Is.H 381
Text Information
- Siglum
- Is.H 381
- Transliteration
-
ʾ b {g} d z t {y} q {n} {ʿ} k s² w ẓ r ṣ ṭ h f m ḥ ḏ ġ ḍ s¹ ḫ {l} ṯ
M.C.A. Macdonald
- Translation
-
ʾ b {g} d z t {y} q {n} {ʿ} k s² w ẓ r ṣ ṭ h f m ḥ ḏ ġ ḍ s¹ ḫ {l} ṯ
M.C.A. Macdonald
- Language and Script
- Safaitic 1
Interpretation
- Commentary
-
A tracing of this inscription was originally published in Macdonald (2005/9), where it was labelled Al-ʿĪsāwī. While none of the 8 Safaitic abecedaries reveal a canonical letter order, it seems unlikely to be a coincidence that the author of this inscription began his text with ʾ b g d. I would argue that the author attempted to put the Safaitic glyphs in the Greek order omitting the vowels that did not have a clear equivalent in Safaitic until reaching kappa.
Safaitic: ʾ b {g} d z t {y} q
Greek: Α Β Γ Δ (Ε, omitted) Ζ (Η, omitted) Θ Ι Κ
Subsequently, the author abandoned the effort and listed the remaining Safaitic glyphs at random. There is abundant evidence for Greek literacy among the nomads east of Ḥawrān (see Al-Jallad 2022c and Al-Jallad and al-Manaser 2022 for an overview), so awareness of the Greek letter order is not surprising. This phenomenon would then parallel the Hismaic abecedary arranged according to the Aramaic letter order (Knauf 1985; Macdonald 1992).
Ahmad Al-Jallad
- Editio Princeps
- Macdonald 2005
- Field Collector
- Hussein Zeinaddin
- Technique
- Scratched
- Direction of Script
- Boustrophedon
- Associated Inscriptions
- H 382
- Al-Jallad, A. The Inscription of Ẓāʿen son of Keḥsemān and Knowledge of Greek Among the Nomads east of Ḥawrān, Adumatu, 23 (2022c): 23-28.
- [OAM2] Al-Jallad, A. & Al-Manaser, A. Old Arabic Minutiae II: Greek-Safaitic Bilinguals and Language Contact in the Syro-Arabian Ḥarrah. Arabica 69, 2022: 567-590
- Knauf, E.A. A South Safaitic Alphabet from Khirbet es-Samrāʾ. Levant 17, 1985: 204-206.
- Macdonald, M.C.A. On the Placing of Ṣ in the Maghribi abjad and the Khirbet Al-Samrāʾ ABC. Journal of Semitic Studies 37, 1992: 155-166.
- Macdonald, M.C.A. Literacy in an Oral Environment. Pages 49-118 in P. Bienkowski, C.B. Mee & E.A. Slater (eds), Writing and Ancient Near Eastern Society. Papers in Honour of Alan R. Millard. (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, 426). New York / London: T. & T. Clark Library of Biblical Studies, 2005. [Reprinted with the same pagination, plus addenda and corrigenda, as Article I in Macdonald, M.C.A., Literacy and Identity in Pre-Islamic Arabia. (Variorum Collected Studies, 906). Farnham: Ashgate, 2009.]
- Site
- Al-ʿĪsāwī, Rif Dimašq Governorate, Syria
- Date Found
- 1996–2002
- Current Location
- In situ
- Subject
- ABC
- Old OCIANA ID
- #0027758
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