KMG 10-13

hn: A demonstrative adverb meaning 'here', attested in this form in Safaitic but also corresponding to Arabic hunā. There may be another letter after the n but it has been obliterated. 

bky: A suffix conjugation verb meaning 'to cry', attested in this form elsewhere in ANA. The final y suggests that triphthongs were maintained in this stage of the language, implying the vocalization /bakaya/. There is small smudge of ink towards the right of the column between the b and k. It would appear that the author wished to begin his text on this particularly rough patch on the rock and then abandoned it to complete the k below. The reading of it as an ʿ would produce the sequence bʿky, perhaps a 2nd-person feminine singular verb from bw/yʿ, perhaps meaning 'you sold him', with a metaphorical sense to do with love and betrayal. This interpretation, on the basis of the reading, is dispreferred. 

b-h bky: This should be construed as a nominal sentence where the second bky is a nominal form, perhaps bukāy, cf. Arabic bukāʾun 'crying,' 'weeping'. b-h is simply the locative preposition followed by the 3rd person masculine singular suffixed pronoun. 

l-: This preposition must signify a reason perhaps best translated as 'because of', a natural development from the original dative sense 'for'. 

ṣb-h: The term ṣb should be connected with the Arabic ṣabbun 'affliction caused by excess love' (Lane, 1639a), coming originally from the verb ṣabba 'to pour out', followed by the 3rd person masculine singular suffixed pronoun. 

wky: This verb has to do with tying, and gives rise to the expression of in Arabic ʾawkā ḥalqa-hū 'he became silent' (Hava, 884). Being silent or tongue tied on account of grief is a metaphor previously attested in Safaitic, e.g. KRS 130. The exact verb form here, however, is unclear. 

The ending of each column with y may imply a rhyming composition.