New Thamudic Inscriptions from Al-Jafr Region in the ...The region of al-Jafr is one of the sites of...

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© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012 DOI: 10.1163/157005812X645619 Arabica 59 (2012) 1-12 brill.nl/arab New amudic Inscriptions from Al-Jafr Region in the Southeast Jordan Hussein Al-Qudrah, Mahdi Alzouʾbi And Sultan Al-Maʿani Queen Rania Institute of Tourism and Heritage e Hashemite University-Jordan Abstract is paper is an analytical study of ten new amudic inscriptions written in the so-called amudic E script, collected by the authors during a survey in the region of al-Jafr (southeast Jordan). e study aims at analyzing the inscriptions, meanings and structure of the words and the proper nouns contained therein. is group of inscriptions emphasizes stating some new personal names mentioned in amudic inscriptions. Keywords al-Jafr/al-G ̌ afr, inscriptions, Southeast Jordan, eophoric, amudic, Safaitic, Lihyanite, Naba- taean, Palmyrene Résumé Cet article contient une étude analytique de dix nouvelles inscriptions thamoudéennes, notées en graphie “thamoudéen E”, rassemblées par les auteurs au cours d’une exploration dans la région d’al-Jafr (sud-est de la Jordanie). L’étude se propose d’analyser les inscriptions, les sens et les structures des mots et noms propres qui y figurent. Ce groupe d’inscriptions met en relief de nouveau noms personnels mentionnés dans les inscriptions thamoudéennes. Mots clés al-Jafr/al-G ̌ afr, inscriptions, sud-est de la Jordanie, théophorique, thamoudéen, safaïtique, lihya- nite, nabatéen, palmyrénien Geography and History of the Site e region of al-Jafr contains a number of valleys connected to each other on one side and to Wādī l-Sarḥ ān, the main valley in the region, on the other side. ese valleys expand through the boarder lines between the north of Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Among these valleys is Wādī Samarmada, where the inscriptions of this study were found. It is worth noting that the region under study has been settled since the Stone Ages. Stone tools frequently used by human searching for food were ARAB 59.5_F1_Al-Qudrah.indd 1 ARAB 59.5_F1_Al-Qudrah.indd 1 5/8/2012 11:09:36 AM 5/8/2012 11:09:36 AM

Transcript of New Thamudic Inscriptions from Al-Jafr Region in the ...The region of al-Jafr is one of the sites of...

  • © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012 DOI: 10.1163/157005812X645619

    Arabica 59 (2012) 1-12 brill.nl/arab

    New Thamudic Inscriptions from Al-Jafr Region in the Southeast Jordan

    Hussein Al-Qudrah, Mahdi Alzouʾbi And Sultan Al-MaʿaniQueen Rania Institute of Tourism and Heritage

    The Hashemite University-Jordan

    Abstract This paper is an analytical study of ten new Thamudic inscriptions written in the so-called Thamudic E script, collected by the authors during a survey in the region of al-Jafr (southeast Jordan). The study aims at analyzing the inscriptions, meanings and structure of the words and the proper nouns contained therein. This group of inscriptions emphasizes stating some new personal names mentioned in Thamudic inscriptions.

    Keywordsal-Jafr/al-Ǧafr, inscriptions, Southeast Jordan, Theophoric, Thamudic, Safaitic, Lihyanite, Naba-taean, Palmyrene

    RésuméCet article contient une étude analytique de dix nouvelles inscriptions thamoudéennes, notées en graphie “thamoudéen E”, rassemblées par les auteurs au cours d’une exploration dans la région d’al-Jafr (sud-est de la Jordanie). L’étude se propose d’analyser les inscriptions, les sens et les structures des mots et noms propres qui y figurent. Ce groupe d’inscriptions met en relief de nouveau noms personnels mentionnés dans les inscriptions thamoudéennes.

