OCIANA
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

AH 142

Text Information

Siglum
AH 142
Alternative Sigla
Sima 1999: 46; U 080
Transliteration
ḏ/ʿbdlh/bn/wʾlh/ʾẓl– l/l- ḏġbt/b- khl/bʿd ḏ- l- -h/b- bdr/f rḍ -h w ---- h
Translation
Ḏ ʿbdlh son of Wʾlh per- formed the ẓll-ceremony for Ḏġbt at Khl for the sake of what belongs to him in Bdr and so favour him and ---- him

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
TEXT Line 1. Sima does not read ḏ. Lines 1–2. Abū l-Ḥasan: ʾṭll rather than ʾẓll. Line 3. Abū l-Ḥasan does not read the end of this line; Sima: [s¹]ʿd -h rather than w ---- h. TRANSLATION Lines 1–2. ʾẓll, Sima: '(he) covered (the subterranean water-channel)'. Line 2. b- khl, Abū l-Ḥasan: 'in the month Khl'; Sima: 'by his abilities'; bʿd, Sima: 'in the direction of'. DISCUSSION Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2014: 15–16, 20–22, for the place names Bdr and Khl. Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2016: 128, for the divine name Ḏġbt.
Commentary
The isolated letter ḏ at the beginning of the inscription is an apotropaic symbol. See Macdonald (2004: 509) for discussion. Lines 1–2. The verb ʾẓll means "he performed the ẓll-ceremony", the exact nature of which we do not know. Usually, but not always, this verb is followed by the noun h-ẓll meaning "the ẓll-ceremony". Thus, ʾẓll and ʾẓll h-ẓll both mean "he performed the ẓll-ceremony". The carver omitted word-dividers between bʿd and ḏ- at the end of line 2 and between rḍ-h and w ---- h at the end of line 3.

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 below AH 141 and U 049, to the right of AH 100 and to the left of U 093

  • 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 307–308 Plate 17
  • Sima, A. Die lihyanischen Inschriften von al-ʿUḏayb (Saudi-Arabien). (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 1). Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf, 1999. pp 46
  • 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.
  • 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, Religion
Script
Dadanitic
Old OCIANA ID
#0037782
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