BES20 697

This inscription should be interpreted in light of BES20 696, which details the migration of sheep from grm to a place called h-ʾʾnf. The present text provides the reason for the migration: a drought. This inscription was written by the same man as BES20 696, but it also informs us that he carried provisions for the sheep on his back, which further signals poor pasturing conditions. While 696 implored the gods for security, this particular inscription appears to request meteorological intervention.

ws¹q ʿl-ẓhr-h: The verb ws¹q is well-attested with a variety of meanings (SafDict, s.v.), but the phrase here suggests its basic sense of "to carry a load." While the load is not specified, the context suggests it was provisions for the migration. The term ẓhr is attested for the first time here with the sense of "back" (cf. Classical Arabic ẓahrun), though it is probably not to be taken literally.

s¹ʾtn: This term appears in only one other text, RWQ 337. While that inscription has not yet been studied closely and lacks a precise translation, the context once again suggests meteorological difficulties. I would suggest that the term is an adverb related to Classical Arabic sawʾatan, 'an evil action or thing' (Lane, 1458c), here referring specifically to a period of affliction induced by drought.

rwḥ w ġyrt rḥm: The prayer can be understood in two ways. The first term, rwḥ, can have a double meaning. The first is 'the sending of relief,' but due to its abundant use in meteorological contexts and with the storm god Baʿl-Samīn, it is also possible to understand it as a denominative verb meaning 'to send the winds' (cf. Classical Arabic rawwiḥ). The following term, ġyrt, should be understood in the present context as an invocation to provide abundance or provisions. The identity of the final term is debatable. Since most, but not all, prayers invoke at least one deity, this may motivate us to understand rḥm as a divine epithet meaning 'merciful,' a divine name attested marginally in Safaitic (Al-Jallad 2022a, 97-99). In this case, it would mean 'the abundance of Rḥm,' referring contextually to the rain. If correct, then it is possible that rḥm was an epithet of the storm god, Baʿl-Samīn. On the other hand, it is possible to understand rḥm as rain itself, cognate with the later Arabic raḥmah, an unmarked term for 'rain' attested across modern southern dialects of Arabic (Behnstedt & Woidich 2011, 410). If the latter understanding is correct, then the final phrase would translate as "an abundance of rain."

• BES20 696