EARLY NORTH ARABIAN HISMAIC A preliminary description based on a new corpus of inscriptions from the Ḥismā desert of southern Jordan and published material Volume I Geraldine Margaret Harmsworth King Submitted for the degree of Ph.D. School of Oriental and African Studies 1990 ABSTRACT The basis of the study is an edition of 1337 Hismaic inscriptions which were recorded from three sites in Wādī Judayyid in southern Jordan in 1986 and 1987. The introductory chapters in Volume I include a discussion of the study and provenance of Hismaic inscriptions and the methodology used for recording the texts; a description of the Hismaic script, an outline for a classification of mixed texts and some remarks about the relationship between the scripts of the different types of Thamudic, Hismaic and Safaitic; a description of some points of the phonology, orthography, grammar and content of the Hismaic inscriptions and a comparison with the content found in other types of Thamudic, Hismaic and Safaitic; a discussion of the names and genealogies found in the inscriptions; a description of the rock drawings which occur in association with the Hismaic texts from Wādī Judayyid, a discussion of the distribution of the epigraphic material at the sites and some points that can be made about the relationship between Hismaic and Nabataean. Volume II contains indexes of names, vocabulary and drawings occurring in the edition. The Index of names lists all the names found in Hismaic as well as etymological and comparative material taken from Arabic, Nabataean, Palmyrene and modern Bedouin sources. Appendix 1 lists the provenances of Hismaic inscriptions; Appendix 2 includes re-readings of many of the published texts and Appendices 3-6 give the vocabulary in published texts, the deities, elements in theophoric names tribal names found in the inscriptions. The figures and plates include a map of the distribution of Hismaic inscriptions, a script table, facsimiles of the texts, plans of the sites and photographs. TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME I PREFACE 1. INTRODUCTION A. The study of Hismaic B. ‘Tabuki’ Thamudic and ‘South Safaitic’ C. The provenance of Hismaic texts D. The Ḥismā and Wādī Judayyid Sites A, B and C E. The fieldwork F. The edition of the texts and the published material 2. SCRIPT A. The forms of the letters B. Problems with the interpretation of some letters C. The stance and direction of the letters D. Letters written in the gaps of the preceding letter and the inversion of letters to form a symmetry E. The joining, infilling and embellishment of letters F. Similarities between the letters G. The direction of the texts H. The differences in the letter forms I. Hismaic and texts with ‘Mixed’ features J. Hismaic, B, C, D and Safaitic 3. PHONOLOGY, ORTHOGRAPHY AND GRAMMAR A. Phonology 1. t and ṯ 2. d and ḏ 3. z for /ẓ/ and /ḍ/ 4. w, y and ʾ 5. Assimilation and elision 6. The use of m for b 7. The use of n for l 8. Doubling of the liquid letter l 9. Tāʾ Marbūṭah B. Orthography 1. Vowelling 2. Geminated radicals 3. ʾAlif Maddah 4. Medial ʾ 5. Final ʾ 6. The radicals w and y 7. Suffix w and y 8. Prosthetic ʾalif 9. ʾafʿal 10. Mistakes C. Grammar 1. Verbs 2. Plurals 3. Adjectives and adverbs 4. Pronouns 5. Prepositions 6. The definite article 7. The particles w and f 8. The vocative particle 4. CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE TEXTS A. Texts of simple authorship 1. Texts of the form l N 2. Texts of the form w N ḫṭṭ 3. Texts introduced by (a) w l and (b) w 4. Texts with no introductory particle 5. Texts of the form w ʾn N 6. Joint authorship B. The authorship of drawings 1. Texts of the form l N 2. Texts of the form l N¹ w N² ḫṭṭ and w N ḫṭṭ 3. Texts beginning with (a) w l and (b) w C. Prayers 1. Invocations using ḏkr 2. Invocations using dʿ 3. Invocations of the form h D.N. l N 4. Invocations using s¹mʿt and s¹mʿ 5. Invocations using zrʿ, s¹b, ʾd and qdr D. Curses E. Texts expressing emotions 1. Using rb/rbt 2. Using wdd and nk/nyk 3. Using ʾn ġr b F. Statements relating to hunting G. Expression of authorship of complex statements H. Content of Hismaic texts which is not attested among the Wādī Judayyid inscriptions I. Features of content and structure of the texts from the Wādī Judayyid sites and those of Safaitic, Thamudic B, C and D 5. THE NAMES A. Compound names 1. Theophoric and Basileophoric compounds a. The structure b. The elements 2. Non-theophoric compounds a. Names with prepositions b. Names with ʾbn-, bn-, ʾb-, b-, ʾḫ- B. One-word names 1. Structure of one-word names 2. Explanations of one-word names 3. Non-Semitic names C. Individual authors and genealogies 1. Individual