Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
Writing technique | Incision | ||
Measure of letters | 3.7 | ||
Chronology |
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Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
Thanks to A. Multhoff for the bibliographical information on Bauer and Lundin 1998. |
4 | Our emendation considers ʾḍʾm as coming from the root ḍʾn "sheep", with the lack of the letter n (engraver's mistake?); the editors see it as a proper name. |
5 | The reading is based on the editors' photo as the line is no longer preserved on the stone. |
English | |
1 Krbʾṣdq servant of the family S¹yrwm made a de- 2 dication to Tʾlb Rymm, Master of ḏ-Mmr, 3 because He protected him, in relation to the bovines which had been stolen 4 among a cattle of sheep; but He did let them (the sheep) pasture against any damaging of [... ...] 5 [... ...] |
The suggested translation tentatively considers the word s¹qrn as a passive participle (based on the fact that the morphology of the passive participle at the base stem in ASA is still unclear, and it could be with an ablaut rather with prefixed m- like in Arabic). The nunation would be motivated by the relative pronoun, which renders the predicative meaning of the participle with a relative clause. Another possibility is to translate ḏ-s¹qrn as an active participle: "those (referred to the collective bqrn) of the thief", but this sounds weird within the context. | |
The understanding of this line is also uncertain, either for difficulties in the interpretation of the words (see the epigraphic note) or because of the lacuna. Bauer and Lundin translate: "because T. released him from the cows he had stolen from ʾḍʾm". |
Deposit | Ṣanʿāʾ, University Museum, A-20-892 |
Support type | Stone inscription |
Material | Stone |
Measures | h. 16, w. 29, th. 15 |
Link to object record |
Modern site | Jabal dhī-Marmar |
Ancient site | ḏ-Mrmr |
Geographical area | Banī Ḥushaysh |
Country | Yemen |
Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of Tʾlb bʿl ḏ-Mmr |
Link to site record |
Bāsalāmah 1990: 154, 155 (fig. 53) | Bāsalāmah, Mohammed ʿAbdallah 1990. Šibām al-Ġirās. Sanaʿāʾ: Muʾassasa al-ʿAfīf al-Ṯaqāfiyya. |
Bauer and Lundin 1998: 21-22, figs 98a-b | Bauer, Gleb M. and Lundin (=Loundine), Avraam G. 1998. Pamjatniki Drevnej Istorii i Kultury. Južnaja Aravija. Part 2: Epigraficheskie pamjiatniki drevnego Jemena. 2. St.-Petersburg: Zentr "Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie". [Akademia nauk, Institut Vostokovedenija, Sankt-Peterburgskiy filial] |