    Mots clésal-Jafr/al-Ǧafr, inscriptions, sud-est de la Jordanie, théophorique, thamoudéen, safaïtique, lihya-nite, nabatéen, palmyrénien

    Geography and History of the Site

    The region of al-Jafr contains a number of valleys connected to each other on one side and to Wādī l-Sarḥān, the main valley in the region, on the other side. These valleys expand through the boarder lines between the north of Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Among these valleys is Wādī Samarmada, where the inscriptions of this study were found.

    It is worth noting that the region under study has been settled since the Stone Ages. Stone tools frequently used by human searching for food were

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    found in the region of oases, such as al-Jafr Oasis. The settlement region is characterized by its fertility. Many cairns contain inscriptions were founded in the edges of the valley.1

    The region of al-Jafr is one of the sites of Thamudic people who lived in the south and southeast Jordan (in al Ḥismā, Wādī Rūm, al-Ǧafr, Raʾs al-Naqab, Bāyir and northeast of Wādī l-Sarḥān) and in the north and northwest of Saudi Arabia (in al-Ḥigř, Tābūk and Taymā).

    Many cairns of stones expand in the region and contain Thamudic inscrip-tions correspond to the so-called Thamudic E which is dated back to the second century BCE and continue to the fourth century CE.2

    Inscriptions of the Study

    The inscriptions of this study were discovered and personally copied by the authors during a recent survey in al-Jafr region. They are presented in this article in the form of transcription, translation, analysis and comparing the vocabularies with their counterparts in other Semitic languages.

    Inscription No 1 Transcription: l whblh bn d. .Translation: By whblh son of d . .Comments: The inscription is written on a broken and heavily weathered rock, the end of the inscription which contains the patronymic of the author is broken down. The letters are relatively clear and as result it was properly read.

    1 Salāḥ al-Dīn al-Baḥrī, Al-Urdun. Dirāsa gǔgṙāfiyya, Manšūrāt al-Ǧamʿiyya l-ʿilmiyya l-mala-kiyya, Amman, History of Jordan Foundation, 1994, p. 74.

    2 Sulaymān al-Ṯiyyāb, Nuqūš ta̠mūdiyya min al-Mamlaka l-ʿarabiyya l-suʿūdiyya, Riyad, King Fahd National Library Publication, 1999, p. 65.

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    whblh: (personal name, masculine) “gift of the God”, it is a theophoric com-pound personal name consisting of the name whb “gift, grant”, and the theo-phoric element lh “God”. This name is particularly common in Thamudic, Safaitic and Lihyanite.3 It is also mentioned as whblhy in Nabataean,4 and whblt in Palmyrene.5 This personal name is the equivalent of the Arabic Wahb Allāh “gift of God”. The Greek cognate name is ὐαβάλλας.6

    Inscription No 2Transcription: l mqm bn mqmʾl wwgm ʿl ʿ . .Translation: By mqm son of mqmʾl, and he grieved for ʿ . .Comments: This inscription was written following the so called boustrophe-don way. It consists of three lines crudely executed in large pecked out letter, apparently, with a wide sharp tool. The end of the inscription is mutilated thus we lose some of its letters. mqm: (personal name, masculine), is particularly common in Thamudic as well as in Safaitic.7 It is also mentioned as mqymw in Nabataean,8 mqym and

    3 Gerald L. Harding, An Index and Concordance of Pre-Islamic Arabian Names and Inscriptions, Toronto, University of Toronto (“Near and Middle East Series”, 8), 1971, p. 652-3.

    4 Avraham Negev, Personal Name in the Nabataean Realm, Jerusalem, Publications of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University (“Qedem”, 32), 1991, p. 24, no 340.

    5 Jurgen K. Stark, Personal Names in Palmyrene Inscriptions, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971, p. 15, 85.

    6 Hussein M. al-Qudrah, Semitic Personal Names in the Ancient Greek Inscriptions in Jordan, Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Philology, University of Athens, 2001, p. 155.

