KMH 44-47
Text Information
- Siglum
- KMH 44-47
- Transliteration
-
nwmr
s¹yhl
ḥy ṭlt
brḥAhmad Al-Jallad - Translation
-
Nwmr, S¹yhl; long life the length of the journey
Ahmad Al-Jallad
- Language and Script
- Dhofari 1a
Interpretation
- Commentary
-
This short text can be compared to the ġadāti l-bayn 'the daybreak of separation', a melancholic theme in pre-Islamic poetry describe the emotional difficulties associated with the departures on a long-distant journey. The present text would seem to conatin two names of individuals (nwmr appears again in an inscription from Jebel al-Qamar) followed by a blessing for a safe journey/departure. This inscription seems to have been painted prior to KMHH 9, the Dhofari Script 2 text, on the same panel.
nwmr: a personal name in the fawʿal measure of nimr- 'leopard'. The latter is a popular name in the Islamic-period Arabic onomasticon and is well attested in the the ANA onomastica as well.
s¹yhl: A fayʿal name derived from the root s¹hl 'ease'. Names from this root are attested some 11 times in ANA and are also common in the Arabic onomasticon, e.g. suhayl. It is also possible to understand this word as a verb meaning 'to bid farewell' or 'to be at ease' (Johnstone 1987:
ḥy: The morphological identity of this word is uncertain. The noun 'life' has appeared in Dhofari 1a as ḥyw but it is unclear if this is a singular or plural. If it is a singular noun, then ḥy might be understood as a verb 'to live long' or an adjective 'living'.
ṭlt: I would suggest that this word is cognate with Mehri ṭōl and Arabic ṭūlun. The former may be a loan from the latter; the presence of the feminine ending here may reveal the true South Arabian cognate.
brḥ: Compare with Classical Arabic baraḥa 'to depart', 'to leave a place' (Lane, 181) and Safaitic brḥ 'to depart'. Here, we understand it as a noun meaning 'journey' or 'departure'.
Ahmad Al-Jallad
- Editio Princeps
- Al-Shaḥrī and King 1993
- Field Collector
- G.M.H. King and A.A.M. Al-Shaḥrī
- Technique
- Painted
- Direction of Script
- Vertical columns right to left
- Associated Signs
- cartouche
- Associated Inscriptions
- Al-Jallad, A. The Decipherment of the Dhofari Script: Three halḥam abecedaries and the first glimpses into the corpus. Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux (JEOL) 49, 2025d: 119-147
- Al-Shaḥrī, A.A.M. & King, G.M.H. The Dhofar Epigraphic Project. A Description of the Inscriptions recorded in 1991 and 1992. [Unpublished but available on http://www.ancientarabia.co.uk/ under "Projects"/"Dhofar epigraphic project".] 1993.
- Johnstone, T.M. Mehri Lexicon and English-Mehri Word-List. With a list of the English definitions in the /Jibbāali Lexicon/ compiled by G.R. Smith. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1987.
- [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
- Area H - the western Jebel (Jabal Qamar), Dhofar Governorate, Oman
- Date Found
- 1991-1992
- Current Location
- In situ
- Subjects
- Name only, Query (subject uncertain)
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