KMG 44-47
Text Information
- Siglum
- KMG 44-47
- Transliteration
-
ʾḫr
b- bʾ
tʿ{s³}
bk -hAhmad Al-Jallad - Translation
-
The last one here will tire of his weeping
Ahmad Al-Jallad
- Language and Script
- Dhofari 1a
Interpretation
- Commentary
-
This section allows for two interpretations: either it contains two separate inscriptions—one written with a thick stroke and the other with thin lines—or it represents a single text where the author switched implements when writing the two logical parts.
ʾḫr: 'last', compare with Arabic ʾāḫar- 'last', 'other' and Syriac ʾaḥrāy 'last'.
b-bʾ: The interpretation of this construction is preliminary. The first b is interpreted as a locative preposition doubly marking the locative adverb bʾ 'here', cf. Mehri bō, boh (Johnstone 1987: 58).
tʿ{ṯ}: The reading is challenged by the fact that the left loop is left open. Whether this is the result of weathering or an idiosyncrasy of the author's hand is not possible to determine, but the glyph can be read as nothing else. The word is understood as a suffix conjugated verb derived from the root tʿs³ 'to be fed up, tired', cf. Mehri tās (Johnstone 1987: 399) and Arabic taʿasa 'to stumble, fall', used often metaphorically for bad fortune (Lane, 308a-b).
bk-h: The substantive bk should be compared with bky in KMG 10-13. The absence of the y may be somehow explained by the following suffix 3rd masculine singular suffix pronoun, although further examples of this morpho-phonological environment are required before any secure interpretation can be offered.
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 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 [Unpublished but available on http://www.ancientarabia.co.uk/ under "Projects"/"Dhofar epigraphic project".] 1993.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 G - East of Tawi Atir, Dhofar Governorate, Oman
- Date Found
- 1991-1992
- Current Location
- In situ
- Subject
- Query (subject uncertain)
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