WH 641.1
Text Information
- Siglum
- WH 641.1
- Transliteration
-
l fty bn rwḍ w byt b- h- ʾrḍ wrḫ b- bql w flṭ -h m- lḥy{n} h- s¹nt
Ahmad Al-Jallad
- Translation
-
By Fty son of Rwḍ and he encamped in this land for a month among herbage so may he be delivered from {Lḥyn} this year
Ahmad Al-Jallad
- Language and Script
- Safaitic 2
Interpretation
- Apparatus Criticus
WH 641.1: reading: {r}ḥyl for lḥy{n}; trans.: "...he pitched a tent in this land and lived at ease amidst spring vegetation. [O god], deliver him from moving away this year"
- Commentary
-
byt: While this verb can mean to spend the night, the adverb wrḫ 'for a month', suggests a longer term temporary encampment.
flṭ-h: The absence of a deity motivates us to understand this as an infinitive with a pronominal clitic indicating its logical subject. The constructions pragmatic context as a component of a prayer prefers an optative interpretation.
lḥyn: This social group, lḥyn, appears a number of times in the Safaitic corpus (OCIANA, s.v.), but also functions as a personal name. However, the author’s petition for deliverance 'this year' implies a protracted conflict, which better aligns with an interpretation of the term as a social group.
Ahmad Al-Jallad
- Editio Princeps
- Winnett & Harding 1978
- Field Collector
- F.V. Winnett & G.L. Harding
- Technique
- Incised
- Direction of Script
- Coiling inwards
- [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 9B, Al-Mafraq Governorate, Jordan
- Date Found
- 1958–1959
- Current Location
- In situ
- Subjects
- Genealogy, Outside peoples, Camping, Prayer
- Old OCIANA ID
- #0011424