    7 Harding, Index, p. 560.8 Avraham Negev, Nabatean, p. 41, no 679a.

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    mqymw in Palmyrene.9 This name is the equivalent of the Arabic Muqīm “who makes to stand”.10 The Greek cognate name is Μοκεεμος and Μοκιμος.11mqmʾl: (personal name, masculine) “standing of ʾ l, or Place of ʾ l ”, composites of the initial element mqm (see above) and the deity ʾl. This name is frequently attested in Tamudic,12 Safaitic13 and in Nabataean.14w wgm̌: w is a conjunction that means “and”; wgm̌ (verb, 3rd personal mas-culine), this verb is well known in Thamudic and Safaitic funeral and com-memoratives inscriptions.15 It is the equivalent of the Arabic form wagǎma “to grieve, mourn, to be painful”.16ʿl: (preposition) “on, for, toward”.

    Inscription No 3 Transcription: lʾs b mʿrbTranslation: By ʾs son of Mʿrb

    9 Stark, Palmyrene, p. 35, 96. 10 Muḥammad Murtaḍā l-Zubaydī, Tāg ̌al-ʿarūs min gǎwāhir al-qāmūs, 20 vols, Beirut, Dār

    al-fikr, 1994, vol. 17, p. 592 (qawama). 11 Heinz Wuthnow, Die Semitischen Menschennamen in Griechischen und Papyri des Vorderen

    Orients, Leipzig, Dietrich (“Studien zur Epigraphik und Papyruskunde”, Bd. I, Schrift 4), 1930, p. 78.

    12 Geraldine King, Early North Arabian Thamudic E, A Preliminary Description Based on A New Corpus of Inscriptions from Ḥisma Desert of Southern Jordan and Published Material, Unpub-lished Ph.D. Thesis, Submitted in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1990, p. 283, no 133.

    13 Harding, Index, p. 560.14 Negev, Nabatean, p. 41, no 681.15 Frederich V. Winnett and G.L. Harding, Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns, Toronto,

    University of Toronto Press (“Near and Middle East Series”, 9), 1978, p. 650; Willard G. Oxtoby, Some Inscriptions of the Safaitic Beduin, New Haven, American Oriental Society (“American Oriental Series”, 50), 1968, p. 57, 67.

    16 Al-Zubaydī, Tāg,̌ vol. 17, p. 718 (wajama).

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    Comments: This inscription contains only one line written from left-side to right-side, it is carved in the middle of a well conserved sand stone.ʾs: (personal name, masculine). It could be the equivalent of the Arabic aws “give, gift”.17 It is well known in Thamudic and Safaitic in its singular form “ ʾs” and composite form.18bn: (noun, singular, masculine), it is a common Semitic noun “son of”.mʿrb: (personal name, masculine), it has not been found before in Thamudic. We can compare it with the Arabic personal name maʿrib which means “Artic-ulate, fluent”; name derived from the verb ʿaraba. It has been found once before in Safaitic,19 and it is also occur in Nabataean.20

    Inscription No 4Transcription: l dr bn ḥrTranslation: By dr son of ḥr Comments: This inscription is on triangle a broken rock, its end is missing. We can read clearly the author’s name and his patronymic, but the rock has been broken immediately above the end of the text we lose the last part of the text.dr: (personal name, masculine) could be the equivalent of the Arabic durr “Jewel, copious” from the verb darra “to shine brightly, to flow abundantly”.21 It is attested in Thamudic22 as well as in Safaitic.23 It is also mentioned as theophoric compound personal name drʾl in Safaitic.24

    17 Harding, Index, p. 40.18 See ʾbʾs, ʾsʾl,ʾsʾlt in Harding, Index, p. 40. 19 Winnett and Harding, Inscriptions, no 1497.20 Negev, Nabatean, p. 41.21 Al-Zubaydī, Tāg,̌ vol. 6, p. 396 (darra). 22 King, Thamudic E, p. 234, no 273; p. 247, no 333.23 Harding, Index, p. 238.24 Ibid., p. 238.

