OCIANA
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

KRS 1542

Text Information

Siglum
KRS 1542
Transliteration
l ḫlṣt bn rb bn mtr w ḥll h- {{s¹}}{{n}}{{n}} w tẓr m- ḥrn h- ʿr
Translation
By Ḫlṣt son of Rb son of Mtr and he camped [on] the {track} and he was waiting for the caravan from [the] Ḥawrān

Interpretation

Commentary
The first name is carved in much larger letters than the rest of the text. The reading of some of the most crucial parts of the inscription are doubtful. After the first h the depth of some of the lines of the letters suggest that they have been altered. It seems likely that the letter after the h should be read as a s¹ which has been turned 90°. That it is not an h is suggested by the fact that the fork is much deeper that those of the other two h's in the text and the tail of the letter is not so long. The letter has a circle but it is not as carefully cut as the other lines of the letter and is shallower and it seems likely that it was added later to turn the letter into a ṣ. The following letters are difficult to interpret. They are both the same and consist of lines with a slight curve at one end. They are too short to be l's and are different shapes from the b's and r's in the text which are respectively deep curves and lines with distinct arms. It seems most likely that they should be read as n's. As with the previous letter, it seems that they have been changed in this case to a r and a d by the addition of arms to the first and a loop added to the middle of the second. It appears possible therefore that s¹nn was what was originally carved and that it was then changed to ṣrd. After the second ḥ, the n was incised almost touching the arms of the preceding r but there does seem to be a sufficient gap to be certain of this interpretation. For the interpretation of s¹nn here and perhaps in KRS 1701, cf. Arabic sanan "a way, beaten track" (Lane 1438c).

Provenance
Jordan
Original Reading Credit
OCIANA
Original Translation Credit
OCIANA

Name Distinguished
Larger-normal/normal
Technique
Incised & mul. scratched

Associated Signs
Cartouche round 1541-1542
Associated Inscriptions

  • Inscriptions recorded by Geraldine King on the Basalt Desert Rescue Survey in north-eastern Jordan in 1989 and published here
  • 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.
Site
Al-Mafraq Governorate, Jordan
Date Found
1989
Current Location
In situ
Subject
Genealogy
Script
Safaitic
Old OCIANA ID
#0022171
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