BES20 95

Siglum: BES20 95
Transliteration: l ḥmʾl bn {ġ}ḍḍt bn ʾnḍt bn ws²yt bn ḍf bn gnʾl bn whbʾl bn ʿyl bn wty h- ʿr
OCIANA
Translation: By Ḥmʾl son of Ġḍḍt son of ʾnḍt son of Ws²yt son of Ḍf son of Gnʾl son of Whbʾl son of ʿyl son of Wty is the hybrid
OCIANA
Language and Script: Safaitic

Interpretation

Commentary: {ġ}ḍ{ḍ}t: The first letter is not clearly a ġ on the stone as it appears more like a straight line. As the genealogy has been attested previously, it is possible to read the name as Ġḍḍt with some certainty. Presumably there is the drawing of the hybrid referred to in the inscription (h- ʿr) on the other side of the stone. There seem to be two extraneous marks on the face of the stone with the most writing. In the bottom left there is an X-shape and in the centre (below bn ws²yt) there is a horizontal straight line. Neither of these marks would make sense to be part of the reading. The X-shape could be a drawing and the line a mistake. The author seems to be the brother of a Ḥmyn, whose long genealogy with minor additions/omissions is attested in AbWS 8, AbNAS 3, and KRS 173. The name wtd has only been attested once previously (CEDS 120), also followed by h- ʿr, but this does not imply any connection between the inscriptions. On the translation of ʿr as 'hybrid', i.e. either a mule (the offspring of a male donkey x female horse) or a "hinny" (the offspring of a male horse x female donkey), see Macdonald 2019.

[BES20] Inscriptions recorded during the Badia Epigraphic Survey 2020 and published here
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.

Site: Wādī al-Mismā al-Šarqī, c. 52 km north-west of Al-Ruwayšid, Al-Mafraq Governorate, Jordan

Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA