U 019

Siglum
U 019
Alternative Sigla
Farès 2009: 184, no. 3, D 101, AH 046, Al-Qudrah 1993: 17, no. 8, Drewes 1983: 428, no. 15, Stiehl A 08, van den Branden 1969: 70–73, no. 32/7–13, Altheim & Stiehl 1968: 26–27, M/7–13
Transliteration
rhẓ / bn / tḥmr / w
ʾmtʿzh / s¹lḥt
ḏġbt / ʾẓlh / h- ẓl-
l / l- ḏġbt / b- kh-
l / bʿd / ml -hm / b-
bdr / f rḍ -hm
w ʾḫrt -hm
OCIANA
Translation
By / son of / Rhẓ son of Tḥmr and
ʾmtʿzh priestess of
Ḏġbt performed the ẓl-
l-ceremony for Ḏġbt at Kh-
l for the sake of their property in
Bdr and so favour them
and their posterity
OCIANA
Language and Script
Dadanitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
Altheim and Stiehl, followed by van den Branden, take U 018 and U 019 as one text (their M). TEXT Line 1. Altheim and Stiehl: rṭḫ for rhẓ; van den Branden: rṭḥ for rhẓ. van den Branden and Drewes correctly read the patronym as tḥmr. Line 2. van den Branden interprets the h of the name ʾmtʿzh as the definite article before the word s¹lḥt. However, this is clearly incorrect since the h is separated from s¹lḥt by a word-divider. Lines 3–4. Drewes followed by Abū l-Ḥasan: ʾṭlh h- ṭll rather than ʾẓlh h- ẓll. Line 4. Altheim and Stiehl read ----]d(r) at the beginning of this line, and van den Branden does not read the beginning of this line. Altheim and Stiehl followed by van den Branden: ʿrḍ for f rḍ; Line 5. Altheim and Stiehl do not read the beginning of this line. Stiehl, followed by al-Qudra and Farès-Drappeau, reads the b of the word bdr in this line. On the photograph it can be clearly seen that it is at the beginning of line 6. TRANSLATION Line 2. s¹lḥt, Altheim and Stiehl: 'a (special) cistern'; ʾmt ʿz h- s¹lḥt, van den Branden: '(he) calculated the capacity of the cistern'; Sima does not translate the word s¹lḥt. Lines 3–4. ʾẓlh h- ẓll, Altheim and Stiehl: '(he) constructed the awning'; van den Branden: '(he) repaired the cistern'; Stiehl: '(they) took care of the awning'; Al-Qudrah: '(they) constructed the awning'; Sima: '(they) covered the subterranean water-channel'; Farès-Drappeau: '(he) offered the sacrifice [of the female camel]'. Lines 4–5. b- khl, Stiehl followed by Sima: 'by their abilities'; Al-Qudrah: 'professionally'; Abū l-Ḥasan: 'in the month Khl'. Lines 5. bʿd, Altheim and Stiehl, followed by van den Branden: 'then'; Sima: 'in the direction of'; bʿd ml -hm, Farès-Drappeau: 'on behalf of the winter harvest'. Line 7. ʾḫrt -hm, Farès-Drappeau: 'he has guided them'. DISCUSSION Déroche 1987: 103–104, 136. Macdonald 2004: 507 §10 and 508 §2. Farès 2009: 191–192. Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2014: 15–16, for the place name Bdr. Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2016: 128, for the divine name Ḏġbt.
Commentary
The text is in relief. Line 1. The final letter of the patronym is clearly a r rather than a h as read by previous editors (except van den Branden 1969: 70), thus tḥmr not tḥmh. Lines 3–4. Note that the verb here is in the dual of the suffix conjugation ʾẓlh but that the 3rd person enclitic pronouns in lines 5–7 are in the plural (cf. the dual enclitic pronoun -hmy in U 069/4). See Macdonald 2004: 508, §10. Line 5. The phrase mlhm can either be taken as ml-hm "their property", or as m l-hm "that which (belongs) to them" (see Macdonald 2004: 508 §2). The translation "their winter crops" (D 101) on the basis of Sabaic mly (see Beeston et al. 1982: 86) is more problematic phonologically and orthographically. Lines 6–7. The rock face must have been damaged below the beginning of line 5 before the text was carved, or else already occupied by the two incised letters and the two in relief which do not seem to belong to any of the neighbouring inscriptions. These lines, which are complete, were therefore carved to the left of this space.

Editio Princeps
Stiehl 1971: 17-18

Technique
In relief
Direction of Script
Horizontal line right to left

Associated Inscriptions
It is below U 018, to the right of U 022 and U 023, to the left of U 015 and U 016, and above U 020

  • [AH] 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 149–151 Plate 6
  • Al-Qudrah, Ḥ.M. Dirāsah muʿǧamiyyah li-ʾalfāẓ al-nuqūš al-liḥyāniyyah fī ʾiṭār al-luġāt al-sāmiyyah al-ǧanūbiyyah. Unpublished MA Thesis, Epigraphy Section, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbid. 1993.
  • Altheim, F. & Stiehl, R. Die Araber in der Alten Welt. (5 volumes). Berlin: de Gruyter, 1964-1969.
  • Beeston, A.F.L., Ghul, M.A., Müller, W.W. & Ryckmans, J. Sabaic Dictionary (English-French-Arabic). Publication of the University of Sanaa, YAR. Louvain-la-Neuve: Peeters / Beyrouth: Librairie du Liban, 1982.
  • Déroche, F. Recherches sur l'oasis de Dedan / al-Ula. Thèse de Doctorat: Études arabo-islamiques, Paris IV, 1987. [Unpublished], 1987.
  • Drewes, A.J. Liḥyanitische Inscripties. Pages 424-429 in K.R. Veenhof (ed.), Schrijvend Verleden. Documenten uit het Oude Nabije Oosten vertaald en toegelicht. Leiden: Ex Oriente Lux / Zutphen: Terra, 1983.
  • Farès, S. Les femmes prêtresses dans les religions arabes préislamiques. Le cas des Liḥyanites. Pages 183-195 in F. Briquel-Chatonnet, S. Farès, B. Lion & C. Michel (eds), Femmes, cultures et sociétés dans les civilisations méditeranéennes et proche-orientales de l'Antiquité. (Topoi Supplément, 10). Paris: Gabalda. Lyon: Maison de l'Orient Meditérranée, 2009.
  • [D] 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 195–196 Plate XXV
  • 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
  • Macdonald, M.C.A. Ancient North Arabian. Pages 488-533 in R.D. Woodard (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  • [U] Sima, A. Die lihyanischen Inschriften von al-ʿUḏayb (Saudi-Arabien). (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 1). Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf, 1999. pp 10 Plate 3a, 4a, 4b, 5a, 6a
  • [Stiehl A] 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 4, 7–18 Plate 15
  • Van den Branden, A. Les inscriptions liḥyanites de R. Stiehl. Al-Machriq 63, 1969: 67-79.
Site
The oasis of al-ʿUlā, Al-Madīnah Province, Saudi Arabia
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Deity, Genealogy, Isolated Prayer, Place-name, Religion, Women
Old OCIANA ID
#0037685
Download Images
Updated 08 Jan, 2025 by OCIANA

Cite this Site

OCIANA. 'U 019.' OCIANA. 08 Jan, 2025. https://ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions/15171. Accessed: 17 Jun, 2025.