BES15_MS 289

Siglum
BES15_MS 289
Transliteration
l gh[m] bn ẓnʾl bn ghm bn mlk (bn whblh) bn nʿmn bn rs²ḥ bn ḥy bn gnʾl bn whbgs¹b w wgd ʾḏr ʾb{y}h f h lt s¹lm w ms¹k gdhm lʾbd w ʿwr l- ḏ ʿwr h- ḫṭṭ f wgm ʿl mlk w ʿl s¹lm bn ġyrʾl w {ʿ}{l} ʾbḥ bn rmyn myt w ʿl dd- h w ʿl ḫnṣ (ḫ}{l}- {h) bn dd- h qtln f bʾs¹ m ẓll
Phillip Stokes
Translation
By Gh[m] son of Ẓnʾl son of Ghm son of Mlk {son of Whblh} son of Nʿmn son of Rs²ḥ son of Ḥy son of Gnʾl son of Whbgs¹b and he found the trace of his fathers, so Oh Lt may they have peace and embrace their grandfather forever, and blind the one who would efface this inscription. And he grieved for Mlk and for S¹lm son of Ġyrʾl and for ʾbḥ the son of Rmyn who died, and for his uncle and for Ḫhṣ {his uncle} son of his uncle who were killed, and those who remain despair
Phillip Stokes
Language and Script
Safaitic

Interpretation

Commentary
ʾḎR – The formula w-wgd ʾṯr PN “he found the remnant/trace of X” is very common in the Safaitic corpus and, according to Al-Jallad and Jaworska (2019) could refer to finding “an inscription, campsite, or perhaps even a grave,” but “the exact meaning is unclear” (p. 37). The noun ʾṯr (ʾaṯar), “trace,” is written with a ḏ glyph instead of ṯ in this inscription. The most likely explanation is that the voiceless dental fricative /θ/ was voiced in the intervocalic context of the word: /aθa/ > /aða/, reflecting interference from a spoken register. Such interference is relatively rare in the Safaitic corpus, but not unknown. For example, the verb qyẓ “to spend the dry season,” is written once as ʾyḍ (Is.Mu 113: ḥll h-dr dṯʾ f ʾyḍ f śty f h bʿlsmn qbll, “he camped in this region during the season of the later rains, then the dry season, then the winter so, O Bʿlsmn, (grant) a reunion with loved ones”), likely reflecting a spoken variety in which *q > ʾ and *ẓ > ḍ (2026, ch. 3). ʾBYH – As mentioned above, the formula wgd + ʾṯr + Noun/PN is quite common in the Safaitic corpus. The noun ʾb “father” is common in this construction, and apparently in the genitive. The suffix pronoun just have been pronounced in this situation with a vowel before it, /ʾabīyoh/, resulting in the consonantal spelling of the homorganic glide. MS¹K GDHM – This phrase is unattested elsewhere in the Safaitic corpus, and is thus open to multiple interpretations. The first word ms¹k in ClAr, and subsequent varieties as well, typically means something like “he held, seized.” It is not immediately clear whether this is a noun or verb, and who the referent(s) is/are. However, the following noun offers a clue. The noun gdhm is almost certainly a combination of gd and hm. The former in Safaitic can mean “grandfather,” “well in a land with much herbage,” or the name of a deity Gadd (Al-Jallad and Jaworska 2019: 63). If the referent is to the deity, then hm could either be a tribal name, or a 3mpl pronominal suffix: “Gadd [of the tribe] of Hm” or “Their Gd.” Since the tribal name Hm does not occur elsewhere in the inscription, and the use of Gd with a pronominal suffix is so far unattested in Safaitic, I prefer one of the other translations of Gd. Of the other two attested usages, I think that “grandfather” makes most sense of the context, and I favor interpreting hm as a 3mpl pronominal suffix. The question remains, though, of how to parse the phrase ms¹k gd-hm. One possibility is that ms¹k is a maṣdar, mask “grasp, hold” (Steingass 1001). In that case, it could be translated something like “may they have peace and the embrace of their grandfather.” I do not believe there is evidence here for a belief in the afterlife, although it cannot be ruled out. More likely perhaps is a reference to burial among an ancestor, perhaps with oblique reference to the eponymous ancestor of the tribe. It is also possible that it is a plural form musak “what affords success and security; prey, booty, prize” (Steingass, ibid.). Alternatively, it is possible to read both s¹lm and ms¹k as perfects, salemū and masakū, “may they be at peace and embrace their grandfather forever.” I have chosen to translate the phrase as if they were both verbs; however, as can be seen from this brief discussion, this is not entirely clear from the text. It is hoped that future discoveries will provide parallels to the phraseology.

  • [BES15_MS] Stokes, P. The Badia Epigraphic Survey: The Safaitic Inscriptions of Marabb al-Shurafāt BES 2015. OCIANA: Zenodo, 2026. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23482253.
Site
Marabb al-Shurafāt, Al-Mafraq Governorate, Jordan
Date Found
Jun-15
Current Location
In situ
Updated 19 Oct, 2026 by OCIANA

Cite this Site

Phillip Stokes, 'BES15_MS 289,' ed. A. Al-Jallad and M.C.A. Macdonald, OCIANA, 19 Oct, 2026. https://ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions/46973. Accessed: 29 Oct, 2026.