authors 2. Genealogies D. Tribal names 6. THE DRAWINGS A. The inscriptions associated with the drawings and the artists B. The subjects of the drawings 7. THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE TEXTS 8. Hismaic AND NABATAEAN AND THE DATING OF THE TEXTS A. Hismaic and Nabataean, the writers of Hismaic and the Nabataeans B. The dating of the texts 9. THE EDITION OF THE TEXTS FROM WĀDĪ JUDAYYID SITES A, B AND C Site A Site B Site C VOLUME II INDEXES: Index of names in Hismaic Index a: Names and genealogies from the Wādī Judayyid Sites Vocabulary in the texts from the Wādī Judayyid sites Index of drawings APPENDICES: 1. The provenance of the Hismaic texts 2. Published Hismaic texts 3. Vocabulary in the published texts 4. Deities in Hismaic 5a-b Elements in compound names 6. Tribal names in Hismaic Bibliography Abbreviations FIGURES AND PLATES: Fig.1 Distribution map of Hismaic 2-6 Script table 7-67 Facsimiles of the Wādī Judayyid inscriptions 68-89 Plans of the Wādī Judayyid sites Pls. 1-15 Photographs of the Wādī Judayyid sites and of a selection of the inscriptions and drawings PREFACE The new corpus of Hismaic inscription contained in this study was recorded in 1986 and 1987 from sites in southern Jordan. I would like to thank the following sponsors who financed the fieldwork: the British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History; the Central Research Fund (University of London); the Palestine Exploration Fund; the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London); G.A. Wainwright Fund. I am extremely grateful to Dr. A. Hadidi, former Director General of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, for granting a permit and for his support for the project. Mr Hugh Barnes did the survey work during both seasons and I am indebted to him for undertaking the task and for drawing up the plans of the sites. This new body of material has greatly increased our understanding of this little known dialect of Early North Arabian, although the ambiguities posed by the brevity and nature of the texts mean that many of the interpretations offered here will undoubtedly need revising as further material is recorded. The study concentrates on interpretation and description of certain aspects of the inscriptions – the script, phonology, orthography, grammar, content, names, genealogies and associated rock art – and only draws on material from other sources, mainly, features of other types of Thamudic, Safaitic and Nabataean inscriptions, to a limited extent, as a more detailed comparative approach would be the subject of a separate study. I have not attempted to vocalise any of the names occurring in the inscriptions because of the many possible vocalisations presented by parallel examples and the uncertainty that an alternative, in any particular instance, is the correct one. Less well-known Arabic place names have been transcribed in the Italic type which contains the diacritical marks. I have kept the transliterations used in the publication when quoting Arabic names from other sources. I am greatly indebted to Dr. A. K. Irvine for supervising my thesis and giving me valuable advice and guidance. I would like to thank Professor A.F.L. Beeston and Dr. K.A. Knauf for reading an initial draft of Chapter 4. Mr Michael Macdonald introduced me to Early North Arabian epigraphy ten years ago. His generosity and encouragement as a teacher inspired me to undertake this study and it would be difficult to express my gratitude adequately. Whilst writing this study I have relied heavily on my friends and family for moral support. I would particularly like to thank my sister Mrs Victoria Jolliffe, who gave me tremendous encouragement even though her own fields of interest are far removed from mine. My special thanks go to Miss Phyllis Crawford whose support and understanding during more frustrating moments gave me the courage and determination to continue. The study is dedicated to her and to my parents, Michael and Elizabeth King. Geraldine King 1990 Ch. 1 1. Introduction A. The study of Hismaic: Thamudic is the name that has been given to Early North Arabian graffiti, written by nomads, which are found in large numbers in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and the Ḥismā desert of southern Jordan. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, several collections of these texts were made by early travellers to Saudi Arabia – Doughty (1884, Do), Huber (1884 (a) HuI and 1891 Hu and, after Van den Branden 1950 (a), HU), Euting (I, 1896, II,1914 (ed. Littmann, E.) Eut1) and Jaussen and Savignac (I-II 1909, 1914, JS) which enabled scholars to tackle their decipherment.