OCIANA
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

Nasif 1988: 99, pl. CLVIII

Text Information

Siglum
Nasif 1988: 99, pl. CLVIII
Alternative Sigla
Sima 1999: 33; Scagliarini 1999: 144–145; D 093
Transliteration
ḏ/ms¹yh/w bd/bnh/tmʾl ʾẓlw/h- ẓll/l- ḏġbt/b- {h-} mṣd/f rḍ -my/w ʾḫrt [-hmy] ----
Translation
ḏ Ms¹yh and Bd the sons of Tmʾl performed the ẓll-ceremony for Ḏġbt on {the} high [red] mountain and so may [Ḏġbt] favour {them both} and {their} posterity

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
TEXT Line 1. Scagliarini: {g}ʾqh w rqd {g}ḫṭ for ms¹yh w bd bnh; Sima followed by Farès-Drappeau: ---- ms¹yh rather than ḏ ms¹yh; Farès-Drappeau: w md---- rather than w bbd. Line 2. Sima: khl at the end of this line. Line 3. Scagliarini: ṭmṣd w rḍmmy w ʾḫ{w} rather than {h-} mṣd f rḍ -<h>my w ʾḫrt [-hmy] ----; Sima: [l] mṣl rather than {h-} mṣd. Sima and Farès-Drappeau consider that the inscription is broken away on the left side. Nasif does not transliterate or translate this text. TRANSLATION Line 2. ʾẓlw h- ẓll, Sima: 'they covered the subterranean water-channel'; Farès-Drappeau: '(they) offered the sacrifice'. Line 3. ʾḫrt -hm, Farès-Drappeau: '(the deity) guided them'. DISCUSSION Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2016: 128, for the divine name Ḏġbt.
Commentary
The first letter is an apotropaic sign. In Classical Arabic (Lane 1863-1893: 2719b), the word maṣad means, among other things "a mountain top", or "a place of refuge". On the other hand, Abū l-Ḥasan (2002: 36–37) translates is as 'the high red mountain'. According to him, this meaning is consistent with the red colour of the Jabal Umm Daraǧ where the inscription was found.

Provenance
Jabal Umm Daraǧ
Original Reading Credit
OCIANA
Original Translation Credit
OCIANA

Technique
In relief

  • Abū ʾl-Ḥasan, Ḥ.ʿA.D. Nuqūš liḥyānīyah min minṭaqat al-ʿulā. (Dirāsah taḥlīliyyah muqāranah). al-Riyāḍ: Wizārat al-maʿārif, 2002. pp 36–37
  • Farès-Drappeau, S. Dédan et Liḥyān. Histoire des Arabes aux confins des pouvoirs perse et hellénistique (IVe–IIe s. avant l'ère chrétienne). (Travaux de la maison de l'Orient, 42). Lyon: Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée — Jean Pouilloux, 2005. pp 189–190
  • Scagliarini, F. The Dedanitic inscriptions from Ǧabal ʿIkma in north-western Hejaz. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 29, 1999: 143-150. pp 144–145
  • Sima, A. Die lihyanischen Inschriften von al-ʿUḏayb (Saudi-Arabien). (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 1). Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf, 1999. pp 33
  • 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.
  • Naṣīf [Nasif]A.A. Al-ʿUlā. An Historical and Archaeological Survey With Special Reference to Its Irrigation System. Riyadh: King Saud University Press, 1988.
  • Hidalgo-Chacón Díez. M. del C. The divine names at Dadan: a philological approach. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 46, 2016: 125–136
Site
The oasis of al-ʿUlā, Al-Madīnah Province, Saudi Arabia
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Apotropaic sign, Deity, Genealogy, Isolated Prayer, Religion, Topographic features
Script
Dadanitic
Old OCIANA ID
#0036518
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