Language | Ancient South Arabian » Minaic » Marginal Minaic | ||
Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
Writing technique | Incision | ||
Chronology |
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Textual typology | Legal text - fragmentary (conjectural) |
Possibly a fragmentary dedicatory inscription. |
1 | the beginning of the text was probably placed on another stone block (Beeston 1983: 1). ... ḏ-R](fʾn) Tḥyw (Jamme), while ...(bn T)ḥyw (Sayed); w-qn<y>-s¹ (Jamme), while (w-y)qn-s¹ (Sayed, but Beeston 1983: 1: "the insertion of this letter must be accounted an oversight"); k-rʾs¹ ṣdq w-ʿ(hd) [... (Jamme and Beeston), while Krʾs¹ Ṣdq w-y[... (Sayed). For an interpretation of k-rʾs¹ ṣdq, see the notes to the translation. |
2 | ...]ḫl (Jamme), while ...](ʾ)l (Sayed); Sayed considers the second word ṣḥftn the proper name of the month. |
3 | [... ...](ṯ)nyn k<b>r-s¹ (Jamme), while [... ... qn]yn k(l)-s¹ (Sayed). |
4-5 | w-ʾs¹[ṭrn b]n (Sayed). |
5 | ḏ-ys¹nkr-s¹ or maybe ḏ-ys¹nkr-s¹<m> (see the following mqmh-s¹m). |
5-6 | b-ym[t ... ... Y]ʾws¹ʾl (Jamme); (b)-y(m) [... ...](ʾ)ws¹ʾl (Sayed). Either Yʾws¹ʾl or ʾws¹ʾl is possible, while b-ym[... ...] should be most correctly restored as b-ym[h ... ...]. |
English | |
1 [... ...] Tḥyw and his sons and his properties to Wd, to Rʾs¹ Ṣdq [... ...] 2 [... ...] and S¹ʿdʾl according to this document, the month of the document is 3 [... ...] witness is Ys¹mʿʾl son of Mrd ḏ-Ẓlym 4 [... ... committed] Tḥyw ḏ-Rtʿ his dedication and his consecration and his [inscriptions] 5 [... ...] from anyone who would damage it and remove from their place, at the time of 6 [... ...] ʾws¹ʾl ḏ-Yfʿn, kabir of Maʿīn in Ddn. |
1 | The most doubtful interpretation is that of Rʾs¹ Ṣdq: name of god, epithet, or common noun? Adducing Phoenician and Punic examples, Beeston 1983: 2 interprets this expression as a "laudatory description of the deity" Wd: "fountainhead of righteousness" or "true head (of the community)?". We retain his interpretation and consider it a sort of divine epithet. |
Beeston 1983 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1983. Minaean Raʾs-ṣidq. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 13: 1-2. |
English | |
1 ... of (the group) Ra]faʾân Taḥayyû and his child and his slave to Wadd as the summum of veracity and fulfilment of a promise[... 2 ...]ḫal and Saʿadʾil because of the dignity of this ordinance during the month of the ordinance 3 ...] of his second kabirate. Witness: Yasmaʿʾil, son of Mârid, he of (the group) Ẓulaym. 4 ...] Taḥayyû, he of (the group) Rataʿ, his offering and his dedication and [his] 5 wr[iting]s [...] against anyone who would change it and remove [it] from their place, during the day[s of] 6 ...Yu]ʾawsʾl, him of (the group) Yafaʿân, the kabir of Maʿin in Dedan. |
Jamme 1974 b: 67-68 | Jamme, Albert W.F. 1974. Miscellanées d'ancient arabe VII. Washington. 2019/07/22; https://cuislandora.wrlc.org/islandora/object/cuislandora%3A205580#page/1/mode/1up. [Privately printed] |
English | |
1 (Son of) Tahayw and his sons and his properties (were dedicated) to (the god) Wadd, (and also) Kares Sadiq and ..... 2 .... ʾIl and Saadʾil according to the notification of this document in the month of Sahfatan, 3 .... all his properties, the Auditor Yasmaʾil son of Marid of the clan Zulaym, 4 .... tahayw of the clan Rata, consecrated his (lit: and his) dedications and the inscrip- 5 tions against anyone who may change them and may remove from thsir places, at the time (lit: the day) of 6 .... Awsʾil of the clan Yafan, the Kabir of Main at Dedan. |
Sayed 1982: 54-55 | Sayed, Abdel M. 1982. A new Minaean inscription from al-Ola. Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities: 51-65. [King Abdul Aziz University. Jeddah] |
Support type | Stone inscription |
Material | Stone |
Measures | h. 31, w. 77.5, th. 23 |
Link to object record |
Modern site | al-ʿUlā |
Ancient site | Ddn |
Geographical area | Ḥijāz |
Country | Saudi Arabia |
Notes | According to Jamme, the inscription comes from al-Balādîya. |
Link to site record |
Jamme 1974 b: 67-68, pl. 17 (facsimile) | Jamme, Albert W.F. 1974. Miscellanées d'ancient arabe VII. Washington. 2019/07/22; https://cuislandora.wrlc.org/islandora/object/cuislandora%3A205580#page/1/mode/1up. [Privately printed] |
Sayed 1982: 52-60, pl. I (photo), pl. II (facsimile) | Sayed, Abdel M. 1982. A new Minaean inscription from al-Ola. Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities: 51-65. [King Abdul Aziz University. Jeddah] |
Beeston 1983: 1-2 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1983. Minaean Raʾs-ṣidq. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 13: 1-2. |