DhWSh 1

This is a unique rock-carved inscription that does not find any formulaic parallels in the known corpus so far. The translation provided above is provisional until the words are attested in more contexts to substantiate their meaning. The reading, however, is clear. 

ms²ḥ: This should be connected with the common Semitic root ms¹ḥ 'to wipe', 'to anoint', but with the ad-hoc change of s to ś. This mutation is found in Mehri, but with a further development, the metathesis of R2 and R3, producing məḥāś (Johnstone 1987, 263-264). While the Mehri semantics do not signal any sacral activity, its context in the present inscription suggests some act to alleviate affliction.

ṣdy: This should be construed as an anthroponym, attested previously in Safaitic. 

ḍrk: I would suggest reading this as an adjective, perhaps ḍarīk, cognate with Classical Arabic aḍ-ḍarīk: al-faqīru ... sūʾu l-ḥāl 'the poor one...in a bad condition' (Lisan, 2582b). The verb ḍrk 'to be in need, want' is attested in Safaitic (SafDict, s.v.).

hm: This would also be an adjective, perhaps hāmm, connected to the verb ʾhmm and hmm already attested in Dhofari; see Al-Jallad 2025d.

ʿwh ly: The syntax of this construction is difficult to parse. The term ʿwh should probably be connected to the Classical Arabic ʿāhah 'a disease, bane' (Lane, 2240b-c), which fits thematically with the afflictions in column 2. The final two letters, ly, could be the dative preposition and the first person suffixed pronoun, perhaps forming a circumstantial construction meaning 'having a disease' (lit. a disease for me). Without further parallels, this interpretation must be regarded as preliminary and provisional. The switch from third to first person, iltifāt, is well attested inscriptionally and in later Arabic literature.