WH 402

Siglum
WH 402
Transliteration
l mʿn bn ḫrg h- bkrtn w tẓr dṯʾ wḥd w nʿm b- ḥrn
OCIANA
Translation
By Mʿn son of Ḫrg are the two young she-camels and he was waiting by himself for the season of the later rains and may he lead an easy life in the Ḥawrān
OCIANA
Language and Script
Safaitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
WH: w tẓr dṯʾ wḥd ʿl- ʿm b-ḥrn "He was on the look-out for spring pasture. Ande he mourned for a grandfather in(the_ Ḥaurān"; MNH pp. 340-341: w tẓr dṯʾ w ḥd w h ʿm b- ḥrn - and he was waiting for the later rains but they did not come and ---- in the Ḥawrān.
Commentary
For nʿm "to lead an easy life" compare Classical Arabic naʿama "to lead an easy life (Hava 783), used here with an optative implication.

Editio Princeps
OCIANA

  • [Hava] Hava, J.G. Al-Faraid Arabic-English Dictionary. Fifth edition. Beirut: Dār al-Mašriq, 1982.
  • [MNH] Macdonald, M.C.A. Nomads and the Ḥawrān in the late Hellenistic and Roman periods: A reassessment of the epigraphic evidence. Syria 70, 1993: 303-413. [Reprinted with the same pagination, plus addenda and corrigenda as Article II in M.C.A. Macdonald, Literacy and Identity in Pre-Islamic Arabia, (Variorum Collected Studies Series no. 906), Farnham: Ashgate, 2009].
  • [WH] Winnett, F.V. & Harding, G.L. Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns. (Near and Middle East Series, 9). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978.
Site
WH Cairn 9A, Al-Mafraq Governorate, Jordan
Date Found
1958–1959
Current Location
Rockfeller Museum
Subject
Genealogy
Old OCIANA ID
#0011167
Download Image
Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA

Cite this Site

OCIANA, 'WH 402,' ed. A. Al-Jallad and M.C.A. Macdonald, OCIANA, 16 Sep, 2024. https://ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions/33640. Accessed: 09 Mar, 2026.