WR.A 16

Siglum: WR.A 16
Transliteration: l kḥs¹mn bn grmʾl bn bḥ{ṯ}n w mr{q} ʾl ṭyʾ s¹fr ʾ{b}l w ʾs¹ry ʿyr {b}ḏ ḍʾn
Translation: By Kḥs¹mn son of Grmʾl son of {Bḥṯn} and ʾl Ṭyʾ passed by journeying on camels and travelling by night on mules {b}ḏ sheep

Interpretation

Commentary: WR.A 1 to 21 are on one large rock. For mrq see Al-Jallad 2015: 328. For s¹fr compare Arabic safara "he went forth on a journey" (Lane 1370b) and for ʾs¹ry compare Classical Arabic asarā = sarā meaning "he travelled by night" (Lane 1355a–b). On the interpretation of ʿr and ʿyr as horse-donkey hybrids (mules or hinnies) see Macdonald (in press, a). Unfortunately, we are unable to offer an interpretation for the b or l ḏ before the word ḍʾn.

Provenance: The promontory is littered with huge boulders and fallen pieces of the cliff. The rock is not ideal for inscribing.

Lane, E.W. An Arabic-English Lexicon, Derived from the Best and Most Copious Eastern Sources. (Volume 1 in 8 parts [all published]). London: Williams & Norgate, 1863-1893.
Al-Jallad, A.M. An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions. (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics, 80). Leiden: Brill, 2015.
Macdonald, M.C.A. Horses, asses, hybrids, and their uses in the ancient rock-art of the Syro-Arabian desert. in K. Linduff & P. Raulwing (eds), Equids in the Ancient Near East, Egypt, and Arabia. Proceedings of a conference in memory of Mary Aitken Littauer. Oxford: BAR, 2019.
Inscriptions recorded by the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme in 1995 in Wādī Rushaydah, and published here

Site: Site 32. The promontory at the confluence of Wādī Rušaydah and an unnamed wadi, Al-Suwaydāʾ (al-Sweidah) Governorate, Syria

Date Found: 1995
Current Location: In situ
Subjects: Domestic animals, Genealogy, Group (in the narrative), Movement, Outside peoples
Script: Safaitic
Old OCIANA ID: #0036170
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