Sigla: LP 342; Is.Mu 117  Script: Safaitic

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Transliteration
l hnʾ bn s²rk bn mḥlm bn ʾḏnt bn wrd bn nġbr ḏ- ʾl ʿwḏ w wgd s¹fr ʾs²yʿ -h f ndm s¹nt ws¹q qbr w ʿzz h- ḥmy ʾl ʿwḏ f h gdʿwḏ w ds²r w h lt mʿwn s¹lm l- ḏ s¹ʾr w ġnyt m- s²hṣ w mḥlt w ḫrs¹ w ʿrg l- ḏ ḫbl h- s¹fr w ġnmt l- ḏ dʿy

Translation
By Hnʾ son of S²rk son of Mḥlm son of ʾḏnt son of Wrd son of Nġbr of the lineage of ʿwḏ and he found the inscription of his companions and so he was devastated by grief in the year of the struggle of Qbr and ʿzz [over] this protected area of pasture of the lineage of ʿwḏ and so O Gdʿwḏ and Ds²r and O Lt [grant] secure help to whoever leaves this inscription untouched and freedom from want but [inflict] dearth of pasture and dumbness and lameness on whoever would damage this writing and [grant] booty to whoever would read [it] aloud

Apparatus Criticus
LP 342: s¹nt ws¹q qbr w ʿzz h- ḥmy ʾl ʿwḏ "in the year in which he united tombs and made them honoured as a sanctuary of the people ofʿwḏ" for "in the year of the struggle of Qbr and ʿzz [over] this protected area of pasture of the lineage of ʿwḏ"

Commentary
The expression h- ḥmy ʾl ʿwḏ is an example of the demonstrative adjective h- used before a genitive construction, on which see Al-Jallad 2015: 77–78. For ḥmy (compare Arabic ḥimā) as an area of protected pasture, either forbidden to the animals of all but a certain group, or to a tribal leader, or dedicated to a deity, or a sort of reservation where wild and domestic animals could graze without being hunted or slaughtered, see, for instance, Chelhod 1964: 230–231; 1979: 393; Henninger 1981: 256–258.

The word mʿwn is either an epithet of Lt (as in Al-Jallad 2015: 268) or could be in construct with s¹lm as interpreted here. Compare Classical Arabic maʿūn, maʿwunah, maʿwanah "help, assistance" (Lane 2203c).

Subjects
Genealogy Lineage Finding inscription(s) Grieving Date (s1nt) Religion Group (in the narrative) Prayer Deity Curse

Country: Syria
Region: Rif Dimashq
Site: Al-ʿĪsāwī
Latitude: 32.903569
Longitude: 37.320314
Present Location: In situ
Find date: 1904–1905; 1996
Field collector: Littmann; The SESP team
Survey: The Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria; The Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme (SESP)
Notes: Al-ʿĪsāwī is the name of a probably ancient well between two headlands on the eastern side of the Wādī Shām as it runs northwards from the modern Al-Namārah dam to the Ruḥbah. The well is large, stone lined and with stone water-channels running from it. The main concentration of published inscriptions is on the top of the northern headland, but there also many inscriptions on its south-west slopes, coming down to the well and on the southern headland, on the crest of which is a stone tower. Littmann visited the site twice when he and other members of the expeditions copied some 450 inscriptions. Between 1996 and 2003, the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme [SESP] made a comprehensive survey of the site recording over 3500 inscriptions.
Associated Drawings: LP 343

References:
Al-Jallad, A.M. An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions. (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics, 80). Leiden: Brill, 2015.

Chelhod, J. Ḥimā. Page 393 in Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition, volume 3. Leiden: Brill, 1979.

Chelhod, J. Les structures du sacré chez les Arabes. (Islam d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, 13). Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose, 1964. Pages: 230–231

Henninger, J. Arabica Sacra. Aufsätze zur Religionsgeschichte Arabiens und seiner Randgebiete / Contributions à l'histoire religieuse de l'Arabie et de ses régions limitrophes. (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, 40). Freiburg Schweiz: Universitätsverlag / Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1981. Pages: 256–258

[Is.Mu] Inscriptions recorded at al-ʿĪsāwī by Muna Al-Muʾazzin, on the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme, 1995–2002, and published here. Number: 117

[LP] Littmann, E. Safaïtic Inscriptions. Syria. Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904–1905 and 1909. Division IV. Section C. Leiden: Brill, 1943. Number: 342

URL of this record (for citation): http://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/corpus/pages/OCIANA_0027122.html