LP 359

Siglum: LP 359
Alternative Sigla: Is.M 141
Transliteration: l s²mt bn bʿr bn gdy bn s¹ʿd bn s²nʾ w wgm ʿl- ḥbb {f} ḥ[b]b f h lt s¹lm l- ḏ s¹ʾ[[]]r w ʿwr l- ḏ yʿwr h- s¹fr
Translation: By S²mt son of Bʿr son of Gdy son of S¹ʿd son of S²nʾ and he grieved for friend {after} {friend} and so O Lt [grant] security to whoever leaves [this inscription] intact and [inflict] blindness on whoever scratches out this inscription

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: LP 359: w wgm ʿl- ḥbb f ḥ(b)b "and he placed a stone on the tomb of Ḥbb in friendship" for w wgm ʿl- ḥbb {f} ḥ[b]b "and he grieved for friend {after} {friend}"
Commentary: The f in ḥbb f ḥbb has two strokes too many making it look like a s². It is quite different from the f introducing the invocation or that of s¹fr. The first b of the second ḥbb has been destroyed by over-hammering. There is a m between the ʾ and r of s¹ʾr part of which cuts across one fork of the ʾ. Its presence is inexplicable.

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: Ed. pr.
Original Translation Credit: OCIANA

Special Letter Forms: f has three different forms cf odd f in M 143; r with only one hook in this text and M 142 but with two hooks in M143
Technique: Incised

Associated Remains: None
Associated Inscriptions: LP 358 and 359 (= Is.M 140 and 141) begin on the same face; LP 373–374 (= Is.M 142–143) are on the face where LP 359 (= Is.M 141) ends; Is.Mu 87 (not recorded by Littmann) is on another face

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.
Inscriptions recorded at al-ʿĪsāwī by Michael Macdonald, on the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme, 1995–2003, and published here.