SIJ 287

Siglum: SIJ 287
Transliteration: l ḫr bn ʾs¹ bn ḫr ḏ- ʾl ms¹kt w wld b- h- dr s¹nt mrd mḥrb w s¹nt mrd dmṣy w ḫrṣ h- s²nʾ f h lt w ds²r s¹lm w mwgd
Translation: By Ḫr son of ʾs¹ son of Ḫr of the tribe of Ms¹kt. He was born here [Jāwā] the year of the rebellion of Mḥrb and the year of the rebellion of Dmṣy. He is on the watch for the enemy, so, O Lt and Ds²r. [grant] security and [continued] existence.

Interpretation

Commentary: The first letter of mḥrb is clearly m here (cf. SIJ 281). Mwgd could be the equivalent of Ar. mawāǧid (pl. of māǧd) “abundances”? In the Safaitic inscriptions the verb wld is usually used in a transitive sense equivalent to the Ar. II Form meaning “to birth” i.e. “to help an animal (usually goats) to give birth”. This was clearly an important annual event since far more texts recording birthing are dated than texts mentioning any other happenings. Interestingly many of the dates of birthings refer to political events in the settled areas. There are occasional texts where an event is dated by reference to two occurrences but in these cases the formula is always s¹nt kaḏā w kaḏā not s¹nt kaḏa w s¹nt kaḏa. Up to mḥrb the text is carved in large chiselled letters but from mḥrb onwards the letters are much smaller and are lightly incised. This together with the highly unusual dating construction suggests that the author wrote the first part on the occasion of the birthing at Jāwā one year and added to it when he returned another year for the same purpose.

Winnett, F.V. Safaitic Inscriptions from Jordan. (Near and Middle East Series, 2). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1957.