MSFS 4

Siglum: MSFS 4
Transliteration: l qdm bn ghm w wrd ʾḍyt h- ʿwḏy bn ṭr{q}
Translation: By Qdm son of Ghm and he came to the pool of stagnant water of H-ʿwḏy bn {Ṭrq}

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: MSFS 4: wrd ʾḍyt hʿwḏy bn ṭrd "he goes down to stagnating water of the ʿAwḏite pursued man stayed (there)"
Commentary: The last letter is not completely clear on the photograph but looks more like a q than a d. For ʾḍyt cf. Ar. aḍāh "a pool of stagnant water" (Groom Dictionary of Arabic topography 32). In view of the fact that it is followed by bn trq it is difficult to see how h-ʿwḏy could mean "the ʿAwḏite". "The ʿwḏite Ibn Ṭrq" would normally be expressed as *bn ṭrq hʿwḏy. On the other hand Hʿwḏ is quite a common PN and it seems possible that h- ʿwḏy could also be used in this way. In what sense this pool was the H-ʿwḏy bn Ṭrq's is not clear. It is unlikely to have been his personal private property and it is more likely that the pool was named after him because of some event there in which he was involved.

Al-Maʿānī [Maani, Al-Maʿani], S.ʿA. & Ṣadaqah, I.S. Four New Safaitic Inscriptions from Mafraq, Jordan. Adumatu 7, 2003: 49-53.