KRS 1836

Siglum: KRS 1836
Transliteration: l rbʾl bn tmʾl bn ḫyḏt bn ms¹k w rʿy h bʿls¹mn ḥlmt m- ḏ qbl w rʿy h- ʾbl ḫg b- rʾy ʿqbt w lʿn h- brk ḏ yʿwr
Translation: By Rbʾl son of Tmʾl son of Ḫyḏt son of Ms¹k and he pastured {and so} O Bʿls¹mn may that which he has offered bring forth forbearance and he pastured the camels on {ḫfg} during the rising of Scorpio and may the Blessed One curse whomever scratches out [the inscription]

Interpretation

Commentary: The author has written s² instead of f before the deity's name and in the word ḫfg. Ḫfg occurs here and in WH 171 and ISB 113. A member of the Ahl al-Jabal, who inhabit the ḥarrah of southern Syria and north-eastern Jordan, identified a plant of the ḥarrah shown to him by Geraldine King as ḫafaǧ. Dr Sue Colledge later identified it from a photograph as Diplotaxis Harra. A deity h- brk has not been found before in Safaitic and it may be a way of referring back to Bʿls¹mn. The translation of <f> h bʿls¹mn ḥlmt m- ḏ qbl w rʿy h- ʾbl ḫ<f>g b- rʾy ʿqbt is that of Al-Jallad (forthcoming).

Inscriptions recorded by Geraldine King on the Basalt Desert Rescue Survey in north-eastern Jordan in 1989 and published here
Winnett, F.V. & Harding, G.L. Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns. (Near and Middle East Series, 9). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978.
Oxtoby, W.G. Some Inscriptions of the Safaitic Bedouin. (American Oriental Series, 50). New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society, 1968.
Al-Jallad, A.M An Ancient Arabian Zodiac. The Constellations in the Safaitic Inscriptions. Part II. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 27, 2016: 84–106.