KRS 3249

Siglum: KRS 3249
Transliteration: l ---- bn ʾbd h- ʿr w wlh ʿ[[]]l- ʾs²yʿ -h w ġzz b- ḥrt {f} {ʾ}m---- w ʿwr m- ʿwr
Translation: By ---- son of ʾbd is the hybrid and he was distraught for his companions and he was on a raid in [the] Ḥrt {f} {ʾ}m---- and blind whoever scratches out [the inscription]

Interpretation

Commentary: The rock is broken in half. The first part of the name has been crossed out. The author wrote an ʾ after the ʿ of ʿl- and then, realising he had forgotten the l, crossed it out. The f has an extra squiggle which gives it the appearance of a s² and one prong of the following ʾ is faint. The letters after the first m are faint. See Macdonald (in press, a) for the reasons for translating ʿ(y)r in Safaitic as a hybrid, that is a "mule" (the offspring of a male donkey x female horse) or a "hinny" (the offspring of a male horse x female donkey).

Inscriptions recorded by Geraldine King on the Basalt Desert Rescue Survey in north-eastern Jordan in 1989 and published here
Macdonald, M.C.A. Horses, asses, hybrids, and their uses in the ancient rock-art of the Syro-Arabian desert. in K. Linduff & P. Raulwing (eds), Equids in the Ancient Near East, Egypt, and Arabia. Proceedings of a conference in memory of Mary Aitken Littauer. Oxford: BAR, 2019.