WH 3423+3424

Siglum: WH 3423+3424
Transliteration: l ʾrzʾ bn zgr h- ʾtn w qyẓ brkt w l- -h [h-] ʾtn
Translation: The she-ass is by ʾrzʾ son of Zgr and he spent the dry season at Brkt and by him is the she-ass

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: WH: h-ʾ[t]n for h-ʾtn; {w} qyẓ for w qyẓ
Commentary: On the possible identification of brkt with the permanent lake at Burquʿ see Macdonald 1992: 27–30. The statement w l- -h [h-] ʾtn (not read by WH), which we have added to the end of the text in the transiteration, is carved along the section of the cartouche next to bn zgr h-. The assimilation of the definite article (h-) to a preceding 3rd person masculine singular enclitic pronoun (*l-h h-ʾtn > lhʾtn) is common in Safaitic, see Macdonald 2000: 507, § 7.

Provenance: WH Cairn 46 and this inscription were rediscovered and photographed by the Badia Epigraphic Survey in 2018 and the co-ordinates given are exact.
Original Reading Credit: OCIANA

Associated Signs

Cartouche containing the inscription, drawing and five sets of 7 lines.

Associated Drawings

A drawing of she-ass. On another face there is a drawing of a long-necked animal with no hump and no inscription.

Associated Inscriptions

Winnett, F.V. & Harding, G.L. Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns. (Near and Middle East Series, 9). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978.
Macdonald, M.C.A. North Arabian Epigraphic Notes I. Arabian archaeology and epigraphy 3, 1992: 23-43.
Macdonald, M.C.A. Reflections on the linguistic map of pre-Islamic Arabia. Arabian archaeology and epigraphy 11, 2000: 28-79. [Reprinted with the same pagination, plus addenda and corrigenda, as Article III in Macdonald, M.C.A., Literacy and Identity in Pre-Islamic Arabia. (Variorum Collected Studies, 906). Farnham: Ashgate, 2009.]