CSAI

Corpus of Northern Middle Sabaic Inscriptions (work in progress)


INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Sabaic » Northern Middle Sabaic
AlphabetAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Writing techniqueCast
Chronology
PeriodC. Conjectural
Textual typologyDedicatory text

GENERAL NOTES

Penitential inscription.
The edition is based on a transcription by Khalīl al-Zubayrī.

TEXT


   1  Qlfm bnt Mltm t—
   2  nḫyt w-tnḏrn l-ḏ-
   3  S¹mwy bʿl ʾḏnn b-
   4  hn ḥyḍt b-mḥr—
   5  m-hw w-s¹frt ʿly
   6  ġrrm((Ġrrm)) b-ʾmn-hw f-
   7  hḍrʿt w-ʿnw w-t[ḥlʾn]

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  Qlfm, daughter of Mltm,
   2  confessed and did penance to ḏ-
   3  S¹mwy, Master of ʾḏnn, because
   4  she had her period in His
   5  temple and she arrived on
   6  Ġrrm, in His entrusting, and
   7  she showed submission and distress and she will pay a fine.
5-6ġrr: this is the first attestation of this word in the South Arabian inscriptions. The editor found the meaning of "white cloth" in the Classical Arabic dictionary "Lisān al-ʿArab" by Ibn Manẓūr. He traslated the sentence: "and she menstruated on a white cloth".
Our translation is hypothetical, the meaning "to travel" for s¹fr is attested in the minuscule texts.
al-Ṣilwī 2005: 111al-Ṣilwī, Ibrāhim 2005. Naqš ǧadīd min nuqūš al-iʿtiraf al-ʿalanī (naqš min maʿbad ʾḎNN). Dirāsa fī dalālāti-hi al-luġawiyya wad-dīniyya. Pages 109-121 in Amida Sholan, Sabina Antonini and Mounir Arbach (eds). Sabaean Studies (Dirāsāt Sabaʾiyya). Archaeological, epigraphical and historical studies in honour of Yūsuf M. ʿAbdallāh, Alessandro de Maigret, Christian J. Robin on the occasion of their sixtieth birthdays. Naples: Università degli studi di Napoli l'Orientale. [University of Ṣanʿāʾ; Yemeni-Italian Centre for Archeological Reserches Ṣanʿāʾ; Centre français d'archéologie et de sciences sociales de Ṣanʿāʾ]

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support typeArtefact » Plaque » With framework
MaterialBronze
Measuresh. 21, w. 15
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin
Modern siteUnknown
Ancient siteUnknown
Geographical areawādī al-Jawf
CountryYemen
Archaeological contextReligious context: Temple of ḏ-S¹mwy bʿl ʾḏnn
NotesNote that a temple of ʿṯtr bʿl ʾḏnn is attested in Nashshān (cf. Moussaieff 22 and al-Saʿīd 2005).
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

al-Ṣilwī 2005: 109-121al-Ṣilwī, Ibrāhim 2005. Naqš ǧadīd min nuqūš al-iʿtiraf al-ʿalanī (naqš min maʿbad ʾḎNN). Dirāsa fī dalālāti-hi al-luġawiyya wad-dīniyya. Pages 109-121 in Amida Sholan, Sabina Antonini and Mounir Arbach (eds). Sabaean Studies (Dirāsāt Sabaʾiyya). Archaeological, epigraphical and historical studies in honour of Yūsuf M. ʿAbdallāh, Alessandro de Maigret, Christian J. Robin on the occasion of their sixtieth birthdays. Naples: Università degli studi di Napoli l'Orientale. [University of Ṣanʿāʾ; Yemeni-Italian Centre for Archeological Reserches Ṣanʿāʾ; Centre français d'archéologie et de sciences sociales de Ṣanʿāʾ]