OCIANA
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

BES20 90

Siglum
BES20 90
Transliteration
l {s¹}[ʿ]d bn ḥny bn ʿbd bn ṣʿd w {w}{g}d s¹fr ---- {f} ngʿ
Translation
By {S¹ʿd} son of Ḥny son of ʿbd son of Ṣʿd and {he found} the writing ---- {and so} he grieved in pain

Interpretation

Commentary
{s¹}[ʿ]d: The author's name is difficult to read. The first letter appears to be a ḍ, but a reading of ḍd would be unlikely. It is likely that the join between the two legs is accidental. Between the first letter and the d, there is an area of damage. It is not possible to see a letter below the damage, but a small letter such as a ʿ or n could be fully concealed. Two inscriptions (NWStL 2, AbSWS 5= AbSMM 5) have the genealogy s¹ʿd bn ḥny bn ʿbd bn ṣʿd. A tentative reading of s¹ʿd has been given. {w}{g}d: It is not possible to distinguish the w and g due to damage that covers them. Despite this, it is clear from the context that this must be wgd. ----: This section is particularly difficult to read on the photograph. The first letter seems to be a ṣ or a ẖ. The next letter is almost certainly a l. Above the l there is a letter that resembles a y (if the first letter is a ṣ), a ṯ (if the first letter is a ẖ), or a ʾ. The next letter seems to be a b that runs over the large b of BES20 89. The following letter is blurred on the photographs but seems to be a line with a thick section in the centre, which has been read as a d. This reading would give the personal name Ṣl followed by the prefix conjugation of wrd, describing the action the author was doing as the found the inscription. It is possible that the section reads as {ṣ}{l} {y}{r}{d}, but this is very tentative. A reading of ---- has been given. {f}: The apparent f looks very much like a ġ in the photograph, but from the context it is clear that one would expect a f here.

Associated Inscriptions

  • Inscriptions recorded during the Badia Epigraphic Survey 2020 and published here
Site
Wādī al-Mismā al-Šarqī, c. 52 km north-west of Al-Ruwayšid, Al-Mafraq Governorate, Jordan
Date Found
2020
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Finding inscription(s), Genealogy, Grieving
Script
Safaitic
Old OCIANA ID
#0057141
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