA

Cite this Site

OCIANA. 'SIJ 124.' OCIANA. 16 Sep, 2024. https://ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions/11747. Accessed: 09 Jun, 2025.