A new Nabataean inscription from Taymā’

Abstract

A new six‐line Nabataean inscription was recently discovered during building work in the centre of the oasis city of , north‐west Saudi Arabia. It is the epitaph of a ruler, or chief citizen, of the city and is dated by the era of the Roman Province of Arabia to AD 203. All but one of the names in the text are Jewish, and this is by far the earliest record of Jews in the oasis. The Nabataean script of the epitaph is also of great interest since it shows features which are normally associated with much later periods in the development of the Nabataean into the Arabic script.

What can Nabataean Aramaic tell us about Pre‐Islamic Arabic?

“…After the Nabataean period proper, additional innovations occur (Suchard, forthcoming): Loss of an unstressed final vowel in * ʾaqīmū > ʾqym ‘they erected’ in an inscription from Tayma dated to 203 ce (Al‐Najem & Macdonald, 2009) if this is not to be explained otherwise (see Section 4.4); spelling of * ʿalōhī ‘over him’ as ʿlhwy in the same inscription, possibly indicating a pronunciation as * ʿalōy with loss of the * h ; …”

“…Loss of an unstressed final vowel in * ʾaqīmū > ʾqym ‘they erected’ in an inscription from Tayma dated to 203 ce (Al‐Najem & Macdonald, 2009) if this is not to be explained otherwise (see Section 4.4);…”

“…Based on the spelling, the source word seems to have been something like * ʾikrāy ‐, a more conservative form than its Classical Arabic cognate, ʾikrāʾ . Another example may come from the place name Tayma, which is spelled tymy in a third‐century inscription (Al‐Najem & Macdonald, 2009), probably reflecting * taymāy‐ ; cf. Classical Arabic taymāʾ .…”

“…In a few inscriptions, we find ostensibly singular verbs with plural subjects, as in ʾqym … ʿmrm wʿšmw ʾḥwhy ‘PN and PN his brother(s) erected (m.sg. )’ (Al‐Najem & Macdonald, 2009) or qrb bny ntnw ‘the children of PN offered (m.sg. )’ (Al‐Salameen, 2014).…”