U 031

Siglum
U 031
Alternative Sigla
D 116, AH 037, Al-Qudrah 1993: 21–22, no. 23/1–6, Stiehl A 23/1–6
Transliteration
ʿbdhgbr / b-
n / ḥblʾl / ʾfy
h- ẓll / l- ḏġbt / b- khl
bʿd / dṯʾ -h / b- ḏʿmn / f rḍ
-h / w s¹ʿd -h / w ʾḫrt -h
w bn -h / ʿbb w ʿ----
OCIANA
Translation
ʿbdhgbr son
of Ḥbʾl accomplished
the ẓll-ceremony for Ḏġbt at Khl
for the sake of his crops of the season of the later rains in Ḏʿmn and so
favour him and help him and his posterity
and his son ʿbb and ʿ----
OCIANA
Language and Script
Dadanitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
TEXT Line 3. Abū l-Ḥasan: h- ṭll for h- ẓll. Line 6. Stiehl, followed by Al-Qudrah: ʿ(bs¹) w ʿ[bd] for ʿbb w ʿ​----; Sima: wʿ{y} rather than wʾ----; Abū l-Ḥasan: ʿ----wʿ rather than w ʿ----. TRANSLATION Line 2. ʾfy, Abū l-Ḥasan: '(he) offered'. Lines 2–3. ʾfy h- ẓll, Stiehl: '(he) gave the awning'; Al-Qudrah: '(he) constructed the awning'; Sima: '(he) maintained the subterranean water-channel'; Farès-Drappeau: '(he) paid the sacrifice'. Line 3. b- khl, Stiehl followed by Sima: 'by his abilities'; Al-Qudrah: 'professionally'; Abū l-Ḥasan: 'in the month Khl'. Line 4. bʿd, Farès-Drappeau: 'on behalf of'; dṯʾ -h, Stiehl followed by Al-Qudrah and Abū l-Ḥasan and Farès-Drappeau: 'his spring harvest'; bʿd dṯʾ -h, Sima: 'in the direction of his spring field'. Line 5. ʾḫrt -h, Farès-Drappeau: 'he has guided him'. DISCUSSION Macdonald 1992: 2–3, 7 for dṯʾ. Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2014: 19–22, for the place names Ḏʿmn and Khl. Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2016: 128, for the divine name Ḏġbt.
Commentary
Due to a crack in the rock face, the lines are not aligned on the left side. On the right side the beginning of lines 1 and 2 are not aligned with those below them. Line 6. Although in Dadanitic orthography bn -h could represent either *banay -h "his two sons" or *ibn -h "his son" we cannot be sure that the letters after ʿbb represent the name of another son and it seems safer therefore to interpret it as "his son".

Editio Princeps
OCIANA

Technique
Incised
Direction of Script
Horizontal line right to left

Associated Inscriptions
It is to the right to U 033 and U 034, to the left of U 027 and U 028, and above U 032

  • [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 131–133 Plate 5
  • 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 Unpublished MA Thesis, Epigraphy Section, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbid. 1993.
  • [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 203–204
  • 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
  • [MST] Macdonald, M.C.A. The Seasons and Transhumance in the Safaitic Inscriptions. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 3rd. series, 2, 1992: 1-11.
  • [U] Sima, A. Die lihyanischen Inschriften von al-ʿUḏayb (Saudi-Arabien). (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 1). Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf, 1999. pp 13–14
  • [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, 26–27 Plate 26
Site
The oasis of al-ʿUlā, Al-Madīnah Province, Saudi Arabia
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Agriculture, Deity, Genealogy, Isolated Prayer, Place-name, Religion, Season
Old OCIANA ID
#0037837
Download Images
Updated 08 Jan, 2025 by OCIANA

Cite this Site

OCIANA. 'U 031.' OCIANA. 08 Jan, 2025. https://ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions/15278. Accessed: 24 Jun, 2025.