KhS 23

Siglum: KhS 23
Transliteration: l ḏr bn ms¹k bn ḥgr bn ʿllt w gry h- mhr f h lt rwḥ w h ḏs²r m yʿwr h- s¹fr
Translation: By Ḏr son of Ms¹k son of Ḥgr son of ʿllt and he made the colt gallop so O Lt [grant] relief from adversity and O Ḏs²r [blind] whoever effaces this inscription

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: KhMNS: Translation of gry h- mhr "he made the colt run" (ǧaʿala 'l-muhr yaǧrī)
Commentary: Safaitic gry is taken as a D-stem of the Arabic root ǦRY "to run", that is, to cause to run, or, when referring to horses, "to make gallop" (the fastest gait of a horse). The drawing depicts the horseman galloping (the horse is in suspension with all four feet off the ground) in pursuit of an injured oryx attempting to escape, so the sense here fits nicely with the image. The final prayer of this inscription can be interpreted in two ways: (1) the author omitted the imperative ʿwr, which is found in the commonly attested ʿwr m(n) yʿwr, "blind whoever effaces"; (2) the m is a negative particle, comparable to the negative mā in Arabic. This would require us to interpret yʿwr as a passive injunctive followed by its subject h- s¹fr (i.e. "may the inscription not be scratched out"). Confirmation of the latter interpretation must await further discoveries. image not available

Al-Khraysheh, F. Al-ṣayd ʿind al-ʿarab al-ṣafāʾiyīn qabl al-islām. Journal of Epigraphy and Rock Drawings 1, 2007: 9-28.