OCIANA
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

LP 282

Text Information

Siglum
LP 282
Alternative Sigla
Is.M 26
Transliteration
l rbʾl bn ʾnhk h- nqt w {{h}} ʾlt rmʿn nqʾt m- qbr l- ḏ yʿwrn -h
Translation
By Rbʾl son of ʾnhk is the she-camel and {O} goddess of Rmʿn [inflict] ejection from the grave on whoever may scratch it out

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
LP 282: (ṣ)m (w) <<>>nqʾt for rmʿn nqʾt.
Commentary
The two prongs of the fork of the h introducing the invocation have been joined making it into a y. However the prongs have then been extended beyond the join. The The first letter of rmʿl cannot possibly be a ṣ as suggested by Littmann and is similar to the r of qbr. The “flaw in the stone” (LP p. 69) after this letter can be seen on the photograph. The following m is faint but clearly visible on the original. Between this and the ʿ there is a small ridge on the surface and no letter was written. The last letter of the word and the sign which immediately follows it are both considerably longer than the examples of n at the beginning of the text but appreciably shorter than the l following qrb and similar in length to the penultimate letter. Rmʿn is presumably a toponym referring to al-ʿĪsāwī itself or a place nearby since the author would be unlikely to invoke the topical deity of another place to protect a drawing left here. Littmann interpreted yʿwrn as the 3rd m. pl of the suffix conjugation. However, Al-Jallad (2015: 97–98) considers is more likely that it represents the energic ending. For the interpretation of nqʾt see Al-Jallad 2015: 335, under QYʾ

Provenance
Al-ʿĪsāwī is the name of a probably ancient well between two headlands on the eastern side of the Wādī Shām as it runs northwards from the modern Al-Namārah dam to the Ruḥbah. The well is large, stone lined and with stone water-channels running from it. The main concentration of published inscriptions is on the top of the northern headland, but there also many inscriptions on its south-west slopes, coming down to the well and on the southern headland, on the crest of which is a stone tower.
Original Reading Credit
OCIANA
Original Translation Credit
OCIANA

Technique
Incised

Associated Remains
None

  • Littmann, E. Safaïtic Inscriptions. Syria. Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904–1905 and 1909. Division IV. Section C. Leiden: Brill, 1943.
  • Al-Jallad, A.M. An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions. (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics, 80). Leiden: Brill, 2015.
Site
Al-ʿĪsāwī, Rif Dimašq Governorate, Syria
Date Found
1904–1905; 1996–2003
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Curse, Deity, Drawing of a domestic animal, Genealogy
Script
Safaitic
Old OCIANA ID
#0026793
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