LP 344

Siglum: LP 344
Alternative Sigla: Is.Mu 34
Transliteration: l s¹ʿ{d} {b}n mlk bn s¹ʿd b{n} s¹ʿd bn mlk bn ʿbd bn ʿḏ----r {w} rʿy h- [[]] ḍʾn f h lt s¹lm l- ḏ dʿy [h-] s¹fr [w] ġnmt w wgm ʿl- ʾb -h f ngʿ ʿl- ʾb -h s¹nt kym ʾl ḥwlt b- rḥbt
Translation: By {s¹ʿd} {son of} Mlk son of S¹ʿd {son of} S¹ʿd son of Mlk son of ʿbd son of {ʿḏr} {and} he pastured the sheep and so O Lt [grant] security to whoever reads {the} inscription aloud {and also} booty and he grieved for his father and he grieved in pain for his father the year the ʾl Ḥwlt gathered in the Ruḥbah

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: LP 344: gll for mlk; ʿḏ for ʿḏr; [w] for {w}; h- ḍʾn for h- [[]] ḍʾn; [ḫ]ym for kym
Commentary: Area H. There are a number of unusual letter-forms and signs of carelessness in this inscription. The fourth and fifth letters are obscured by over-hammering, as is the end of the last name in the genealogy and the beginning of the narrative section. A letter (possibly m) has been rubbed over between h- and ḍʾn. A h was omitted before s¹fr and a w after it. The reading kym is clear, and it cannot be ḫym as restored by Littmann, but its meaning is obscure. We have translated it in the sense of "coming together", on the basis of Arabic K-W-M "to heap up", kūm "a herd of camels" (Hava 1982: 670).

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

Special Letter Forms: m like “D”; k with head part way down stem; ḏr monogram (cf other ḏ); ḍ with one diagonal cross-stroke and a horizontal across the tops of the stems; no distinction between l and n (both very long) except in genealogy; f consisting of s¹ plus a side stroke; t consisting of exaggerated swastika the first time and thereafter of a cross with one side stroke and in s¹nt a simple cross;
Technique: Incised

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.
Hava, J.G. Al-Faraid Arabic-English Dictionary. Fifth edition. Beirut: Dār al-Mašriq, 1982.
Inscriptions recorded at al-ʿĪsāwī by Muna Al-Muʾazzin, on the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme, 1995–2002, and published here.

Date Found: 1904–1905, 1996
Current Location: In situ
Subjects: Date (s¹nt), Deity, Domestic animals, Genealogy, Grieving, Isolated Prayer, Outside peoples, Pasturing, Place-name, Relatives
Script: Safaitic
Old OCIANA ID: #0027036
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