THE ARABIC LOANWORDS IN NABATEAN ARAMAICM. O'CONNOR, Ann Arbor, Michigan T H E 4,000 Nabatean texts cover a remarkable range of territory-from the area of Bostra over to the Sinai and down into northern Arabia-and document the history of the region in a variety of ways.' Among the most remarkable historical witnesses in the Nabatean corpus is a lintel inscription from the isolated shrine site of Rawwafah, a Greek and Nabatean bilingual; it records that the Thamiid erected the shrine in honor of the Roman emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius ~ e r u s . 'The 1 O n the language, see J. Cantineau, LA Nabateen (Paris, 1930-32); for recent work, see, in addition to the articles cited below and J. Teixidor, "Bulletin d'epigraphie semitique," Syria 44- (1967-) (hereafter BES), A. Negev, The Inscriptions of Wadi Haggag, Sinai, Qedem, vol. 6 (Jerusalem, 1977); and idem, "Nabatean Inscriptions in Southern Sinai," BA 45 (1982): 21-25. For a convenient selection of Nabatean texts, see H . Ingholt, "Palmyrene-HatranNabatean,"in F. Rosenthal, ed., An Aramaic Handbook, pt. 1 (hereafter Ingholt) (Wiesbaden, 1967); I have used the following abbreviations for Ingholt's texts: IngNab = a Nabatean text published in Ingholt, and IngHat = a Hatran text published there. J = a Nabatean text published in J . A. Jaussen and R. Savignac, Mission archPologique en Arabic, vol. 1 (Paris, 1907). lngholt Nabatean texts in Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum (CIS) (Paris, 1881-), vol. 2 are IngNab 1 = CIS 2.170: 3 = 196; 4 = 350; 10 = 197; 1 1 = 198; 12 = 209; 13 = 213; 14 = 234; 15 = 271; IngNab 13-15 are discussed in F. V. Winnett and W. L. Reed, Ancient Records from North Arabia (hereafter A R N A ) , Near and Middle East Series 6 (Toronto, 1970); 517, IngNab 15, or the Raqiish Epitaph is treated below. For the history of Aramaic, I follow the periodization of J . A. Fitzmyer, "The Phases of the Aramaic Language," in his A Wandering Aran~ean: Collected Aramaic Essays, SBL Monograph Series 25 (Missoula, Montana, 1979), pp. 57-84. J . H . Levinson, "The Nabatean Aramaic Inscriptions" (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1974), offers a morphological sketch, an edition of some texts (twelve complete, two partial, with notes o n three others), and a glossary; he draws chiefly o n comparative Aramaic materials, notably from rabbinic sources. For the historical background, see J . Starcky's masterful summary, "PCtra et la Nabatene," in H. [JNES 45 no. 3 (1986)l 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0022-2968]86/4503-0003$1.00. @ Cazelles and A. Feuillet, eds., Supplhnent arc Dictionnaire de la Bible (hereafter S D B ) , vol. 7 (Paris, 1966), cols. 866-1017; Teixidor, The Pagan God: Religion in the Graeco-Roman Near East (Princeton, 1977); F. E. Peters, "The Nabateans in the Hawran," JAOS 97 (1977): 263-77; G. W. Bowersock, Roman Arabia (Cambridge, 1983); and two symposia, one held at the Rhine Regional Museum at Bonn in 1978 under the direction of H. P . Roschinski and published as part of Bonner Jahrbiicher 180 (1980), and the other held at Christ Church College, Oxford in 1980 and published: A. Hadidi, ed., Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan [(Amman, 1982) (hereafter Studies) (see further n. 96 below). In the first symposium, note esp. Roschinski's survey "Sprachen, Schriften und lnschriften in Nordwestarabien," Bonner Jahrbiicher 180 (1980): 155-88 (pp. 159-62 on Nabatean); and in the second, Milik's "Origines des Nabateens," in Studies, pp. 261-65, in which he proposes that the Nabatean homeland was in the area where the United Arab Emirates and southeastern Saudi Arabia meet (ibid., pp. 264-65). Note the following language abbreviations used throughout: Akk(adian), Ar(a)m(aic), B(ib1ical) Heb(rew), C(1assical) Ar(a)b(ic), Gr(ee)k, Hatr(an), J(ewish)Arm, Mand(aic), M(i<hnaic) Heb, Nab(atean), Off(icia1) Arm, Palm(yrene), Phoen(ician), Syr(iac). For comments o n earlier drafts of this and related papers, 1 a m grateful to P. T . Daniels, J . A. Fitzmyer, D . F. Graf, and L. K . Obler, each of whom pounced o n different gaps and gaffes with wonted assiduity; J . A. Bellamy and E. N. McCarus went over the Raq%h text with me. 2 The basic description is P. L. Parr, G. L. Harding, and J . E. Dayton, "Preliminary Survey in N. W . Arabia, 1968," Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology, University of London 10 (1972): 23-61, pls. 1-31; further discussion in J . Beaucamp, "Rawwafa (et les Thamoudeens)," SDB, vol. 9/fasc. 53 (Paris, 1979), cols. 1467-75. The texts are published by Milik, "Inscriptions grecques et nabateennes de Rawwafa," in Parr et ai.. "Preliminary Survey," pp. 54-59; for further discussion of the Greek text, see G . W. Bowersock, "The Greek-Nabatean Bilingual 213 Elymaian). "nonetheless. and Old South Arabian ( ~ a t a b a n i a n ) . a stock defined by J." in Studies. pp. 3 Milik. Written by speakers of Arabic. 49-50." Byzantine SrudieslEtudes byzantines 4 (1977): 52-66. T.E. quoted by Cantineau h i m ~ e l f The . 2. North Arabic (Safaitic. though there is a streak of romanticism in it. n. a dialect. Old Syriac.. "Quelques aspects de la religion des Nabateens. e. "Petra. 1975). and we can surely enlarge on Marcel Cohen's protest. ~ irkt is not alone in evidencing pre-Islamic use of the root cognate to CArb Sarika 'to associate'. x. this went on up to the time (at the beginning of the fourth century c.^ One of these is of special interest: irkt 'federation. as its editor. pp. 924). Studien zur antiken Sozialgeschichle: Festschrift Friedrich Vittinghof(Cologne. 13. Etudes de linguistique arabe (Paris. 2. from which derive the stock European designations for Arabs. vol. especially IV 'airaka (billahi) 'to attribute associates (to God)'. Le Nabateen..~ Cantineau's statement of the relationship between Nabatean and the North Arabic dialects spoken by its users is erroneous." col. "Rawwafa.. Bellamy." in W. Queen of the Saracens. Cantineau was not only one of the great Semitists of his time. 56. "PCtra. ed. O n the religious background of the text.) when it was decided to write nearly pure Arabic [l'urube a peu prPs purl while preserving Nabatean script. pp. 6-7. Levinson is similarly cautious. vol. it borrowed from that language not only nearly all its proper names and a portion of its vocabulary. he was also among the most theoretically sophisticated of all Semitists. and J.. we need to reconsider Cantineau's views. for example. 6 See Cantineau. a certain number of arabisms.. I . Starcky. 13. 1960). of the Middle Aramaic group. 100.. "The Origin of the Term Saracen and the RawwSah Inscriptions." p. esp. J. pp. "Bad theory!" ["Doctrine erronken]. ~ The RawwZifah texts make it necessary to re-examine the stock of Arabic loanwords in Nabatean." JAOS 105 (1985): 31-51. like Nabatean. 