BRCM 19.1

Siglum: BRCM 19.1
Transliteration: l mṭrn w ḥḍr f h ds²r ʾbl l- ḏ rʿ{y} w bny ʿl- ʾs¹
Translation: By Mṭrn and he camped near a permanent source of water and so O Ds²r [grant] dry herbage to him who {pastures} and he built for ʾs¹

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: BRCM: rgl for rʿy. Translation: "For Mṭrm I attend [or I come?] and then this is Ds²r [I swear to Ds²r to sacrifice] camels for such a man and I built on the ʾawas".
Commentary: A photograph of this stone was also published in Bikai 2005: 4. For the interpretation of ʾbl here compare Classical Arabic ubul which Lane describes as "what grows in the season of al-ṣayf, or summer, among the herbage that has dried up ... upon which camels, or the like, fatten" (8b). He also describes it as "the ḫilfah of herbage", i.e. "herbage that comes forth after ... other herbage which has become dry ... or that comes forth not from rain, but by reason of the cold of the latter part of the night" (Lane 797a, s.v. ḫilfah). This fits the author's situation very well. He is camping by permanent water (presumably because of lack of rain and because the earlier herbage has dried up in the season of ṣayf) and is praying for the new growth to fatten his camels.

Associated Drawings

Two very crudely drawn camels and two equids ?

Associated Remains

Cairn

Associated Inscriptions

Bikai, P.M. Rajl: Cairn of the Mermaids. ACOR Newsletter 17:2, 2005: 4-5.
Bikai, P.M. Rājil: The Cairn of the Mermaids. Pages 225-243 in F. al-Khraysheh (ed.), Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan X. Amman: Department of Antiquities, 2009.

Site: Qāʿ al-Muqallā 40 km east of al-Azraq in Wādī Rāǧil, Al-Mafraq Governorate, Jordan

Date Found: 2002–2005
Current Location: In situ
Subjects: Building, Deity, Genealogy, Isolated Prayer, Pasturing, Plants, Watering
Script: Safaitic
Old OCIANA ID: #0025945
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