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    ḥr: (personal name, masculine) is well known in Thamudic, Safaitic25 and Lihyanite.26 It is mentioned as ḥrw in Nabataean,27 and ḥrʾ in Palmyrene.28 It could be the equivalent of the Arabic ḥurr “free, unrestricted”.29

    Inscription No 5Transcription: l rḏm bn zrʿ bn ʾsd wwgm ʿl ḥr wʿl ʾbhTranslation: By rd ̱m son of zrʿ son of ʾsd, and he grieved for ḥr and for his father. Comments: This commemorative inscription written on a rectangular rock and contains two texts which were written in a small and tight letters, but its reading is fairly certain. rḏm: (personal name, masculine) hitherto unattested neither in Thamudic nor in other North Arabian Inscriptions. We can compare it with the Arabic raḏm and ruḏām “corpulence, embonpoint, fullness”, rad ̱ama “to flow full”.30zrʿ: (personal name, masculine) is attested once before in Thamudic.31 We can compare it with the Arabic zarʿ “plant” and we have the Arabic personal name Zurʿa.32 ʾsd: (personal name, masculine). It is the equivalent of the Arabic name asad “lion”.33 The name is frequently attested in Thamudic, Safaitic and Lihyanite,34

    25 Ibid., p. 181.26 Ḥusayn Abū l-Ḥasan, Qirāʾa li-kitābāt liḥyāniyya min gǎbal ʿAkma bi-mintạqat al-ʿUlā,

    Riyad, Maktabat al-Malik Fahd al-watạniyya, 1997, no 35.27 Negev, Nabatean, p. 31, no 483.28 Stark, Palmyrene, p. 23, 90.29 Ibn Durayd, Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan, Kitāb al-Ištiqāq, ed. ʿ Abd al-Salām Hārūn,

    Beirut, Dār al-masīra, 19792, p. 135.30 Al-Zubaydī, vol. 16, p. 284 (raḏama).31 Harding, Index, p. 297.32 Ibn Durayd, Ištiqāq, p. 277.33 Ibid., p. 56.34 Harding, Index, p. 42; G. King, Thamudic E, p. 471.

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    it is also known as ʾšdw in Nabataean,35 and ʾšd and ʾšdw in Palmyrene.36 The Greek cognate name is Ἄσαδος.37wwgm̌ ʿl: see above no 2.ḥr: (personal name, masculine), see above no 4.ʾbh: (noun, singular, masculine + suff. 3rd p.s.m.) “his father”. It is attested once before in Thamudic,38 but it is frequently mentioned in Safaitic.39

    Inscription No 6Transcription: l ʿzz bn ʾsd bn ʿbr bn ʾs Translation: By ʿzz son of ʾsd son of ʿbr son of ʾsComments: This inscription is found in the same rock with the precedent one. The author was evidently a relative of the author of the other text but the exact relationship can not be determined. ʿzz: (personal name, masculine). It is frequently occured in Thamudic and Safaitic.40 It is mentioned as ʿzz and ʿzzw in Nabataean41 and ʿzyz in Palmyrene.42 This name could be the equivalent of the Arabic ʿAzīz “mighty, powerful, beloved”.43 The Greek cognate name is Ἄζιζος.44 ʾsd: (personal name, masculine), see above no 5.

    35 Jean Cantineau, Le Nabatéen, Paris, Librairie Ernest Leroux, 1930-32, p. 68.36 Stark, Palmyrene, p. 7, 73. 37 Al-Qudrah, Semitic, p. 62.38 Antonin Jaussen and Raphael Savignac, Mission archéologique en Arabie, 2 vols, Paris, Paul

    Geuthner [“Publications de la Société des Fouilles Archéologiques”, 165], 1909-14.39 Harding, Index, p. 16.40 Ibid., p. 418.41 Cantineau, Nabatéen, p. 129.42 Stark, Palmyrene, p. 44, 105.43 Ibn Durayd, Ištiqāq, p. 47.44 Al-Qudrah, Semitic, p. 40.

