C 5180

Siglum
C 5180
Alternative Sigla
Dura Europos S 9, Eṣ-Ṣāliḥīye 9
Transliteration
l s²ʿm bn bgd ḏ- ʾl mʿgmʿ w ts²wq ʾl- ḫḏt w ʾl- gbt bʿṯ nʿm
OCIANA
Translation
By S²ʿm son of Bgd of the lineage of Mʿgmʿand he longed for Ḫḏt and for Gbt of the patrol of Nʿm
OCIANA
Language and Script
Safaitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
Torrey (1932: 7–68): l s²ʿ m- bny bgd ḥʾl mʿ gmʿ w ts²wq ʾl- tḥt w ʾl- gbt bʿṯ nʿm "Of S²ʿ, of the Bny Bgd, passing by with a company; and he longed for Tḥt and for Gbt; sending a greeting"; C: l s²ʿm bn bgd ḥʾl mʿ gmʿ w ts²wq ʾl- tḥt w ʾl- gbt nʿṯ nʿm "By S²ʿm son of Bgd passing by with a company and he longed for TḥT and Gbt sending a greeting"; Jamme 1970: 88, no. 148: l s²ʿm bn bgd ḏ- ʾl mʿgmʿ w ts²wq ʾl- ḫḏt w ʾl- gbt bʿṯ nʿm "By S²ʿm son of Bgd him of the tribe of Mʿgmʿ. And he was longing for Ḫḏt and for Gbt both having followed Nʿm";
Commentary
The reading and interpretation here is that of Macdonald 2005: 124. Unfortunately R. Bertolino was unable to rediscover this inscription at Dura Europos and so we do not have a photograph of it. According to Torrey the "text runs down [the pillar] perpendicularly, then [turns] horizontally to the right ... halfway around, then rises again in a perpendicular line" (1932: 66–67). To judge from Torrey’s facsimile (copied from the squeezes) and his description, the text was well-cut and the reading of the letters seems clear. The signs for g, ‘ and n are well distinguished and the only letter with an unusual form is ḏ, which both Torrey and C read as ḥ, though its value is not in doubt thanks to the expression ḏ- ’l. The first name has been found in three other Safaitic inscriptions (JaS 160.2, KRS 1828, MAHB 3) and the second is fairly well-attested. However, the "tribal" name, m‘gm‘, is so far unique and, at first sight, would seem to belong to the small number of names found occasionally in Safaitic which end in an ‘ which is not part of the root, e.g. ‘n‘ (WH 147), qdmʿ (MSTJ 1), tmʿ (WH 1125), etc. In each of these cases, however, the letters before the ‘ represent elsewhere the non-divine element in theophoric names, thus, for instance, ‘n’l, qdm’l, tm’l, etc. This is not the case, however, with m‘gm, which, anyway, would not make a suitable element in such a name. At present, we can offer no explanation of this ethnicon. Ḫḏt, the first of the two names after ts2wq ’l-, has not been found before. Assuming that Torrey's facsimile is accurate, there can be no doubt about the reading. The etymology is, however, much more difficult. The second name gbt may have been found once before in Safaitic, in C 3767 though even here the reading is not entirely certain. We have taken b‘ṯ as the equivalent of Arabic ba‘ṯ, ba‘aṯ and ba‘īṯ meaning "someone or something sent", hence "a messanger", or "an army, force, or patrol that is sent out" (Lane 223b). N‘m could be a personal name, or the equivalent of Arabic na‘am "camels and sheep and/or goats when pasturing", or of Arabic na‘īm "blessing, comfort, enjoyment, well-being" (Lane 3035b–c). There are thus at least three ways of interpreting the phrase. (1) b‘ṯ n‘m could be in construct with gbt, literally "Gbt of the patrol of N‘m", meaning that Gbt was a member of N‘m's patrol; or (2) b‘ṯ n‘m could be in apposition to gbt, i.e. meaning "Gbt, N‘m's messenger"; or (3) b‘ṯ could be a participial circumstance clause referring to gbt, followed by an adverbial accusative n‘m, thus equivalent to an Arabic ba‘īṯ na‘aman meaning literally "sent out with regard to the pasturing animals", i.e. "who was sent out [to look after] the pasturing animals". Of these, we would suggest that (1) is probably the most likely. [Commentary adapted from Macdonald 2005: 123–126, by kind permission of Brill, Leiden]

  • [JSaf.N] Jamme, A. Safaitic Notes (Commentary on JaS 44-176). [privately printed]. Washington, DC, 1970.
  • [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 Semitic Inscriptions. Pages 66-71, pl. 19 in P.V.C. Baur, M.I. Rostovtzeff, A.R. Bellinger (eds), The Excavations at Dura-Europos conducted by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters. Preliminary Report of Third Season of Work November 1929 — March 1930. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1932.
Site
Dura Europos (Al-Ṣālihiyyah), Dayr al-Zawr (Deir ez-Zor) Governorate, Syria
Date Found
1928–1929, 1995
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Genealogy, Lineage, Yearning
Old OCIANA ID
#0008384
Download Images
Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA