KJA 20

King 1990 (KJA 20): gḥf for gḥfl; bhʾ w for bh[ʾ] ʾw. Trans. 'May ḏs²ry return gḥf to the woman with tenderness and with madness (of passion) and with joy ʾḫ ? son of bhʾ and may [ḏs²ry] cause happiness with a new woman.'

I interpret this inscription as a fertility prayer offered by a man whose wife, despite having previously borne him children, now appears to be barren.

ʿd: Inscriptions beginning with an optative verb are previously encountered in Hismaic, although it is not a very common formula. This is the only occurrence of the verb ʿd in this position. King (1990), I think, is correct in interpreting it from the root ʿwd 'to return.' However, it is clearly a G-stem, while she assigns it the meaning of the D-stem, namely, 'to cause to return or bring back.' Rather, I would suggest that the phrase ʿd b- /ʿāda bi-/ in Hismaic should be compared to the Classical Arabic ǧāʾa bi- or ʾatā bi-, literally 'to come with', but idiomatically meaning 'to bring.' The use of the verb ʿd 'to return' would likely imply a meaning like 'to give back' rather than a neutral 'to give', implying that these were qualities that Gḥfl, the verb's indirect object, previously had. Verbs of motion rarely license objects introduced by prepositions in Safaitic and Hismaic, so it is not unexpected to find the logical indirect object of ʿd treated grammatically as a direct object. 

gḥfl: This is a common name, but almost always that of a man. However, male and female names are often identical in consonantal garb in the ANA inscriptions, so there is no objection to interpreting it contextually as the name of a woman.

h-ybs¹: The root ybs¹ signifies dryness. When applied to female animals and women, it refers to one whose milk has stopped and whose breasts/udders have become dry. While one might expect it to agree in gender with its antecedent, adjectives that apply strictly to females are often left uninflected, such as ḥāmilun 'pregnant.' Indeed, one says in Classical Arabic šātun yabsun 'a ewe or she-goat whose milk has stopped' (Lane, 2795b). It is also possible, but contextually less likely, to understand it as the adjective yabīsun or yabasun, which refers to a person who is no good (ibid.).

rḥm: Compare with Classical Arabic raḥimun 'womb' (Lane, 1056a).

gnnt: This term should be understood as cognate with Arabic ǧanīnun 'the child in the belly (fetus)' (Lane, 463b). The origin of the final t is not clear. It may simply suggest that the Hismaic cognate was feminine or perhaps it is a hhypocoristic diminutive form.

s¹rr {ʾ}ḫ b{n} bh[ʾ]: The first term s¹rr is a rather transparent cognate of Classical Arabic surūrun 'joy, happiness' in construct with the name of a man, ʾḫ son of Bhʾ, two rather common names. It is also possible to take the father's name as simply bh, which is attested a handful of times in Safaitic. The idea seems to be that the restoration of his wife's womb and her ability to bear children would mean the return of her husband's joy.

ʾw: This is the Semitic disjunctive conjunction, /ʾaw/.

qdr: This verb is cognate with Classical Arabic qadara, meaning 'to measure' or 'to decree' (Lane, 2494). In Classical Arabic, it frequently takes God as its subject to imply divine determination. In the present context, however, it can simply be understood as 'to assign one's share, portion, or lot.'

frḥt: Compare with Classical Arabic farḥatun 'joy, happiness' (Lane, 2361b).

mrʾt ḥdṯt: A new woman, Classical Arabic imraʾatun ḥadīṯatun. The implication here is that if the wife's child-bearing abilities cannot be restored, then the god Dusares should grant him a new woman who would be able to bear him children.