Hasaitic

Hasaitic is the name given to the inscriptions — mostly gravestones — which have been found in the large oasis of al-Ḥasā in north-eastern Saudi Arabia at sites like Thāj and Qatīf, as well as the Oman Peninsula. It is difficult to identify the language because the texts of the gravestones are very repetitive. They are written in a slightly adapted form of the Ancient South Arabian alphabet (musnad). Many of the personal names in these texts are etymologically ANA but there are other names, as well as features of the language of the texts, which are more difficult to explain as ANA. So far, just over 40 Hasaitic inscriptions are known and many of these are badly damaged. It will not be possible to make a more sophisticated linguistic analysis until more texts are discovered. They were thought to date from the first two centuries AD, but a recent discovery, the Hasaitic-Aramaic bilingual inscription (Mleiha Tomb F5), is probably from the late third century BC. The Aramaic language and script and the informal zabūr ASA script were also used in eastern Arabia at the same time as Hasaitic.