Al-Mafraq Museum 36
Text Information
- Siglum
- Al-Mafraq Museum 36
- Transliteration
-
l ḫḏm b{n} rgl bn zhrn w rḥḍ f h lt s¹lm w ʿyl ḍbʾ ṣyʾ
Ahmad Al-Jallad
- Translation
-
By Ḫḏm son of Rgl son of Zhrn and he washed, so, O Lt, may he be secure and support [the] still-wet raider
Ahmad Al-Jallad
- Language and Script
- Safaitic 2
Interpretation
- Apparatus Criticus
OCIANA 1: Trans. of prayer: 'O Lt [grant] security being poor he went on a raid [and so] had not washed properly.'
- Commentary
-
This is a challenging text. It appears to be a prayer for a successful raid. The author attempts to obtain the support of the deity, Allāt, by ritually washing before embarking on his enterprise. The washing seems to be performed directly before the raid as the author describes himself as the 'rinsed' or 'still wet' warrior in the prayer, no doubt signaling the imminence of the raid and his need for immediate divine succor.
rḥḍ: This verb is well attested for ritual washing (SafDict, s.v.).
ʿyl: This likely cognate with Classical Arabic ʿāla (ʿwl) 'to support, supply with sustenance' (Lane, 2200a); see also BES17 1076.
ḍbʾ: This must be understood as a substantive 'raider.' The verb ḍbʾ and its infinitive tḍbʾ are well attested (SafDict, s.v.).
ṣyʾ: This is attested clearly for the first time here. The D-stem ṣayyaʾa means to lightly wash a thing, ṣayyaʾa raʾsa-hū .... balla-hū qalīlan qalīlā (Lisan, 2532c). The morphological form here is likely an adjective, ṣayyeʾ 'rinsed'.
Ahmad Al-Jallad
- Editio Princeps
- OCIANA
- Field Collector
- ʿAbd al-Qāder Al-Huṣān
- [SafDict] Al-Jallad, A. & Jaworska, K. A Dictionary of the Safaitic Inscriptions. Leiden: Brill, 2019
- Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad b. al-Mukarram / A.F. al-Wānib et al. (eds) in A.F. al-Wānib et al. (eds), Lisān al-ʿArab. (15 volumes). Bayrut: Dār Ṣāder / Dār Bayrut, 1955-1956.
- [Lane] 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
- Current Location
- Al-Mafraq Antiquities Office and Museum
- Subjects
- Deity, Genealogy, Prayer, Raiding, Religion
- Old OCIANA ID
- #0035011
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