Chapter IV

DISCUSSION: FROM NABATEAN TO ARABIC

Most of the constituent traits of the Arabic appropriation of the Nabatean graphemes to script can be found as nuclei in Nabatean. form an Arabic alphabet (Al-5). While monumental Nabatean freezes in a The individual changes leading up to the formalized style, the changes in the cursive Arabic alphabet can be grouped in the six occur more rapidly. The formal cursive comes following categories:16! relatively close to Arabic in appearance (N8), (a) Distinction of positional variants but practically stagnates between N8-Nl 1, (b) Connection bound by its official character. The free (c) Ligature lam-'alif cursive overtakes both and reaches a stage of (d) Constitution of the baseline fluidity and simplification at the end of the (e) Merger of letters first century (N2 l ), which the epigraphic (t) Diacritical distinction of script achieved only partially in the late third homographs. and early fourth century CE. At the same (a) Already before the Nabatean era, the time, the destruction of Petra (106 CE) and Aramaic extreme cursive of the fourth century the fading of the Nabatean cultural hegemony, BCE showed the trend for the vertical shafts created a political vacuum in the marginal of kap, mem, nun, peh, and ~ag_eh 162 within areas of the Sinai, Palestine, and Southern words (and those of lam, sin, and cayin in all Syria, resulting in a loosening control in positions) to bend towards the direction of writing practices, and a flourishing use of writing. The unaltered variants with straight Nabatean script by Arab non-professional shafts became secondarily distinguished as lay-writers, as shown in the Sinaitic graffiti. These conditions worked in favor of new "Arabic-Aramaic group," including among others developments: first, the use of unaltered N14. O'Connor calls N16 a "polyglot puzzle." Both agree in separating it from the regular Nabatean Nabatean characters by Arabs to write their language. See O' Connor, "Arabic Loanwords," 227 own language in tomb inscriptions (Raqasi and n. 89. Nl6,I60 Namara Nl9), and, second, the 161The first three are mentioned by W. Endress, "Die arabischen Sch rift," 167. 160niem has responded to the strong concentration of 162see F. M. Cross,"The Development of the Jewish Arabic words in this text by classifying it among a Scripts," p. 141, and J. Naveh, "The Development of "late Nabatean-J:Iijazi group," or, more general, an the Aramaic Script," 25 and 46. 123 124 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARABIC SCRIPTS

final forms. The medial letters formed the two shafts undergo a reinterpretation in the basis for the mutual connections, as is already Arabic protocols. Instead of the shaft slanting implied in the term "semi-ligatures," coined to the right, the one slanting to the left for them by F. M. Cross. In N8, be!, yog, becomes lam, as is evident in the protocol ~ageh, cayin, qop, and sin show long final ligature 0 alif-lam- 0 alif. variants, mem and he have closed their loops. (d) Epigraphic Nabatean appears In later Nabatean, an expanded final taw is bandeau-like. Some connecting lines occur at added to the list (N13 -16, 20). The only the base (NIO), but the general alignment is Arabic final variants without Nabatean oriented toward the ceiling-line. This is precedent are the cursive jim/J:ia O/kha O and fli°. evident in the position of the half-size letters (b) The first connections emerged in ('alep, be!, gimel, zayin, cayin, yo!!) beneath frequent Nabatean words such as "he the ceiling-line. Only lam crosses above it. made,"
"son," "king," and spread After a period of disorientation, the from there throughout the texts. Initially, not connecting points are lowered to the base of more than two or three letters were joined at a the full-size characters, pulling down the half­ time, and only few words within one text. The size letters (see N13-14,163 and more regular height of the connecting point depended on N17-18, 20). The epigraphic script follows the first letter in a ligature. In full-size letters the cursive in the shift from the ceiling-line (in like nun or sin, it lay at the foot; in half-size the formal cursive N8) to a baseline (in letters like cayin, yog, gimel, and 0 alif (placed N21164). The relation of lam to the ceiling line below the ceiling line), as well as in lam is transferred to the baseline. (crossing the ceiling line), it lay at medium (e) In Aramaic and epigraphic Nabatean height of the next letter. Some letters like be! dale! and res share one shape. In the cursive could switch between full and half-size. (N8, 21 ), dale!_, res, and zayin are all Epigraphic Nabatean was largely connected represented by a simple short vertical. Arabic by the stage of Nl0 and the cursive by the writing adopts only the homograph ra 0 /zay, stage of N8. Connections were still used as a but follows late epigraphic Nabatean in graphic convenience or stylistic choice; they retaining the distinction of dale! (13, I 6-18, did not conform to word-boundaries. The 20). This separates it from Syriac which systematic combination of connections and retains dale! and res as a homograph and final elements to four variants of each distinguishes zayin by shape. Further, Arabic 0 0 grapheme, matching the position of a letter mergers occur between non-final ba , ya , within the word with its type of connection, kaf,165 and niin . They can be observed at the represents an Arabic innovation. Still, the pre-Islamic stage: Arabic alphabet stops short of connecting to 0 0 0 the left dal/dhal, ra , za , waw, and alif. 163see also many Sinaitic graffiti with partial or full (c) The ligature lam- 0 alif first appears in baselines. N19 (the earliest extant text in the Arabic 164see no. 1, I. 1-3 and 6; no. 2, I. 4, 8-9; no. 3, I. language) and then in all pre-Islamic texts. Its 2-3; no. 4, I. 6, and no. 6. l65only in NS.