512-22. p. the major formulator of the lateral hypothesis for Proto-Semitic and the French translator of Prince Nikolay Trubetzkoy's Grundziige der ~ h o n o l o ~ iNonetheless. full of lexical novelties. Starcky. vol. 925) and closer than either to Official Aramaic. Bowersock. see J . Bingen et al. . among them three previously unattested Arabic loanword^. Graf's and my article. 5 These are discussed in my paper. The suggestion has been well received by." col. 4 See D. Abdel-Massih (forthcoming). eds. Thamudic). 195-96. Milik. 8 Cantineau. ~ first step must be to insist that the personal and other names in Nabatean do not bear on its Inscription at RuwwSa. 10. 1980). dated 328 c. "The Etymology of Saracen and Nabatean Srkt in Aramaic and PreIslamic Arabic Contexts.. A. see his "The Nabatean Inscriptions. 932. 477-95. 7 Idem. Eck et al. see ibid. in order to assess properly the place of irkt as an Arabic loan in Nabatean. F.E.Nabatean portion of the text is. but further isolated grammatical forms. A." in J ." col. Cantineau in his grammar of the language. The verb i r k is found in a Safaitic text and is used in a variety of names found in texts in Middle Aramaic (Palmyrene. The term Srkt may occur in a text in Hatran. Essays in Near Eastern History and Culture in Memory of Ernest T. [Nabatean] underwent an extremely strong Arabic influence."in J. 219-20. puts it. "Mavia. Nabatean seems to have emptied itself little by little [semble sFtre vidP peu a peu] of the Aramaic elements it had and to have successively replaced them with Arabic loans. The last phrase refers t o the al-NamBrah epitaph of lmru 1-Qais. pp.7 It would be wrong to dismiss Cantineau's description as romantic. the origins of which are not homogeneous" ("Petra. it has. 483." pp. "A New Reading of the N a m a a h Inscription. Bellamy. Saudi Arabia. p. Le Monde grec: Hommages a Claire Prkaux (Brussels. Starcky's formulation is more cautious: although Nabatean is more conservative than Jewish Aramaic or Palmyrene (cf. company' furnishes the long-sought etymon for Grk sarakgnos. eds. p . Le Nabarken. among them English ~ a r a c e nNab . n. cites 'hr as Lihyanite and ' j d q and kpr as probably so. Akkadian-West Semitic loans are sometimes easy to recognize: Palm 'pkl.evaluation as a language. esp. Rome) must also be considered. "Sprachen. S. Didicaces. 122. "Untersuchungen . 49 (1980): 67-106 (hereafter Diem 11). p. o n the proposed derivation of 'It 'Allat' from '01. Delos. Diem notes in a different context. "Nabatean + Inscriptions..12 The difficulty of recognizing loans of various sorts is inversely proportional to the relationship of the languages. displays a syllabic structure which would be recognized as distinctive even if its origins in Akk apkallu (from Sumerian ab-gal) were not known. (c) north Arabia. Ideally. Recherches d'e'pigraphie proche-orientale. 2. p.s. 1970). for some new material. but I will draw chiefly on Cantineau's own materials and only incidentally on texts discovered in the last half-century.s. p. Roschinski. see below). for example. 372). 1974). Die Schreibung der Vokale. "Inscriptions rCcemment dCcouvertes a Petra. pp. p.s. Endungen und Endschreibungen. p. Safaitic). BES 1979. A. Kaufman."cols. I. Milik will discuss the question of dialects in Nabatean (cf. for example. . see Winnett in A R N A ." Or. "PCtra. as Kegev. IV.. 11 In the C I S volume." A D A J 2 0 (1975): 1 1 1-30. Starcky and J. 71117 passim. esp. represented by both Classical Arabic and the pre-Islamic dialects (Lihyanite. Major recent contributions to intra-Semitic study include Diem I-IV. Die Schreibung der Konsonanten. 129. 75. . and Milik.. 3. 50 (1981): 332-83 (hereafter Diem 111). 10 As W. Diem takes 'sdq similarly (Diem IV." Along with the reconsideration of Cantineau's list must come recognition of the special status of the bilingual RaqZsh Epitaph from al-HijriMada'in SZlih.. J. "Untersuchungen .g. noting that loans attested only in North Arabian Nabatean. Thamudic. 17 and references." Or." has shown (working chiefly from CIS). 77-78. too. 52 (1983): 357-404 (hereafter Diem 1V).250. 178. for example. 13 O n this loan. (e) texts from elsewhere (e. 14 Starcky briefly discusses the loans from the Arabic side ("Pitra. 925). 9 New material on names is abundant. .'^ Let us examine Cantineau's efforts. 245. the language of Dedan al-'UIB." pp." col. 924). AS 19 (Chicago. n.9 The second step must be to evaluate Cantineau's list of borrowed words and forms. Die Schreibung der zusammenhangden Rede.-ilfhat 'the goddess'. vol. The first four of these groups d o show distinctive onomastic patterns. . though there are differences among them." Or." p. and his editions. Cantineau. and Milik and Starcky. we must await the next fascicle of the second volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum. n." Syria 35 (1958): 227-51. "Nouvelles inscriptions nabateennes. 1. 106. 163. Milik. 16." col. to make it possible to isolate a set of words loaned from Arabic into abatea an. and (d) the Sinai. 48 (1979): 207-57 (hereafter Diem I). Levinson touches on dialect patterns. The dialect patterns to be looked for intersect with the geographical distribution of the texts: (a) Petra. T. Didicaces faites par des dieux /Palmyre. the fundamental differences between Arabic and Middle Aramaic are numerous enough. alluding to Northern (a b S e) and Southern (c) groups: see "The Nabatean Inscriptions. kpr 'tomb'. Cantineau is quite complete (Diem I. "The Nabatean Inscriptions. Le Nabatien. see also n. long under preparation by Cantineau's great successors in Nabatean studies. Please note the following studies by Diem cited throughout this article: Diem. see. "Untersuchungen . "Petra. recently reread by Milik and Starcky. Milik. Kabatean Arabic must have been distinct from . Teixidor. 148). n.13 Although they are closely related. The Akkadian Influences on Aramaic.. 172. and the languages of the Aramaic family are well enough attested. Tyr) et des ihiases skmitiques a I'e'poque romaine. 91 below.s. n." p. Zusammenfassung.g. this should be done in light of the entire Nabatean record. pp.'' To evaluate the whole corpus. and Levinson. .. "Untersuchungen zur friihen Geschichte der arabischen Orthographie. were probably borrowed from Lihyanite. 11. . no. Milik and Starcky in A R N A . Miletus. BAH 92 (Paris. see. 210. 1 shall assume the relative homogeneity of North Arabic.g. the best known involving the article: Pre-Islamic Arabic dialects use a hlhn article in contrast to the 'alattested both in Classical Arabic and in names preserved in pre-Islamic texts (e.. pp. Hatra. 111. 12 See Starcky. so also Milik. Reconsideration of Cantineau's list involves the fundamental difficulty of all intraSemitic language study: there is a common stratum of vocabulary and grammatical structure which makes it impossible to assign many words and formants to a particular language." Or. e. 924-25. (b) the Hawran and Bostra. Chaldean. . p. etc. pp. 3. 