OCIANA
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

WH 3931

Siglum
WH 3931
Transliteration
l {ʾ}m{{r}} {{b}}{{n}} ḫrm{n} w {ḥ}{ḏ}r m ʿwr ʾl rfʾt
Translation
By {ʾmr} {son of} {Ḫrmn} and he was on his guard against whoever destroyed [members of the] ʾl Rfʾt

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
WH: l ʾmmr ḫrmn ʾrb mʿwr ʾl rfʾt "By ʾmmr Ḥrmn ... the obliterator of the tribe of Rfʾt"
Commentary
The text has been obscured by hammering and the joining of letters. For ḥḏr meaning "he was on his guard" compare Classical Arabic ḥaraba (Lane 534a ), and for ʿwr meaning "to destroy" compare Classical Arabic ʿāra "he destroyed (something) (Lane 2193c).

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
WH 3927–3930.1, 3932

  • Winnett, F.V. & Harding, G.L. Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns. (Near and Middle East Series, 9). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978.
  • Lane, E.W. An Arabic-English Lexicon, Derived from the Best and Most Copious Eastern Sources. (Volume 1 in 8 parts [all published]). London: Williams & Norgate, 1863-1893.
Site
Ǧabal Qarmah, WH Cairn 50, Al-Mafraq Governorate, Jordan
Date Found
1958–1959
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Genealogy, Group (in the narrative), Watch (keeping)
Script
Safaitic
Old OCIANA ID
#0014904
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