C 5175

Siglum
C 5175
Alternative Sigla
Dura Europos S 1, Eṣ-Ṣāliḥīye 1
Transliteration
l gṯmʾ b- dwry
OCIANA
Translation
By Gṯmʾ at Dūrā
OCIANA
Language and Script
Safaitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
Torrey 1931: 175: l gṯm ʾb dw "Of Gṯm Abi Dw"; C: l gṯm ʾl dwy "By Gṯm [of] the tribe of Dwy [?]"
Commentary
The reading here is that made by Macdonald (2005: 119–121) from the photograph by R. Bertolino. The final letter of the text is a clear y and it is separated from the w by a r, though this is rather faint on the photograph. Neither gṯm nor gṯm’ have been found before in Safaitic, but compare the Arabic name ǧaṯṯāmah used for both a man and a woman (see Lidzbarski 1902–1915, iii: 137) or the woman's name, gtmy, which has been found twice in a Palmyrene inscription (CIS ii 4604 A1 and B 3). We would suggest that the -’ at the end of gṯm’ represents either the Aramaic emphatic ending, which is occasionally found on personal names in Safaitic, see the list in Winnett & Harding 1978: 19, though note that the majority of these are paralleled by forms of the same name with the Safaitic article, h-, e.g. ‘bd-’ / h-‘bd, whereas, to the best of our knowledge, a name *h-gṯm has not yet been found in Safaitic. Alternatively, it could be the hypocoristic ending -’ which, like -y, is quite common on one-word names in Palmyrene. The name in this text could be that of either a man or a woman. If our reading and interpretation are correct, this is an extremely unusual Safaitic inscription, for two reasons. Firstly, to the best of our knowledge, this is the only text in this script in which the author has identified him- or herself simply by his/her name and the fact that he/she is in a particular geographical location (though compare Ms 64). A second peculiar feature of this text would be the use of matres lectionis. Normally, Safaitic inscriptions are written entirely without vowels or medial diphthongs. However, here it is probable that the -’ of the personal name represents /-ā/ and, if dwry represents the name of the city, then the w must represent medial /ū/. The name appears as dwr’ in two texts in the Palmyrene script from the city (PAT 1085/2 and 1094/1) and the use of -y in the Safaitic form to represent the final sound which appears as -’ in Palmyrene can be paralleled by the spelling bṣry (Bostra) in a Safaitic text (SIJ 78) compared with bṣr’ in Nabataean (see Macdonald 20015: 121, n. 15). The combination of the form of the personal name and the use of matres lectionis, suggests that the author was more familiar with Aramaic orthographic conventions than with those of the Safaitic graffiti. [Commentary adapted from Macdonald 2005: 119–121, by kind permission of Brill, Leiden].

  • [CIS ii] Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum. Pars II Inscriptiones Aramaicas continens. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1889-1954.
  • [PAT] Hillers, D.R. & Cussini, E. Palmyrene Aramaic Texts. (Publications of The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
  • Lidzbarski, M. Ephemeris für semitische Epigraphik. (3 volumes). Giessen: Ricker &Töpelmann, 1902-1915.
  • [Dura Europos S] Macdonald, M.C.A. The Safaitic inscriptions at Dura Europos. Pages 118–129 (+ references on 227-247) in E. Cussini (ed.), A Journey to Palmyra. Collected Essays to Remember Delbert R. Hillers. (Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, 22). Leiden / Boston: Brill, 2005.
  • [Ms] Inscriptions recorded in north-eastern Jordan by Alison Betts and Fidelity and William Lancaster who sent their photographs to Michael Macdonald. They are published here
  • [C] Ryckmans, G. Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum: Pars Quinta, Inscriptiones Saracenicae Continens: Tomus I, Fasciculus I, Inscriptiones Safaiticae. Paris: E Reipublicae Typographeo, 1950–1951.
  • [Eṣ-Ṣāliḥīye] Torrey, C.C. The Safaitic Inscriptions. Pages 172-177 in P.V.C. Baur and M.I. Rostovtzeff (eds), The Excavations at Dura-Europos conducted by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters. Preliminary Report of Second Season of Work October 1928 — April 1929. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1931.
  • [SIJ] Winnett, F.V. Safaitic Inscriptions from Jordan. (Near and Middle East Series, 2). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1957.
  • [WH] Winnett, F.V. & Harding, G.L. Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns. (Near and Middle East Series, 9). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978. pp 19
Site
Dura Europos (Al-Ṣālihiyyah), Dayr al-Zawr (Deir ez-Zor) Governorate, Syria
Date Found
1928–1929, 1995
Current Location
In situ
Subject
Genealogy
Old OCIANA ID
#0008379
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Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA