WH 3923
Text Information
- Siglum
- WH 3923
- Transliteration
-
l {{b}}{{d}}{{ḥ}} w ʿw{{ḏ}} {b-} {{h}}{{ʾ}}lh
Macdonald 1989
- Translation
-
By {Bdḥ} and {he sought refuge} {in} {h- ʾlh}
Macdonald 1989
- Language and Script
- Safaitic 1
Interpretation
- Apparatus Criticus
WH tentatively read: l bdr [?] {b}{n} ʿwḏ dṯ{ʾ} h ---- "By Bdr [?] son of ʿwḏ. He spent the spring at ----"
- Commentary
-
The prayer ʿwḏ b- divine name 'he sought refuge in "divine name" ' is previously attested, but for the first time here with the deity h- ʾlh 'the god'. Macdonald (2024: 346-347) has very cautiously suggested that Safaitic h- ʾlh might refer to the Christian god, being the equivalent of the Paleo-Arabic ʾal-ʾilāh 'the god,' which occurs almost exclusively in Christian Arabic inscriptions; it appears to be a calque of Greek ho theós 'the God', Aramaic ʾalāhā 'idem.' (Robin 2020; Al-Jallad and Sidky 2024). For other possible evidence for Christianity in Safaitic, see Al-Jallad and Al-Manaser (2021) and Al-Jallad (2022). This is one of a number of inscriptions in which the letters have been joined, see Macdonald (1989: 65–66, 73, 79, from which the explanatory tracing here is taken).
Macdonald 1989
- Editio Princeps
- Winnett and Harding 1978
- Field Collector
- Winnett and Harding
- Special Letter Forms
- cursive
- Technique
- carved
- Direction of Script
- Right to left
- Al-Jallad, A. Jesus in Arabia: Tracing the Spread of Christianity into the Desert. Biblical Archaeology Review, spring 2022b: 40-46.
- [AADI] Al-Jallad, A. & Al-Manaser, A. The Pre-Islamic Divine Name ʿsy and the Background of the Qurʾānic Jesus. Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association 6, 2021: 107-136
- Al-Jallad, A. & Sidky, H. A Paleo-Arabic Inscription of a Companion of Muhammad? Journal of Near Eastern Studies 83.1, 2024: 1-14
- Macdonald, M.C.A. Book Review: Pre-Islamic Arabia: Societies, Politics, Cults and Identities during Late Antiquity. By Valentina A. Grasso. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 83.2, 2024: 343-348
- [MCS] Macdonald, M.C.A. Cursive Safaitic Inscriptions? A Preliminary Investigation. Pages 62-81 in M.M. Ibrahim (ed.), Arabian Studies in Honour of Mahmoud Ghul: Symposium at Yarmouk University December 8-11, 1984. (Yarmouk University Publications: Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology Series, 2). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1989.
- Robin, Ch. J. Allāh avant Muḥammad. Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 49, 2020: 1-145
- [WH] Winnett, F.V. & Harding, G.L. Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns. (Near and Middle East Series, 9). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978.
- Site
- Ǧabal Qarmah, WH Cairn 50, Al-Mafraq Governorate, Jordan
- Date Found
- 1958–1959
- Current Location
- In situ
- Subjects
- Genealogy, Religion
- Old OCIANA ID
- #0014896
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