1970). 172. 17 For the sense 'stele' rather than 'tomb'. I shall return to that text in section IV below.. rhn 'to mortgage'.16 Items which occur in the RaqZsh Epitaph (517) are marked as such. "Arabians in Mesopotamia During the Late-Assyrian. [pl. vol." Z D M G 13 1 (1 98 1): 42-84. vol. cited on the top of p. which are not. 54 below) and perhaps the two participial forms. Diem notes the limitations of Hijazi evidence for the history of the Arabic language (Diem 111. Le Nubareen.E. pp. with al-NamBrah may belong the Fihr text (RES 1097). Edessa 'The Blessed Citv' (Oxford. Words recognized as loans on the grounds of consonantism (two words): wgr 'stele'. 172. O n the need to revise the list. and the exclamations. Umm al-JimA ca. as Cantineau (ibid. vol.. to which 1 add 'yr 'other than'from the top of that page. 512 c. 1. Diem discusses Palm phz/Arb fakh(i)d 'thigh. "Les Tombeaux anonymes [de Pktra]. and Starcky notes. for example. gzib(ba3).g. in Milik and Starcky. The other pre-Islamic texts in Arabic script are listed by Diem 1.) For the most part the morphological loan list (Cantineau. The conjunction p could be Aramaic as well as Arabic." notably with reference t o the passage in line 4 concerning Rome. he5 hPta'. 29. Since the Northwest Semitic languages lack the elative formation both the PIA dialects (in using 'a1 rather than h-lhn-. p. 925. "Inscriptions rkcemment decouvertes. 18. e. 126. and his "The Sacred Space in Ancient Arab Religions. Harran 568. so Nab gb' could be ~ r a m a i c ." p. 98). The first of these is presumably alleged to be Arabic on the basis of the dominance of Aramaic forms from *gubb-. wwklhm frsw Irwm 'and they became phylarchs (ra'su) for Rome'. B. Diem 11. 1s The main list is given in Cantineau." (pp. 355. Mand hfata 'offense'. 71." Berytus 24 (1975-76): 35-41. 600). p. 302-3. 99-100. p. that that inventory needs to be revised. tribal subdivision' and Palm wrSt ? / A r b warifa 'heiress'. He concludes: "The main problem . "Origines. Blau refers to the alNamarah text as Nabatean Arabic. giving only occasional indications of his reasons for so describing them. cols. . which are linguistically important but beyond our scope. 1 think. 210-1 1 (Ramm graffiti.(e. pp. who renders npS 'tomb tower' in Syriac contexts. 83. "The Nabatean Inscriptions. for example. pp. The "phonetic loans" also involve names rather than plain text for the most part. ." p. hty3h '(recompense for) sin'. The ' ~ Aramaic forms cognate to the second word are based on the stems *hitJ. Roschinski discusses some of the loans briefly. 103) acknowledges. 2. Mand htita). cf. 353. Words recognized as loans on the grounds of apparent vocalism (two words proposed." p. Segal. "The Beginnings of the Arabic Diglossia: A Study of the Origins of Neoarabic." wld 'child(ren). 38-48. On the importance of steles. 83).g. Le NubatPen. 17 1 and the discussion in Cantineau. The prepositions and syntactic features of the RaqBsh Epitaph.. one accepted): g b 3 'well'. see R. Gawlikowski. but JArm gebeJ. 115.. 1. geb are also attested. see Milik. 23. Levinson argues both that it is an arabism. see Milik. and mentions some toponyms and nicknames in the course of his remarks on personal names. though some are vitiated by Bellamy's restudy. Diem 11. See "Palmyre. esp. It is impossible to isolate the Arabian names from the rest of the West Semitic names" (p." pp. Cf." col. 2303 1." in Studies. "NamBrah Inscription. 362. p." in SDB. are discussed in section IV below. inscriptions from Zebed. see "Petra. Diem also treats some of the loans. 16 For some of the methodological problems at issue.and *hats'. 1066-1 103 at 1081.] hataiia 'sins').202) and that it is not (p. Diem and Blau both call Nabatean Arabic "a border dialect" (see J . 161. Zadok. 335). JArm g8b. in "Sprachen. Words recognized as loans on the grounds of morphology (two words): 'sdq. Blau. pp. "The Nabatean Inscriptions. p. to bear' (only 517). important. rather than the stem *hafT' presupposed by the Nabatean spelling (but cf. see Diem 111. too. JArm he!'&. 2. see M. 262) and the Classical or Standard. Achaemenian and Hellenistic Periods. 2. pp. Jabal Usays 528. Le ~VabatPen.15 I will begin by sorting out his list. the term is analogous to Arm npf.Cantineau recognizes twenty-nine Arabic loans in Nabatean. (There are fewer Arabic loans in Palmyrene. the exceptions are the suffixes (see n.. and Diem 111. 18 Levinson." p.vol. 6 (1960). most of his remarks stand. Chiefly According to the Cuneiform Sources. see p. "Nouvelles inscriptions nabateennes. p. Mand quba. remains. 171-72) is based on names." Afroasiatic Linguistics 4 [1977]: 175-202. J . 183). 142. Diem has studied all these texts thoroughly. p. so rhn is probably also a loan. although the legal applications of this term are not. T.." p. anglice 'to pass on'. cf. supp. Another Aramaic term for mortgage. as well as OffArm gw. others would see a false etymology in the a spellings. ~ ' to draw out'. and the suggestion is made that Hegra al-Hijr is. '8tiin 'perennial'). 22 O n kpr. the form anahataios stands (in the principal. 158. 19 17)." p. O n this phrase. as 'mainmorte' (anglice 'mortmain') (lines 4. 'to go'.6). 'hrym I'hd'dr. 1978). q. Didicaces.) In the major manuscript of the Periplus of the Red Sea (early second century c . Jer.I9 Northwest Semitic languages. Broken Plurals [Leiden. Macuch. AION. p. n. 24 Note. Jean and J . too. 372).. Cf. Le Iscrizioni di Hatra. "Rawwafah. 1981). I.e. 49. too. 19. pare Levinson. 102: Mand gaua 'interior'. 21 1-12.E. 107.v. Iscrizioni. p. 'sdq.-F. A Mandaic Dictionary (hereafter D M ) (Oxford. a new Hatra text (Hatra 245). 13 (West A r a m a i c kla-liila). 17. 'yr 'to alter'. whose thesis will need to be reconsidered in light of the MilikStarcky text just cited (olim CIS 2.v. 31: 17. see Vattioni. 21 Beaucamp. "The Nabatean Inscriptions. Frisk. for other modern forms of gw.20 These five loans are the most certain on Cantineau's list. 1965) (hereafter D I S O ) . mSk (contrast CArb m s k ) 'to draw. For hrm. Iscrizioni. 'moreimost legitimate'. the god [of'!] our lord.21 kpr 'grave' (the Aramaic is qbr. lines 21-22. citing. 28 (Naples. 263-64. 18. see Starcky in Starcky et al. i. BHeb 'azkiir 'daring'. p.u confins du de'sert: Pc. i.24hlk 'to die' (only in 517. C7n Royaume au. col. Vattioni. line 8). etymologically. Diem also takes ' I to be an Arabic loan (Diem IV.g. reads 'hdw. Bergstr'kser." in which the related root hgh is dealt with. Daniels (Winona Lake. for JArm. )too. 109:13. sgyl'which he dedicated for the worship at the (E)sagila'. Dictionnaire des inscriptions simitiques de lbuest (Leiden. They render. rejects the first of these glosses. Levinson. cf. BHeb. carry along'. 302. lineage'. p. have only rare instances of medial h roots." pp. Hogskolas Arksskrift 33 (Gtiteborg. The word seems to be attested in Mandaic. p. hnw. see G.200. p. the Holy Enclosure. Ps. frequent in compound prepositions). The form may be reflected in Greek sources. 20 Contra Levinson. and Milik. pp. deriving the term from anahaind. "Origines. occurs in an al-Hijr text republished by Milik and Starcky in A R N A . 30." col. at IngHat 20. Vitelli. 1927). is probably a loan. 'yr 'other than'. Papiri greci et latini IV (nl. 23 Hatr 'hrwhn 'their posterity' (Hatra 79. and of his (dibine) throne Harisha and of all the (other) gods'. see his Roman Arabia. the term for a legal heir. 88. "The Nabatean Inscriptions. Levinson. showing the 'af 'alpattern uhich is the commonest of all broken plural forms (A. found in ancient texts only in the Palmyrene phrase gd 'nhi 'the Fortuna of the Nabateans'. add to the references in C. hryg. "Petra. for the text. too. ~ . 280-445) (Florence. "The Nabatean Inscriptions. gt 'corpse' (but cf.174. in the same text. Drouer and R. see Milik and Starcky in ARniA. Words recognized as loans on the grounds that. 161. albeit a broken plural rather than an elative i t is the plural of nh!. see simply G. and Ug uhry in KTU 1.tra et la NahatPne (Lyons. 'akziib 'deceptive'. p. where hrg is not read)." col. 4. trans. "The Nabatean Inscriptions.. Murtonen. see Starcky. the relevant sense is not attested in Aramaic (seven words): 'hr 'posterity' (but cf. P. Bowersock would athetisize both of these forms with a. 1983). Ingholt. 215. and 19 An honorary Arabic-Nabatean loan may be mentioned here. his "The Sacred Space. etc. see Gaulikouski. see F. 37. uhose remarks on gwh require correction. 6 in section 19. in the legal phrase hrm whrg &Srh 'Ih mr'n wmwthh hrjS w'lhy ' klhni 'interdicted and forbidden of DhuShara. niyb 'relative (father-in-law?)'. Hatr l g ~ (Hatra . (See Milik.) refers to tous analhataious. On 'I'god'(not 'tribe') in CIS 2. 145." p. it may be that this should be regarded as an (aramaized) Arabic loan. 336. The meaning 'to be straitened' is known in Northwest Semitic. line BHeb 'aharit in. Le Periple de la Mer ~ r y t h r i eGoteborgs .. Palm 'nht corresponds to CArb ' a n h i t . 125. line 3. Hoftijzer. p. with an ' f c I structure. S. 14 (East Aramaic Urmia). Nerab I1 = KAI 226. and 115. which reads in part dr. . Words recognized as loans on the grounds that the words are not attested in Aramaic (six words): 'I 'tribe. cf. .103: 39-40). JArm gew 'body'. 924. for example. p. n. ~ q b r ) .(notwithstanding isolated examples. although the roots or similar forms are known in Aramaic. 28 below. p. line 7) may also be relevant. n. p. e. Introduction t o the Semitic Languages. Old Arm 'hrth 'his posterity'. 2). p s '~ 5.a. though the editor of the papyrus records that the initial a has been deleted on the papyrus. Indiana. see also n. 153. 1472." p. 18:46! The Nabatean root hrg is otheruise k n o u n only in IngNab 4:3. literally 'set off'. A letter addressed to Xenon of Philadelphia (third century B. text 407. see E. "Tombeaux. 19641. 1963). cf." p. p. cf. in Vattioni.. see H. Ps. pp. p. 84. tenthcentury hand) and has been corrected. B. review of W. cf. p. 25:32). p. however. too. DPdicaces. DPdicaces. On p l h .. A Compendious Syriac Dictionary (Oxford. Arb qasr 'castle'. Cantineau lists others which need not be regarded as loans. Palm hl. pl. severed member'. 29 See. Sabar. 161. 32 See Kaufman. 358. n. Boyarin. pp. 1976). BHeb. write' (cf. R. Job (Downers Grove. and 263 ('I perish'). cf. der S. 1972). for example. M. JArm s n c 'to guard'). for possible OffArm cases of the sense 'to die'). Cantineau cites Arb qusiirat). see Kaufman. the son of Yahbshay the architect. 19:lO). Drijvers. Syr grnh. ed. see F. Fischer. C. Pope. 28 The developments uere first unraveled by E. "Hebrew Inscriptions of the First Temple Period. see. J A r m srh 'to be narrow').v. 1967). p ~~~'to ? open. 1982) in Z A L 14 (1985): 83. gwh 'tomb. 331-32. who parses h lk 'the meaty or fleshy one'. p. New York. hl also occurs in Amorite. see Milik. grnh. in view of the sibilant. 221.30the pair hllhlt 'avunculus/matertera' occurs in ~ ~ r i a c )hrb . AB 15 (Garden City. 26 See E.r. 27 The Hatra occurrence is the dream text Hatra 106b. pp. For hlt' in Old Syriac. [ z l h ~ d w ~:r. . Mand 'Ip 'to study. review of A R N A . J A r m S2lg 'to be at ease'. Mand Sulita 'placenta'). 94. PaSai Wayahi BaSallah: A Neo-Aramaic Midrash on Beshallah (Wiesbaden.s. the incantation text references seem to involve a fetus. may be added to the five isolated on strictly phonological and morphological grounds. gb' (see discussion above). 83) cited belou. Le-xicon Syriacum (Halle. but cf. 1928). 15:2) and verse (Job 14:20. D. 145-46. Arabic has Silw. the text is well treated in Milik. qsr 'cella' (whether from the root 'to be(come) short' in both Arb and JArm or from Latin castra. AkkadianlAramaic. pp. bitterness'). Old-S. in some cases I may simply have missed his point. of a camel. Or.. 78. Rejected loans (eleven words): 'Ip 'to draft. 365 and n. W. segregated as Arabic loans on the basis of sense and occurrence. see H. in Maarav 3 (1982): 113-14. p. pp. with the Samalianp>b shift. AOS 49 (New Haven. n. MHeb. Slw 'ossements. instruct'." Maarav 3 (1982): 55-83. Sil-vri' 'placenta'. Gen. p.hhSy/[hn hrnny ~ ] 'rdkl'lhr ~ h h f y 'rdkl'ldy :IhZ hhlm' 'lp hnw 'Zabidii and Yahbshay.DISO s. 12-13. I. note the idiom hlk ICmlit (e. ~ 'maternal ~ aunt' (cf. The traditional understanding of the divinely made model (tahnft) of Exodus 25 suggests that sketching or writing may have been involved in the Hatran dream. 388-99. 256 ('he departs forever'). J A r m l a c ~ n & 'wormwood. Kutscher. ~ 'in the form 'hrbw (JArm. Yamauchi. Hatr.riac (Edessean) Inscriptions. otherwise only in the word n b ~ . (in. 142-43. Silyii' 'dregs'. pp. pp. Mandaic Incantation Te. S'ryt (attested in 25 Diem also regards hlk as a loan and cites the occurrence in the a l . Drower and Macuch. 486. AkkadianlAramaic. Semitic Study Series. s n c 'to make' (only in 517.uts. (Zabidu and Yahbshay) + whom the god instructed in a dream'. e t ~ . the sons of Barnannay the architect. this is probably an Aramaic loan into Arabic. Andersen. pp. Sprachwissenschaft (Wiesbaden. review of Y. Jamme. 11 l ("The general verb for going is here used as a euphemistic substitute for dying") and 141 (citing the Arabic sense).25 lCn'to curse' (twice in 517. p. p. Y. JArm. 1973). In addition t o these eighteen words. 1965). 174. The Book of' God and Man (Chicago. cf. 28. 3 (Leiden. 30 On both. The Pagan God. be split' (attested in JArm). r~ 'client' ~ Palm. M. oh'. the determinations are based on evidence that has come to light since Cantineau wrote. Brockelmann. Mand hrb is used in the ApCFl). do not recognize that sense but only the 'placenta' meaning (DM 454). Gordis. for example.N a m a a h text (Diem 111. bony remains' (but cf. Palm gwmh. 64. cf. as JArm qasrii' 'fort'. cf. 145. hlt may occur in a Dura proper name. ) g . For BHeb. Illinois. In a number of cases in the list of rejected loans. J . cf.26 These thirteen words. On the alleged case of hlk 'to die' in a Thamudic text (Winnett in A R N A . Teixidor. but also Samalian 'lb 'to write'. sryh 'chamber' (cf. BHeb. Panammuwa ~' I = KAI 214. Hopkins.s. loculus' (a loan from Akk kimahhu. 1976). 31 See R . Syr n w ~ k ' ) . 96). 151. Grundr~g arahischen Philologie I. Sarfatti. Payne Smith. 69-71. 6. 1903). line 34). see A. MHeb kwk. 142.. ~ h o e n ) hlt .g. n. G.nsht 'copy (a loan from Akk nishu. reduced to hlk both in prose (Gen. JArm. not only OffArm [Ahiqar]. 40 (1971): 481-89. 'aSlC' '(decaying) corpse. on p. . see W. 131 ff. The property must be defined (Group I). pp. T h e uniformity of the Mada'in Salih texts is emphasized by N. If we consider the Hijazi Nabatean texts (continuing t o set aside the Rawwafah texts) as a class of documents concerned with the control of real property. pp.a loan from Latin t o Greek t o Nabatean. vol." Z D P V 96 (1980): 163-68. are funerary. A. A Grammar of the Arabic Language. 2.-H. it is surprising that only ten are nouns.n2. even with such a small sample. see "Petra. taken over. pp. '-vr 'other than'. Only two of the loans fall outside this assemblage: hty'h and '. Le . Kaufman notes that ca. may be discussed briefly. is perhaps greater testimony t o the Arabic influence on Nabatean than the entire witness of the nouns. three of the Old Persian loans are adjectives and one is a prepositional phrase adverb. p. The class of Arabic loanwords does not. I. Hebrew Verse Structure (Winona Lake. kpr' wkthh dnh hrm 'the grave and these its documents are sacred'. The contents of the graves must be protected (Group 2b . "The Nabatean Inscriptions." pp. p ~ 'sto draw out' (once). 'vr 'to alter' (four times). D. 288. Youssef. indeed. qn!rr. that in the OffArm Arsames correspondence. 3d ed. pp.vr 'other than'. Technically. 38 In general. 'yr 'other than' (eleven times). p. all fifteen Akkadian loans. Group 3) and p ~ s Group through documents36('yr 'to alter'.37 Of the fifteen loanwords. but it belongs to the subclass of nouns most closely allied to the particles. BES 1979. too. In his vastly larger field. o n Madi'in Salih al-Hijr." JNES 37 (1978): 119-40. T o this we must add hms.4. pp. as at Petra. pp. confined to Nabatean texts from Mada'in SBlih.!r2 (see n. Note. see the discussion in R . see J. "A Nineteenth Dynasty New Word for Blade and the Semitic Origin of S o m e Egyptian Weapon-Names and Other Words. 36-39. 319-22. he even suggests that many of the texts "were executed by one and the same personW(p. A. "Tombeaux. 71. 40 See O'Connor. governor'in two texts from Rawwafah. see Levinson. pp. 1896-98). 35 above). F o r a variety of Semitic loans in Egyptian. O n kirk 'chiliarch'. esp. vol. like so many other classes of ancient Near Eastern texts. indeed. no. 1964)." p. and all seven possible Egyptian loans are substantives. see Akkadian/Aramaic.165). 208-9. 2. 18. Group 4). testify to the strong influence of Arabic on the Nabatean language as a whole. 95 1-73. of these. all nouns. t o describe Nabatean officers ( R o m a n Arabia. including three verbs.40 36 Note IngHab 10:8. and tr. Wright. as must the persons involved with the property (Group 2a). we can better understand this set of loanwords. 172-73). 173. 300-303. . F o r further discussion of the question of what exactly the Hegra funerary inscriptions are. 1.38 The occurrence as loans of four verbs and one functor. Hall. Ordinary vocabulary (four words): l'n 'to curse' (eight times). (Cambridge. Khairy in his useful survey. the class of words reflects rather closely the fact that the most important finds at MadaJin Salih. only 'vr occurs frequently.39 The use of 'vr. All the Greek loans in Nabatean are nouns. Cantineau lists four Greek terms for R o m a n militaryadministrative positions ( L e NahatPen. 66. and the legal rights t o the graves must be controlled (rhn. vol. 37 On Petra. Indiana. and hgmwn 'hpgemon. 90 percent of the Akkadian loans in Aramaic are nouns. 168. since the vast majority of loans in any language are nouns. 3). 353-58. Group 4) and performative gestures (l'n 'to curse'. see A. vol. and 154). nws. twenty-seven of the thirty-one Old Persian loans. "Some Distinctive Features of the Language of the Aramaic Arsames Correspondence. and Teixidor. p. ten are nouns.VabatCen. see A R N A . Introductorj Linguistics (Philadelphia. "An Analytical Study of the Nabataean Monumental Inscriptions at Medi'in Saieh. it seems. 305-6. 57. Rather. This classification is a useful preliminary. 42-53. on Rayr. as Cantineau thought. see Gawlikowski. and a fifth. I. CArb gayr is used as a noun in construct with a following genitive." M D A I K 39 (1985): 255-60. with the special class of funerary property. 39 Cantineau. as Bouersock observes. 1980). Whitehead." cols. 169-70. 36. as a loan from Arabic via Kurdish.v 'nwS klh . see A R N A . cf.Corrections in Some Semitic Languages (Jerusalem. . 52-53. THERAQASH EPITAPH The Raqash Epitaph of 267 C. . The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Persian Azerhaijan." p. first copied by Huber and Euting. 271-72 for text and photo of the squeeze. note Teixidor's explanation of Dushara-A'ra as 'Dushara (of the altar) dyed (red with the blood of offerings)'.E. 46. "Sprachen.g. 269-72.g. Early History of the Alphaher (Jerusalem. A. . "Thamudic Texts from the Negev. Graf. 70. Blau. Savignac elicited discussions by no less distinguished a trio than J. in J . In the Eastern Neo. Chabot. ~ ' 41 S o also Gaulikowski. 1. The use in IngNab 12:6 (the Halifu Dedication.Most cases of Nab 'yr follow the patterns of Arb gayr. in idem." EI 12 (1975): 129-31 at p. Jaussen and R. since the Arabic cognate has s. see J . 38. CIS 2. Garbell. except' ( D M 76). 1937). "Tombeaux. and the writing of ' for g are features well known from the stock of personal names in abate an. she records yer 'except. J. Jaussen and Savignac did not appreciate that the Nabatean and Thamudic texts belong together because they misread the latter. 45 The comments of the earlier scholars are reported in the publication in Jaussen and Savignac. dy yzbn kpr' dnh 'w yktb mwhbh 'w 'yrh as 'It is not permitted that anyone sell (Pacel) this tomb or write out for it a gift-deed or do anything else (in order to alienate the property)'.~' The phonology of the loans is largely uninformative: preservation of initial u. I have at my disposal a photograph made by D . 52. see The Pagan God. p. The Thamudic was clarified by Winnett in A Study of the Lihyanite and Thamudic Inscriptions (Toronto. with two new Thamudic texts and a discussion of zn. 92 below. The Thamudic text is written in "Hijazi" Thamudic (olim Thamudic C and D). 130. one is inclined to parse wl' ri. niyb is apparently an aramaized loan. Diem's treatment is integrated into his monographic "Untersuchungen" I-IV. Nabatean is not alone in borrowing Rayr. F. Arb Burr: 'dyed object'. see C R A I B L (1908). vol.-B. p. pp. as is usual for this script group. Lidzbarski. Diem and J. he treats the text as "Thamudic D". vol. 58-59. . 43 On the Nabatean sibilants. 44 The Thamudic text. and in Roschinski.^^ There is almost no indication of the linguistic accommodation of the loans. 172-76. Mission archiologique en Arahie. in that study.. p. 9. 1970). see pp. pp. directly to the right of the Nabatean: zn rqS bnt 'bdmnt 'This is Raqash. 1982)." pp. e. he has since renamed his earlier C and D groups Hijazi. and pl. and M. ~ l a u . write out for it a gift-deed or anything else (that would serve as an instrument of a~ienation)'. 41. Graf informs me that the text is angled in such a way that it is exceptionally difficult to photograph. Only the sibilant of nfyb presents a revelation. is a bilingual Nabatean-Thamudic text from the Qasr al-Bint group at Madg'in Sglih. This copy is reproduced in Cantineau. 11:3-7). 1 in the Thamudic corpus of Jaussen and Savignac. set out vertically. which does not offer material improvements to the reading of the text. Mission. 2.The ~ ~ Nabatean text is longer and much more difficult. mn yqbr bh 'yr kmkm wbrth 'whoever buries in it (the tomb) anyone other than Kamkam and her daughter' (IngNab 11:6) and wmn y'bd k'yr dnh 'and whoever does (anything) other than this' (IngNab 12:7). and Blau's is presented in his programmatic "Beginnings. p. Le Nahatien. uhile the classical form of the language uses the particle gair 'not. pp. its publication by J . 1965). only'. but Arabic usage makes it clear that we should parse it as '. 86. is no. daughter of ' ~ b d m a n a t ' . 46. pl. IngNab 10:6-8. p. Naveh. 31 for copy of the bilingual.-B. Modern Mandaic has borrowed the verb gyr as G I R ( D M 92). J L S P 3 (The Hague. other. Clermont-Ganneau. and it has more recently attracted the attention of W. and n.43 IV. 42 For another 8.209) is unusual: in light of parallels in other texts (e. cf..Aramaic dialect described by I. On Pseudo. Chabot first realized the pairing." . C. 481. 162. pp. 340." Proceedings of the Seminar fbr Arabian Studies 3 (1973): 69-72. 87-90.. pp. vol. 306-7 c . 354. published by F. but it absorbed Arabic words and forms. ( 1 ) dnh qbrw ?rich kcbw br ( 2 ) hrtt lrqdS brt ( 3 ) cbdmnwtw 'mh49 dnh. the Simeon epitaph from al-'Ula (5386) and the epitaph of a young girl (CIS 2." p. Altheim and R. see A. Blau. . See Starcky. ~ . but Milik cites th as his preference el~ewhere. p.Nonetheless. 221-23. see Diem 11. see also Diem 1. "A New Nabatean Inscription. wife of 'Adnon. for that text is entirely Arabic. 221. Arabic Grammar. cf. Milik. Beitrage zur alten Geschichte und deren Nachleben: Festschriji fur Franz Altheim (Berlin. since there is no trajectory of Yabatean "turning into" Arabic. 76. 932-34. The Raqash Epitaph." in R. Stier. 49 I omit discussion of the personal names. 2. 'hdy 'one'. On the consonantism of k'bu. p. however. c . 243. Cantineau's views must be revised. the (Sumerian>Akkadian>Aramaic>) Arabic loan 'kwrl'akkdr 'farmer'. e." but see also his p. ~ ~ in fact. p. 219-23. "New Dated Nabatean Graffiti from the Sinai. Mawiyya Epitaph from Hegra. L. 50. pp. For a largely Classical Arabic text in Lihyanite script. on tiltih. b." p. p. pp. Die Araber in der alten Welt 5:'l (Berlin. "Palmyre. n. 51 Diem 111. 47 In fact the chronological horizon around 517 can be filled in: a. and comments that the text has not been extensively studied. there are ligatures at b y. . o n rquS.. ~~ excluded from the main body of Nabatean texts and given a separate accounting. but in 517 some spaces occur (Diem IV. again. Beeston et al." cols.~' Diem contends. 29. F . "The Inscription Jaussen-Savignac 71. was found at Jiddah but derives from Hegra. 1968). 19821. n. 363.. . 154-55.48 The Nabatean text is presented below. 1097-98. 158). pp. pp. 402-3. + -+ + + . F . Starcky. Negev. y r. Starcky reads the eponym as Mawiyya. but not between h and t (pp. S indicates the sentences of the text. containing many Arabic words and forms. "Beginnings. 111. "Bilingue. "is ~ 'a feminine demonstrative in tive. 2. vol. 262 (Manawtkjt). Wright. pp. p. see Diem I.g. p. "Petra. the Arabic elements in the language of the Nabataean inscriptions gradually increased. S 1. 357-58. 177-79). O n the graphic layout of the text. too.~ a m a r a h but. Starcky. eds. 386): note. 220-21.. pp. On the possibility that internal (7 was written with waw in Nabatean (and other late forms of Imperial Aramaic). 50 Milik and Starcky in A R N A . This Mawiyya is not the slightly later "Queen of the Saracens" discussed in Bowersock. . At Hejra. vol. the latest Nabatean text known. m w. In the course of time." IEJ 17 (1967): 250-55.333). that in byrh tmuz. Stiehl. Milik. 1. The use of w for internal d is reflected in certain features of Arabic spelling." cols. n. 144. "Mavia. . The Nabataean text is written in what amounts to a mixed language. pp. F. Most Nabatean texts are written in scriptio continua with ligatures over word boundaries (contrary to Arabic practice). 265. Milik and Starcky. "Petra. he says that the text has only one Arabic word. 48 S O also. esp. 14 (Manlt). head of Hegra (ryS hgr') and contend that the persons involved are Jews. Altheim and Stiehl publish it as the epitaph of Monah. is a mixed text. which is scarcely acceptable ~ ~ n t a c t i c a l l ~th 46 Contrast the treatment throughout the grammar with the concluding discussion (Le NabatPen. r h. p. 495. 1970). pp. see. . Sinai graffiti published by A. Diem's treatment of ulaw and the Classical Arabic SchlussAlif'is a matter I hope to return to elsewhere. 266-67 c . 925. . The fact that it is among the latest substantial Nabatean texts and the latest known to him led Cantineau to see it as only a step away from a l . that either reading is palaeographically possible and prefers dnh because th "yields an Arabic demonstra. in Royaume. in their reconsideration of the text. cf. pp.the . On this Hijazi Nemesis figure. for example. see Diem 11. tempered though they are. 47. This." p. . 356 c . Chabot. The language of the Nabataean inscriptions and documents is Official Aramaic. 49. IV. The continuing influence of Cantineau's vacillating views can be seen in Naveh's remarks (in The Early History of the Alphabet [Jerusalem. "Origines. pp. . in addition t o Diem 111. Cantineau did not hesitate in excluding the al-Namgrah Epitaph from the Nabatean corpus. Jaussen and Savignac. see Starcky. Stiehl and H . . there was found a burial inscription. E. 72-73. and mnult.. tih. 388-89). do not mention the reading." col. and others read dnh and allow that th is possible.The Nabatean text is of special interest because of its arabisms. 