JSTham 426 (beginning)

Siglum: JSTham 426 (beginning)
Alternative Sigla: Esk. 112, van den Branden 1950: 272–273, Winnett 1937: 25, 27, Ph 280.d.4
Transliteration: l yfrʿ / b mṣrt [dot]
OCIANA
Translation: By Yfrʿ son of Mṣrt [dot]
OCIANA
Language and Script: Taymanitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: TEXT Jaussen & Savignac: ygrʿ for yfr; van den Branden: ygrʿ b- ṣlmrt rather than l yfrʿ b mṣrt. Both authors consider the graffito to the left as part of this text.
Commentary: Eskoubi (1999: 172–173) is quite right to isolate this section of JSTham 426 (which is Taymanitic) from the second part (which is Thamudic B), though he is incorrect in attaching the latter to JSTham 425, which is clearly divided from it by a line of separation (not a word-divider). Note the word-divider at the end of the text. This is a very interesting text. The third name is also unique in Ancient North Arabian, though it may occur as the name of a tribal section (ḏ-lly) in a Minaean inscription (Maʿīn 44/1 = RES 2791/1). The placing of the word ʾl (“lineage”) + the name of social group immediately after the last name in the genealogy is the normal way of showing affiliation to a social group in Taymanitic (see Macdonald 1992: 31). Given the clear Taymanitic m in the second name, the first letter of the NTr cannot be m as read by Jaussen & Savignac (1909–1920, ii: 587). In view of JSTham 455 where this letter-form recurs in a name which must surely be gs²m it should probably be read g here.

Bron, F. Inventaire des Inscriptions Sudarabiques. Tome 3. Maʿīn. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (Paris) / Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (Rome). (2 volumes). Paris: Boccard / Rome: Herder, 1998.
[Esk] Eskūbī [Eskoubi] Ḫ.M. Dirāsah taḥlīliyyah muqāranah li-nuqūš min minṭaqah (rum) ǧanūb ġarb taymāʾ. [English title: An Analytical and Comparative Study of Inscriptions from “Rum” region, South West of Tayma. Riyāḍ: wazīrat al-maʿārif, waqālat al-āṯār wa-l-matāḥif, 1999. pp 172–173
[JSTham] Jaussen, A. & Savignac, M.R. Mission archéologique en Arabie. I. (Mars-Mai 1907) De Jérusalem au Hedjaz, Médain Saleh. II. El-ʿEla, d'Hégra à Teima Harrah de Tebouk. Texte et Atlas. III. Les châteaux arabes de Quṣeir ʿAmra, Ḫarâneh, et Tûba. (5 volumes). (Publications de la Société Française des Fouilles Archéologiques, 2). [Reprinted Cairo: Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1997]. Paris: Leroux/Geuthner, 1909–1920. Vol. II pp 587 Plate CXLV
[NAEN] Macdonald, M.C.A. North Arabian Epigraphic Notes I. Arabian archaeology and epigraphy 3, 1992: 23-43.
[Ph] Van den Branden, A. Les textes thamoudéens de Philby. (2 volumes). (Bibliothèque du Muséon, 39 and 41). Louvain: Institut orientaliste, 1956.
[WTay] Winnett, F.V. A Study of the Liḥyanite and Thamudic Inscriptions. (University of Toronto Studies - Oriental Series, 3). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1937.

Updated 08 Jan, 2025 by OCIANA