CDS_ANA 1

Cohen 1934: 55, l yws br ʾsm

This is an unprovenanced stamp seal belonging to a Taymanite. The same man has possibly left an inscription at al-Ḫabū al-Šarqī Alif, south-east of Taymāʾ (JSTham 567), where he writes his name as yʾws¹l b rʾs¹n, suggesting that the seal has mistakenly omitted the alif of the first name or uses a phonetic spelling. The final glyph of the first line is also challenging. It seem to be missing the hook at the top, in which case we might interpret it at as word divider. Both the seal and the rock inscription utilize the particle l- rather than the standard Taymanitic lm, reinforcing the likelihood that they refer to the same individual. The theophoric name in question is attested in both forms, yʾws¹l and yws¹l, although the first, which contains the etymological alif, is the most frequent. A conservative interpretation would read the first name as yws¹,  a hypocoristic (shortened) form of yʾws¹l/yws¹l. While this specific form is not yet documented in Taymanitic, it remains a distinct possibility. The ġ on the final line must be regarded as a symbol or monogram. Isolated letters, the meaning of which are unknown, frequently accompany Taymanitic inscriptions.