305-9 and by Stiehl. and Cantineau's I believe it must be vacillating treatment of it is ~ n d e r s t a n d a b l e . see Diem's remarks. d' mhrmt3 dy bnh 'nmw..'Ihgrw. La NabatPen. but this seems unlikely. A. 120. since the verbal suffixes are ambiguous. pp. on the u.. 383-84. cf. see esp. which is (otherwise) masculine. Cantineau. the calque is not.j3 Whether the suffix's shape is Aramaic or Arabic. 150. dnh hmn' dj. the overall structure of the sentence is unclear. as Diem has shown most recently. It Nabatean texts. and it has j ~is supported by the analogy of other been most recently championed by ~ 1 a u . I ." p. which is feminine. Blau argues that the absence of a relative marker is a sign of Arabic calquing.54 In addition to the various problems noted." she prefers to attribute the developments "at least in part to the influence of foreign languages such as Yiddish and. viz. O n the u. pp. 344-49. If th is the preferred reading. 57 O n the sense of m f k b . 56. PseudoCorrections.. the use of the suffix (as opposed to a suffixed form of yt) is unusual for Nabatean (and late Imperial Aramaic generally) and reflects Arabic syntax. more recently. 13:1. there are three competing interpretations of dnh qbrw sn ' h PN: (1) equational sentence with definite predicate. pp." Afroasiatic Linguistics 6 (1979): 117-42. Blau. p. see Diem 111. 118-21: though Berman recognizes "the well-documented trend for richly inflected languages to become more analytical in certain areas. CRAIBL (1908). in this text.52 snch. 120. As these examples make clear. The preference for object-marking yt is one of the several features in which late Imperial and Middle Aramaic materials prefer analytical structures. "Lexical Decomposition and Lexical Unity in the Expression of Derived Verbal Categories in Modern Hebrew. see Milik and Starcky in A R N A . the shift from older. Cf. 12:1 . esp.rw. synthetic to newer. The suffix -h. 342. 'bd~nnu. 38. and many others). p. pp." p. three are exemplified in ancient Aramaic. qbrw. dnh qbr' d j 'bd 'ydw 'This is the tomb which P N made' IngNab 10:1 (similarly 11: 1. 63.. 'This is the tomb (which) P N made (it)'." p. 51. vol. a dialect which.g. pp.aw as marking the (nominative) citation form (Nennfor~n). the only other gender-marked item is qbrw. 1. 53 Diem IV.Arabic. Chabot. the broadest usage. English. 337-38. e. pp. and 'lqbru. Of the four trends mentioned on p. "Tombeaux. could represent (a) Aramaic epicene final -2h or (b) Arabic masculine final -h. the Nabatean pattern involves a predicate marked as definite and an explicit relative marker. the use of the feminine for qbrw may have been triggered by analogy with nps'lnfs. 350. while dnh is a masculine demonstrative in Aramaic.see Gawlikowski. 61. 384-85 and n. vol. from the Classical or Standard language but from the border dialect used by the Nabateans. p. however. 352. I 1 56 On the sense of m h r n ~ t . 'bd m'yrw 'This is the incense altar which P N made' IngNab 2:l. the pausal form of the suffix. The waw also occurs on k'bu. see. dnh mSkb3 d j 'hd 'nmw 'This is the banqueting place'7 which P N occupied (or came to occupy)' IngNab 14:1-2. Berman. here and on ypthh. on the triptotic pattern. p. 54 Cantineau. Diem IV. 270. Le NabatPen. analytical structures can be paralleled in Modern Hebrew. for example. This is one of the two interpretations espoused by Cantineau. "Beginnings. R. 'This is the consecrated place'6 which P N built' IngNab 6: 1. The noun bears the "Nabatean waw" commonest on personal names and designed t o mark elements as (in some sense) non-Aramaic. pp. p. . on triptotic nouns. is reflected here. 55 Blau. 52 Diem 111. 336-55. p. vol. 354. and its current defender is construction. usually does precede it in Classical Arabic. (b) the Biib al-Siq bilingual at Petra: mqb[r3] dnh bn[h/yh?] PN 'PN built [bnh] this grave'."58 Other scholars. Mission.he hypothesizes. ~ ~ focus interpretation would specify that qbrw is defective in not being marked as definite in either language. Le Nabate'en.relies ~' on the analogy of Classical Arabic grammar to support the parsing. an asyndetic relative clause with an indefinite head. n. p. p. a construction preserved in Standard Arabic only after antecedents denoting time. "Beginnings. p. the great goddess. i. For the construction in Official . who cites several texts as further evidence: (a) a betyl dedication from Jabal Ramm: nsbt 'It 'lht' rbt' [dy '61 bsr [dy] 'bdwh PNN 'The stele of Allat. the use of [d]h for dnh in RES 2052 (and the phrase 'l'tr later in the text) and the indefinite predicates are arabisms. but does not precede it in the only relevant construction in this text. 354. PN made it'. [which] PNN made it'. on the grammar generally. cf. BES 1979. for example. It is not surprising that Jaussen and Savignac. This is the interpretation preferred by Jaussen and Savignac. 270: "Ce tombeau (est celui) qu'a fait. 63 O r topic-comment or casus pendens. . vol. p. 79-82. 59 Cantineau. [who resides in] Bosra. 12. see." etc. prefer the obvious alternative. 65 Cantineau. 64 Jaussen and Savignac. The restorations in both cases make it difficult to rely too much on these analogies. treated the opening lines of 583 and RES 2052 (cited above) as examples of a focus c o n s t r ~ c t i o n The . 2. The clause type hypothesized would be analogous to the bit p u f u type in Akkadian (GAG 166b) and the br'fyt br' type in Hebrew (GKC 130d). no. and after them Cantineau. and ~ i d z b a r s k i . 'This is a tomb (which) PN This made (it)'. hesitant to postulate such a construction for a little-known dialect. 62 Ibid. if an Arabic." pp. 18. 60 Wright. see Whitehead. 354. This interpretation is also favored by Milik. ~ ~ 'As for this tomb. (2) equational sentence with indefinite predicate. ' calling Blau's suggestion f a r f e t ~ h e d .. Diem 111. 66 Milik. [one with] the antecedent standing in construct relation to the following asyndetic attribute clause. dnh ' t r dy 'hd P N 'This is a place which PN has taken possession of' 583. This differs from our text in having a (restored) relative before the verb. p. "Bilingue. 11. allowed for "a type of attribute (relative) clause different from Standard Arabic usage. 51. vol." pp.66 ~ ~ hlktpy ~ 'lhgrw (5) Snt m'h wStyn (6) wtryn byrh tmwz 2 why . 174: "Ce tombeau I'a fait Kacabu". 2.. 38. 2. "Arsames. in S3.. 67 The bulk of previous discussion of the text has concentrated on the opening clause to the exclusion of the remainder. 354. p. if an Aramaic construction is preferred. and note the discussion of related patterns in Phoenician in Teixidor. 143-44. 5s Blau.. Chabot. or 'As for this grave. (4) Aramaic. CRAIBL (1908). Hebrew Verse Structure. pp. p. he proposes seeing a similar construction in two other arabized Nabatean texts: [ d ] hmsgd dy qrh P N 'This is an offering-stone which P N brought' RES 2052. 