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    ʿbr: (personal name, masculine) is derived from the root ʿbr “pass-by”. The name is mentioned in Thamudic,45 and Safaitic.46 The name ʿĀbir “passer-by” is referred to the son of Sam son of the prophet Noah.ʾs: (personal name, masculine), see above no 1.

    Inscription No 7Transcription: l nšš bn mġyr bn ʾys Translation: By nšš son of mġyr son of ʾsd son of ʾysComments: This inscription is written from left to right in curved form. The letters were written carefully, so its reading is certain. nšš: (personal name, masculine) is occurred once in Thamudic.47 There are no parallels for this name in the other North-Arabian inscriptions. We can compare it with the Arabic našīš “sound of the effused water or the boiled water”.48mġyr: (personal name, masculine) is attested here for the first time in Thamu-dic, but it is well known in Safaitic.49 It is also attested as mʿyrw in Nabataean,50 mʿyrʾ in Palmyrene.51 This name could be the equivalent of the Arabic Muġīra which is derived from the root ġwr, ag ̇āra “to rade”.52 The Greek cognate name could be Μόερος.53

    45 Sulaymān al-Ṯiyyāb, Dirāsa li-nuqūš ta̠mūdiyya min Ǧubba bi-Ḥāʾil, al-mamlaka l-ʿarabiyya l-suʿūdiyya, Riyad (“King Fahd National Library Publication”, 61), 2000, p. 65.

    46 Harding, Index, p. 402.47 Albert Van den Branden, Les inscriptions thamoudéennes, Louvain, Université de Louvain

    (“Bibliothèque du Museon”, 25), 1950, p. 308.48 Al-Zubaydī, Tāg,̌ vol. 9, p. 207 (našša).49 Harding, Index, p. 559.50 Negev, Nabatean, p. 40, no 667.51 Stark, Palmyrene, p. 34 and 96.52 Al-Zubaydī, Tāg,̌ vol. 7, p. 327 ( ġawara, ag ̇āra).53 Al-Qudrah, Semitic, p. 139.

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    ʾys: (personal name, masculine) is frequently attested in Thamudic and Safaitic.54 It is mentioned as ʾyšw in Nabataean,55 and ʾyšʾ in Palmyrene.56 This name is could be the equivalent of the Arabic Iyās which is originally derived from the name aws “gift, reward”.57 The Greek cognate name is Ἰάσος.58

    Inscription No 8Transcription: . . q bn zyd bn ysʾl Translation: . . q son of zyd son of ysʾl Comments: The Sandstone contains two short inscriptions. The beginning of the first one (no 8) is missed, which makes it difficult to read the first name. The reading of the rest inscription is fairly certain.zyd: (personal name, masculine) is particularly common in Thamudic and in Safaitic as zd and zyd.59 It is also attested as zydw in Nabataean,60 and zd in Lihyanite.61 It is also mentioned frequently as a theophoric compound per-sonal name as zd ʾ l and zyd ʾ l in North Arabian Inscriptions.62 It is the equiva-lent of the Arabic name Zayd which is derived from the root zāda “to increase, grow”.63 The Greek cognate name is Ζαῖδος.64 ysʾl: (personal name, masculine). This form hitherto attested neither in Thamudic nor in other North Arabian inscriptions. But it could be a variant

    54 Harding, Index, p. 88.55 Negev, Nabatean, p. 12, no 75.56 Stark, Palmyrene, p. 4 and 67.57 Al-Zubaydī, Tāg,̌ vol. 8, p. 195 (aws); see also Enno Littmann, Safaitic Inscriptions, Leiden,

    Brill [Publication of Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904-5 and 1909], 1943, p. 298.

