C 5177

Siglum
C 5177
Alternative Sigla
Dura Europos S 3, Eṣ-Ṣāliḥīye 3
Transliteration
{ṣ}{w}f b{n} klb
OCIANA
Translation
{Ṣwf} {son of} Klb
OCIANA
Language and Script
Safaitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
Torrey 1931: 176, followed by C: l n(s¹)ryhb.
Commentary
Torrey did not interpret the first sign and read the rest as ln(s1)ryhb. However, the photograph shows a finely scratched ṣ or possibly an ’, before the first sign copied by Torrey. It is in a different technique from the rest of the text, but it looks deliberate and there is no sign of another inscription to which it might belong. After the ṣ/’ there appears to be an elongated w and this is followed by a shallow ẓ or a f lying at 90° to the direction of the text. The form of the letter is clear, only its value is ambiguous. However, ẓ in this context does not seem to produce a possible name and I would therefore take the letter as f, reading the name as ṣwf or ’wf. The former has not been found before in Safaitic, but is a perfectly possible name. Compare, for example, Arabic ṣawwāf "a wool-merchant". If, on the other hand, the name is ’wf, this has been found once before in Safaitic and is presumably a diminutive of the more common name ’f, perhaps *’Uwayf. On the photograph the b of bn is clear and the n seems to be a dot between its arms. The next letter is not at all certain but on the photograph looks like a k, the loop to one side of the stem on Torrey's copy being, in fact, two short bars whose ends do not appear to be joined. At first sight, the next sign looks like a h and was so copied by Torrey. However, on the photograph, the side stroke seems to be part of a long extraneous scratch below the letter, and the sign is probably a l. The last letter is probably a b. The short line transecting the curve seems, on close examination, to be extraneous. The name Klb is, of course, well-attested in Safaitic. [Commentary adapted from Macdonald 2005: 122–123, by kind permission of Brill, Leiden]

  • [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.
  • [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.
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
#0008381
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Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA