WSLDZ 2

Interpretation

Commentary: This text is lightly incised and runs vertically immediately in front of the equid. There are traces of another text below and to the left of this one, but only a few letters can be seen on the photographs. The spelling ʿyr should not be interpreted as a plene spelling of the diphthong, but rather as a diminutive, perhaps *ʿuyayr. See Macdonald (in press, a) for the reasons for translating ʿ(y)r in Safaitic as a hybrid, that is a "mule" (the offspring of a male donkey x female horse) or a "hinny" (the offspring of a male horse x female donkey).

Associated Drawings

Drawing of a ʿyr

Associated Inscriptions

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.
[WSLDZ] Inscriptions recorded by the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme in 1995 on the left bank of Wādī al-Shām, downstream of Zalaf, and published here.

Site: Unnamed site on the left bank of Wādī al-Shām, downstream of Zalaf wells, Rif Dimašq Governorate, Syria

Updated 16 Sep, 2024