MNSH 1

Siglum: MNSH 1
Alternative Sigla: MNSA 3; AbNSY 1
Transliteration: l ʾzz bn ḥbḍ ḏ- ʾl tm w ntg w rʿy {ṣ}by f h lt w ds²r s¹lm w ġnyt
Translation: By ʿzz son of Ḥbḍ of the lineage of Tm he helped [the animals] give birth and pastured {young} [animals] so O Lt and Ds²r [grant] security and abundance

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: Note that Al-Maʿānī published this inscription twice, once (MNSH 1) with a photograph where he inexplicably read the first name as ʿẓ rather than than ʿzz, and the second time in MNSA 3 with only an inaccurate copy (see the final image here) where he read the first name as ʿḍ. Neither Al-Maʿānī (MNSH 1; MNSA 3) nor Abbadi (AbNSY 1) recognized the difference in shape of b and r in this text.
Commentary: It is clear that the second letter of the patronym and of the word {ṣ}by is a b since r in this text has one hook (compare rʿy and ds²r). The verb ntg is rare in Safaitic but compare CSNS 628. In Arabic nataǧa (Lane 2760b–c) means to assist an animal give birth and so, in Safaitic, is similar to the more common verb wld. It would normally require an object naming the animal which was being helped to give birth, but that is absent here. The letter following rʿy is difficult to interpret, but is quite different in shape from the y of rʿy or that after the b. There appears to be a small stroke immediately to the right of the lower part of the stem which could mean that the letter is ṣ. The word ṣabiyy in Arabic refers to a male human child not to young animals, but it is perhaps possible that in Safaitic it had a wider meaning (?).

Al-Maʿānī [Maani, Al-Maʿani], S.ʿA. Naqš ṣafawī min al-ʾaǧfūr. Newsletter of the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University 5, 1988: 8-9 [Arabic section].
Al-Maʿānī [Maani, Al-Maʿani], S.ʿA. Nuqūš ʿarabiyyah safāʾiyyah min al-ṣaḥrāʾ al-urduniyyah. Maǧallat al-ʿulūm al-iǧtimaʿiyyah wa-ʾl-insāniyyah 1, 1996: 103-133.
ʿAbbādī [Abbadi], S. Naqš ṣafawī min matḥaf al-turāṯ al-urdunī fī maʿhad al-aṯār wa-ʾl-anṯrūbūlūġīyā fī ǧamiʿat al-yarmūk. Dirāsāt 24:2, 1999: 226–233