C 1871

Siglum
C 1871
Alternative Sigla
Dunand 499 a
Transliteration
l ḫr bn ʿhd bn ḥnn bn ḥṯmt bn ʾnʿm bn ġlmt bn ʿbd bn nfr bn ḫld bn dʾf bn s²hr w h lt s¹lm m- s²nʾ w q{y}ẓ h- ḥwy f h lt ʿwr ḏ yʿwr h- s¹fr w ʿyd ʾhl -h b- ḥbs¹ w {ʾ}s²rq b- ḍʾn
OCIANA
Translation
By Ḫr son of ʿhd son of Ḥnn son of Ḥṯmt son of ʾnʿm son of Ġlmt son of ʿbd son of Nfr son of Ḫld son of Dʾf son of S²hr so, O Lt, let there be security from enemies, and {he spent the dry season} at these excavated pools so, O Lt, blind whosoever may efface the inscription, and his family celebrated a festival at a ḥbs¹ [a dam in a water channel], and {migrated to the inner desert} with some sheep.
OCIANA
Language and Script
Safaitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
MST p. 9 n.45: w qyẓ h- ḥwy - "and he spent the dry season at the pools" MNH 320 and n. 118: "he spent the dry season at the pools ---- before migrating to the ḥamād with some sheep ". Al-Jallad & Jaworska 2019: ḥwy as pl. of ḥywy "animals" and qyẓ h-ḥwy "he spent the summer among the animals"
Commentary
This inscription is typical of the "steam of consciousness" way in which writers wrote down what came into their minds next producing a rather disjointed narrative. For the interpretation of ḥwy as pools see Lane 679b: ḥāwāyā "winding excavations or hollows, which the rain fills, and in which it remains a long time because the soil at the bottom thereof is cohesive and hard, retaining the water". According to Lane (500c–501a) a ḥbs in Classical Arabic is a dam in a water channel to confine water, which would be appropriate in the context of ḥwy mentioned earlier.

Editio Princeps
C

  • [Lane] Lane, E.W. An Arabic-English Lexicon, Derived from the Best and Most Copious Eastern Sources. (Volume 1 in 8 parts [all published]). London: Williams & Norgate, 1863-1893.
  • [MST] Macdonald, M.C.A. The Seasons and Transhumance in the Safaitic Inscriptions. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 3rd. series, 2, 1992: 1-11.
  • [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].
  • [C] Ryckmans, G. Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum: Pars Quinta, Inscriptiones Saracenicae Continens: Tomus I, Fasciculus I, Inscriptiones Safaiticae. Paris: E Reipublicae Typographeo, 1950–1951.
Site
Zalaf (c) “To the south of Zalaf in a place near the larger ḫabrah [a depression in the plain where water gathers] or Ḫabrah kubrā [?]” (C p. 225)., Rif Dimašq Governorate, Syria
Date Found
1920s and 1930s
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Curse, Deity, Domestic animals, Genealogy, Isolated Prayer, Season, Transhumance, Watering
Old OCIANA ID
#0005075
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Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA

Cite this Site

OCIANA. 'C 1871.' OCIANA. 16 Sep, 2024. https://ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions/34470. Accessed: 28 Jun, 2025.