TMES 14

These two Thamudic D columns are the most legible on the panel. I hypothesize that they form a single text, but the precise interpretation of the upper column is uncertain.

rḥlt: Formulaic considerations might prefer understanding this word as a personal name. Rḥlt is extremely rare, occuring once in Safaitic, while rḥl is more frequent. If we chose to understand it as a verb, then perhaps this inscription connects with the ones to its right. As a verb, it can be best understood as raḥaltu 'I set out, departed.' The verbal understanding matches the following clause.

b-y s²ʿb: This follows the common Thamudic D formula of b+first person pronoun+emotion (Al-Jallad 2025b). In most cases, we have b-y s²q 'there is much longing in me.' In this case, we should probably understand s²ʿb as a noun meaning 'longing' as well, a synonym of s²q. The justification for this comes from its Classical Arabic cognate šaʿbun 'seperation, division' (Lane, 1556a), with the sense here of separation from loved ones. The semantic field of s²ʿb therefore favors the interpretation of rḥlt could support its interpretation as a verb rather than an athroponym.

• TMES 15