BES15_MS 51

WL – It is possible to understand this word as from the root wyl, “woe, affliction, distress” (attested in Safaitic; see Al-Jallad 2026: 353). If this interpretation is correct, then in this context we should probably take it as functioning as an accusative of specification (Ar. tamyīz), meaning here something like “he longed for him with anguish.” I am not aware, however, of another inscription or text in which this root is used as an adverb to specify the manner in which someone longed for someone else. Another possibility is that the author began to write a petition to a deity, either lt or lh, and simply neglected to write the second letter. This reading fits the context given that the final word in the inscription is a 3mp prefix conjugation requesting a reunion with missed family. It is quite common in the Safaitic corpus for a request for reunion to follow explicit petition of a deity (e.g., HaNSB 307: f h lt s¹lm w qbll “O Lt, let there be security, reunion with loved ones. . .”). It is also found with s¹lm as an adjective of qbll, “safe reunion,” in the present corpus. A final possibility is to interpret the first l as a case of dittography. LYQBL – The form is a prefix conjugation 3mp with a prefixed l, the asseverative particle that is prefixed to the prefix conjugation which together function as a volitive. This construction is found across the Semitic language family, e.g., Akk precative lukšud “may I arrive, let me arrive,” and is common in other varieties of Arabic, e.g., CAr li-yafʿal “let him do,” and modern dialects, cf. Jordanian li-nšūf “let’s see.” This construction is common in the Safaitic corpus, especially in blessing and curse formulae (see Al-Jallad 2026: 109–10 for examples). The form qbll could potentially be parsed as either a suffix conjugation verb, or an infinitive of the pattern (i)fʿilāl (Arabic IX stem), e.g., either /qablvla/ or /(i)qbilāl/ (Al-Jallad 2026: 137). The prefix conjugation, though much less frequent, is always attested with only one l (see, e.g., SG 5), which is reminiscent of CAr prefix conjugation of IX stem, yafʿallu, though as yet we have no attestations of this form in a script that represents vowels (such as Greek), and thus cannot say much about its vocalization.