WH 3908

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: WH read the first three letters as WH 3908, reading l ḥṣ, the ṣ being the upper part of the s².
Commentary: WH 3908 and 3909 were written by brothers who used the close similarity of their names to write a joint inscription, in which they shared the last two letters of their names plus the bn and their father's name (bn nybt). Ḥs²dy has not been found before in Safaitic, though compare the Arabic name Ḥāšid (Caskel 1966: 321a). It is a common custom among the Bedouin today to give their children rhyming or closely similar names, as here.

Provenance: WH worked from photographs taken by Mr Barry Park in 1955 who gave them to Gerald Lankester Harding. Unfortunately, these have since disappeared, and the photographs here were taken during a survey of Jabal Qurma and Tell Farah by Michael C.A. Macdonald, Geraldine King, Ann Searight and David Jacobson in 1982.
Original Reading Credit: OCIANA

Associated Inscriptions

Winnett, F.V. & Harding, G.L. Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns. (Near and Middle East Series, 9). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978.
Caskel, W. (ed.) Ǧamharat an-Nasab. Das genealogische Werk des Hišām ibn Muḥammad al-Kalbī. (2 volumes). Leiden: Brill, 1966.
Ḥasan, Y.F.Y Nuqūš ṣafawiyyah min ǧabal qarmah (dirāsah taḥlīliyyah). Unpublished MA thesis, Yarmouk University. 2001.