    58 Al-Qudrah, Semitic, p. 107.59 See Harding, Index, p. 296, 304.60 Negev, Nabatean, p. 26, no 384.61 Jaussen and Savignac, Mission, no 63.62 Harding, index, p. 296, 304.63 Ibn Durayd, Ištiqāq, p. 20.64 Al-Qudrah, Semitic, p. 94.

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    of the common theophoric compound personal name ʾysʾl consisting of two elements: ʾys “gift” and the divinity name ʾl. Thus we can translate the name as “gift of the god ʾl” (see above no 7).

    Inscription No 9Transcription: l msk bn ʿwḏlhTranslation: By msk son of ʿwḏlhComments: A small commemorative inscription found on the same rock with no 8. This inscription is placed in the middle of the sandstone under the precedent one. The direction of writing started from left to right, the letter is deeply scraped and the reading is fairly clear. msk: (personal name, masculine) is well-known in Safaitic, but it is attested as mskt in Thamudic.65 This name is mentioned as msk in Lihyanite,66 mškw in Nabataean,67 and Palmyrene.68 It is also mentioned as a theophoric com-pound personal name mskʾl and mskʾlh in Old North Arabian Inscriptions.69 The Greek cognate name is Μάσεχος.70 It could be the equivalent of the Arabic personal name Māsik from the verb masaka “to catch, gras”.71 ʿwḏlh: (personal name, masculine) is consisting of the initial element ʿwd ̱ “protect, refuge”, and the divinity name lh meaning “protection of God”. It is

    65 Harding, Index, p. 545.66 Jaussen and Savignac, Mission, no 285.67 Cantineau, Nabatéen, p. 118.68 Stark, Palmyrene, p. 37, 97.69 Harding, Index, p. 545.70 Al-Qudrah, Semitic, p. 135.71 Al-Zubaydī, Tāg,̌ vol. 13, p. 642 (masaka).

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    the first time mentioned in Thamudic, but it is mentioned in Safaitic.72 How-ever, the form ʿwd ̱ is often mentioned in North Arabian Inscriptions.73 The similar Arabic name could be ʿĀʾiḏ Allāh.74

    Inscription No 10Transcription: l zyd bn srb bn wʿlTranslation: By zyd son of srb son of wʿl Comments: A commemorative inscription carved in a smoothen sandstone. A portion of the rock has been damaged, but this doesn‘t affect on the clarity of the text. zyd: (personal name, masculine), see above no 8.srb: (personal name masculine) hitherto unattested in Thamudic, but it is known in Safaitic where Harding compare it with the Arabic “to go forth, pasture freely”.75 wʿl: (personal name, masculine) is a well-known personal name in Thamudic as well as in Safaitic and Lihyanite.76 It signifies the Arabic waʿl “mountain-goat, antelope”, and it is mentioned as the masculine personal name Waʿla.77

    72 Harding, Index, p. 448.73 Ibid., p. 448.74 Al-Zubaydī, Tāg,̌ vol. 5, p. 383.75 Harding, Index, p. 315.76 Ibid., p. 645.77 Al-Zubaydī, Tāg,̌ vol. 15, p. 782.

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    Conclusion

    This study aimed to publish new ten Thamudic inscriptions written in the so-called Thamudic E script. This shape of script was known in the region of south, southeast Jordan, north and northwest Saudi Arabia.

    These inscriptions included personal names representing the name of the person, his father and sometimes his grandfather and the tribe. Some of these names were theophoric compounds like whblh, mqmʾl, ysʾl and ʿwd ̱lh.

    The study reveals also some new personal names like mʿrb, rḏm, zrʿ, nšš and mġyr. Moreover, it has figured out more information about the linguistic phenomena and shapes of script.

    These inscriptions all together with the new personal names are considered as a useful addition to the corpus of Pre-Islamic North Arabian inscriptions in general.

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