OCIANA
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

U 070

Siglum
U 070
Alternative Sigla
Stiehl D 04; Al-Qudrah 1993: 25, no. 37; AH 016; D 128
Transliteration
ʾmtlh/bn[t][/]ḍmr ʾẓllt/h- ẓll l- ḏġbt/bʿ– d/gr ʿwl -h/b- t[q]– mm/f rḍ -h/w ʾ– {ṯ}b -h
Translation
ʾmtlh {daughter of} Ḍmr performed the ẓll-ceremony for Ḏġbt for the sake of the [farming] partner of her family (?) in {T– qmm} and so favour her and {reward} her

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
TEXT Line 1. Abū l-Ḥasan copied and read the last letter in this line as d. However, it is clear from the photograph that it is a r, as read by Stiehl followed by Al-Qudrah, Sima and Farès-Drappeau. Line 2. Abū l-Ḥasan: ʾṭllt h -ṭll for ʾẓllt h -ẓll. Line 4. Stiehl followed by Al-Qudrah and Farès-Drappeau mrʿm for grʿw; Abū l-Ḥasan: ms²ʿw for grʿw; Sima: [ḏ-] grʿw l- -h for d gr ʿwl -h. Lines 4–5. Stiehl followed by Al-Qudrah and Farès-Drappeau: tymm rather than tqmm. TRANSLATION Line 2. ʾẓllt h- ẓll, Stiehl: '(she) took care of the awning'; Al-Qudrah: '(she) constructed the awning'; Sima: '(she) covered the subterranean water-channel'; Farès-Drappeau: '(she) offered the offering'. Lines 3–4. bʿd, Sima: 'in the direction of'; Farès-Drappeau: 'on behalf of'. Line 4. gr ʿwl -h, Sima: 'it has levelled (?)'. DISCUSSION Déroche 1987: 236. Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2014: 18, for the place name T[q]mm. Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2016: 128, for the divine name Ḏġbt.
Commentary
Lines 1– 2. The verb in line 2 shows that the subject was a woman even though the carver omitted the t of bnt in line 1. Line 3. We would suggest that the sequence grʿwlh could represent gr ʿwl -h ‘the [farming] partner of her family’. This is based on taking gr as having a similar implication to Arabic ǧār one of the meanings of which is ‘a partner, or sharer in immovable property, such as land and houses’ (Lane 1863-1893: 483c), and on interpreting ʿwl as related to Arabic ʿīyāl ‘family, household’ which is derived from the root ʿ-W-L. The fact that there is no word-divider between the 2 elements of the construct might be because it was taking a single concept. Lines 4–5. It is not possible to see the q of Tqmm on the photographs and Sima thought that the mason had accidentally omitted it.

Provenance
Al-ʿUḏayb (Jabal ʿIkmah). The inscription is chiselled on a rock inside the gorge
Original Reading Credit
OCIANA
Original Translation Credit
OCIANA

Technique
Incised

Associated Inscriptions
It is above U 070.1

  • Abū ʾl-Ḥasan, Ḥ.ʿA.D. Qirāʾah li-kitābāt liḥyāniyyah min ǧabal ʿakmah bi-minṭaqat al-ʿulā. Al-Riyāḍ: Maktabat al-malik fahd al-waṭaniyyah, 1997. pp 91–93 Plate 3
  • 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 209
  • Sima, A. Die lihyanischen Inschriften von al-ʿUḏayb (Saudi-Arabien). (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 1). Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf, 1999. pp 23 Plate 17a
  • Stiehl, R. Neue liḥyānische Inschriften aus al-ʿUḏaib I mit einem Nachtrag M. Höfners. Pages 3-40, 565-566, 569-594, pl. 1-45 in F. Altheim and R. Stiehl (eds), Christentum am Roten Meer. 1. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1971. pp 32 Plate 38
  • 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.
  • Al-Qudrah, Ḥ.M. Dirāsah muʿǧamiyyah li-ʾlfāẓ al-nuqūš al-liḥyāniyyah fī iṭār al-luġāt al-sāmiyyah al-ǧanūbiyyah. Unpublished MA Thesis, Epigraphy Section, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbid. 1993.
  • Déroche, F. Recherches sur l'oasis de Dedan / al-Ula. Thèse de Doctorat: Études arabo-islamiques, Paris IV, 1987. [Unpublished], 1987.
  • Hidalgo-Chacón Díez, M. del C. Place names in the Dadanitic inscriptions of al-ʿUḏayb. Adumatu 30, 2014: 15-30
  • 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
Deity, Genealogy, Isolated Prayer, Place-name, Relatives, Religion, Women
Script
Dadanitic
Old OCIANA ID
#0037652
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