Sigla: U 023; Drewes 1983: 428, no. 18; AH 041  Script: Dadanitic

----///–
// -/–
/ -/–
/{}/- /[] - /–
/ / //[]
{}/- {}{} ---- -[]
{}{} -/ -/ [-][]

Transliteration
1: ʿbd----nt/bn/ʾft/s¹–
2: lḥ/ḏġbt/w bn -h/yhn–
3: ʾ/w ʾṯt -h/ʾmtbʿs¹m–
4: n/{ġ}rs¹w/b- bdr/[w] b- bnʾl/m–
5: ʾt/w ʾrbʿn/w ḫms¹/nḫl/[w]
6: ʾẓll{w}/l- ḏ{ġ}b{t} ---- nḫl -h[m]
7: w d{ṯ}{ʾ} -hm/f rḍ -hm/w ʾḫrt [-h][m]

Translation
1: ʿbd----nt son of ʾft pr–
2: iest of Ḏġbt and his son Yhn–
3: ʾ and his wife ʾmtbʿs¹m–
4: n {planted} in Bdr and in Bnʾl one
5: hundred and forty-five palm trees {and}
6: {performed} the ẓll-ceremony for {Ḏġbt} ---- {their} palm trees
7: and their {crops of the season of the later rains} and so favour them and {their} posterity

Apparatus Criticus
TEXT
Line 1. Sima: ʿbdr[hk]nt rather than ʿbd----nt; Abū l-Ḥasan: ʿbdr----nt rather than ʿbd----nt.
Line 6. Drewes, followed by Abū l-Ḥasan: ʾṭllw for ʾẓll{w}; Sima: [bʿd nḫl -hm b] rather than ---- nḫl -h[m].
Line 7. Sima: ṯʾmm rather than w d{ṯ}{ʾ} -hm.
Lines 4–7. Abū l-Ḥasan does not read these lines.

TRANSLATION
Lines 1–2. Sima does not translate the word s¹lḥ.
Line 5. ʾẓll{w}, Sima: '(they) covered (the subterranean water-channel)'.

DISCUSSION
Macdonald 2004: 522.
Line 4. For the translation of the verb ġrs¹ as "to plant" see Sima 1999: 94–95.
Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2014: 15–17, for the place names Bdr and Bnʾl.
Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2016: 128, for the divine name Ḏġbt.

Commentary
The inscription is so damaged that the reading of several letters is difficult. In the compound numeral the ten is placed before the unit, and they are connected by w-. See Sima 1999: 108–109 and Macdonald 2004: 521–522 §4.4.1, 5.

Line 6. The verb ʾẓll{w} means "they performed the ẓll-ceremony", the exact nature of which we do not know. Usually, but not always, this verb is followed by the noun h-ẓll meaning "the ẓll-ceremony". Thus, ʾẓll{w} and ʾẓll{w} h-ẓll both mean "they performed the ẓll-ceremony".

Subjects
Agriculture Deity Genealogy Place-name Prayer Relatives Religion Season Women

Country: Saudi Arabia
Region: Al-Madīnah
Site: Oasis of al-ʿUlā
Latitude: 26.616667
Longitude: 37.916667
Present Location: In situ
Notes: Al-ʿUḏayb (Ǧabal ʿIkmah). The inscription is carved amongst a mass of others on one side of the huge rock, which Stiehl (1971: 4) called 'Block A'
Associated Inscriptions: It is below U 022,; to the right of U 026 and to the left of U 019 and U 020

References:
[AH] Abū ʾl-Ḥasan, Ḥ.ʿA.D. Qirāʾah li-kitābāt liḥyāniyyah min ǧabal ʿakmah bi-minṭaqat al-ʿulā. Al-Riyāḍ: Maktabat al-malik fahd al-waṭaniyyah, 1997. Pages: 140–141 Plates: 6

Drewes, A.J. Liḥyanitische Inscripties. Pages 424-429 in K.R. Veenhof (ed.), Schrijvend Verleden. Documenten uit het Oude Nabije Oosten vertaald en toegelicht. Leiden: Ex Oriente Lux / Zutphen: Terra, 1983. Pages: 428 Number: 18

Hidalgo-Chacón Díez, M. del C. Place names in the Dadanitic inscriptions of al-ʿUḏayb. Adumatu 30, 2014: 15-30 Pages: 15–17

Hidalgo-Chacón Díez. M. del C. The divine names at Dadan: a philological approach. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 46, 2016: 125–136 Pages: 128

Macdonald, M.C.A. Ancient North Arabian. Pages 488-533 in R.D. Woodard (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pages: 521–522 §4.4.1, 5

[U] Sima, A. Die lihyanischen Inschriften von al-ʿUḏayb (Saudi-Arabien). (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 1). Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf, 1999. Pages: 11 Plates: 5a

Stiehl, R. Neue liḥyānische Inschriften aus al-ʿUḏaib I mit einem Nachtrag M. Höfners. Pages 3-40, 565-566, 569-594, pl. 1-45 in F. Altheim and R. Stiehl (eds), Christentum am Roten Meer. 1. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1971. Pages: 4

URL of this record (for citation): http://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/corpus/pages/OCIANA_0037681.html