126-28. viz. ~ Diem. 317-19. Cantineau also advocated this view. Arabic Grammar. PN built it [bnyh]'. ~ ~ The demonstrative may precede the noun it modifies in Aramaic." p. Le Nabate'en. 61 Diem 111. Diem 111. is syntactically correct in Classical ~ r a b i c .e. Chabot. The use of the relative dy here reflects Aramaic grammar. p. according to (3) verbal sentence with a focus c o n s t r ~ c t i o n viz. pp. The pronoun m n as an indefinite is standard in Arabic and a frequent alternative for rnn z l d y in Aramaic. e.g. 154-55. except for Satan and PN' (Wright. on the Qur'Bnic spelling (sura 15. Year formulas in Nabatean may be introduced by b (e.g. hiy dy wldh. pp. The Classical language would usually prepose the demonstrative. perhaps here. p. 2. against the w of Jaussen and Savignac. cf. or man yaqum 'aqum macahu 'Whoever gets up. 349.73used where the Classical language would use hiid& The latter possibility seems more likely. like Arm br m n (zldy). read d(v?). 319. on mn. 9 (&r II). p. The form of the name with the bound Arabic article constrasts with hgr'. The exceptive particle hdSd may be written in Classical Arabic with the regular 'alif or. pp. The Arabic for altering a text is baddala (sura 2."68 'Ihgrw. In fact the vowel o f p y is probably only long underlyingly. vol. p. sandhi writings of final long vowels are not allowed. p. is striking. but he who does not come to terms with us will pass his nights without sleep'. it would be shortened due to the two following consonants. pp. p. but there is no material difference from Rene Dussaud. 100. p.. IV. 7) or. Note mn and hi?: in 'allahumma g i r IT u. 126." Diem 111. n. 75 Wright. on names which happen to end in verbal forms. 69 Diem I.80). 18. ibid. as here.alirnan yasma'u haS5 I-iappina wa'abC7 I-'asba@ 'God. wlcn (7) mry ' ~ m ' ~ m 'n yin' 'lqbrw (8) d' w m n ypthh hSy dy"72 ( 9 ) wldh 'Iqbrw d 3 . faman yastajirna Id yakhaf ba'da 'aqdinh waman la yusiilihna yabit gayra nii'imi 'And he who seeks our protection has nothing to fear after our covenant. Arabic Grammar. 70 1 quote Bellamy ("NamBrah Inscription"). IV. p. IngNab 6 . ~ . 137-38: Milik. 23-24. 84-85. and b is used. the spelling reflected here. cf. 368. If the pronoun is Aramaic. See Teixidor. Edessa. 342-43. 34. 378. and "genuine Arabic verbal forms.. and Diem I. in A R N A . y'vr J 17. as they appear in later inscriptions. by @ (IngNab 2)..g. then the verbs are jussives7' with the ma'nd I-iarti 'conditional meaning' associated with 'in and the like.69but the toponym cannot be regarded strictly as part of the plain text. the form with the bound Aramaic article.o n the seventh day.?' the similarity. see Diem 111. as here. Segal. 71 Mare 'AlmB' is either 'Lord of the Eternity' or 'of the World'.76 It has usually been assumed that h i y dy is a compound. pp. 133. 34. cf. p. If the morphology is Arabic. 59. it governs two prefixing verb forms.. extending to the verb hlk. p. 103. the postposing is characteristic of colloquial Egyptian usage. 72 Milik and Starcky. p. with the 'alif maqsiira. In the al-NamZrah text. 213. vol. it is feminine. 73 74 . have no final inflection. 11. 76 Ibid.181). e. pardon me and all who hear. Here. cf. and thus. p. 215. See Diem I. 28. for example. p. 2. pp. the ul which Noldeke read in that way are instances of the Nabatean ulau. 215.??and 68 Diem 1.py. Dkdicaces. 343). Le Nabatken. with the month: ' k d y hlk snt 223 ywm 7 bkslwl 'Thereafter he died in the year 223 [328 c . I will get up with hirn' 75 yin'. in ~aslul'. There is no reason to believe that verbal mode is ever directly indicated in Nabatean. if Arabic. Arabic Grammar. The Pagan God. 214-15 and n. pp. S3. The spelling here is an example of the Arabic rule that "each word is to be written according to its form in isolation. 2. 77 See DISO 43. mn. as at Palmyra. 59-60. vol. Cantineau. cf. 262. int. more commonly. a title of Baal-Shamin. there is no preposition on the year formula. 218. ] . it is masculine (for dd).. 359. pp. though it is used of Yahweh in a fragment related to 1QapGen. Dussaud parses the adverb -kdy ('akkadC7) with the previous clause. 96. "The grammatical interpretation remains obscure. 218. . ." an inscription-protecting curse of the usual sort. p.4. 79 I. CRAIBL (1908). for example. see.that it governs the noun wldh 'his (or less likely her) progeny'. presumably jussive. See. ~ ' yqbr. Arabic Gran~mar. ynpq mnh gt 'n. Le Nabarhen. many words which imply the conditional meaning of 'in [including man]. . 85 Chabot. (a) This is the grave which Ka'b bar Haritat made.e. but it is difficult to be sure. see Cantineau. ' ~ We may translate the text as follows: S1. l y a reading confirmed by a later squeeze and accepted by Jaussen and Savignac in an addition to their Cantineau overlooked the addendum and took (a) as the editors' reading. As in 53. p. Diem IV.v 'No one at all ( m n . . and he fails to show that 'alG rnin can mean 'on top of [au-dessus d e ~ ' . Again there is no expressed object. 68-70. . 'w m n yqbr hh ' j r k m k m . . . Jaussen and Savignac read (a) . while the general sense does not seem dubious. . . p.78 but it may be better to parse d v wIdh as a relative clause. 2.26 and Gawlikowski. 'him whom he (Kacb) begot (him)'. apparently with no expressed object. vol. See Jaussen and Savignac. Diem also apparently takes 'ly as a preposition. . 84 The concern with adding a body to a grave is commoner than the reverse. SIN. Ingholt followed Cantineau. above) and w:vlLn dwSr3. verb. is to be buried in this grave' (IngNab 4:5. 83 Wright.cf. the condition being represented as already fulfilled. 386.. rwas dubious and the ' very dubious. 14.82 the construction is in accordance with Classical Arabic grammar-"After . 8 2 Nabatean has both ApCZls and Hap'Zls. (c) As for this grave. . Milik and Starcky have returned to (b). but does 'a1G min yield any obvious sense? The w is not ligatured in either direction. 39-41. I. the perfect is . who brings forth from it a body or a limb or anyone who buries in it anyone other than Kamkam . but is m n yqbrw "14. that nln governs singular verbs in the preceding sentence.tj"ly mnh 'whoever buried (anyone) on top of it (or her)'.v'yr d' 'ly mnh. see Strabo 16. at any rate." pp. note p ~ s . 81 A R N A . The rnn also appears to govern a suffixing verb form. 154-55. mndcm<mdcm) of those who are (mentioned) in them (the tomb documents) is to be drawn forth and no one at all ('nnmf klh) except for those w h o . wXly. supporting it on the basis of new photos by Winnett and ~ e e d . mnh easier to parse'? Note. (b) This is a grave which Ka'b bar Haritat made. it is less clear whether '1y IV mn 'to cause to come up (= exhume) from' would require such an object."85 The argument from obscurity only goes so far: Chabot fails to explain either the w or the ' of w"ly. pp. pp. "Tombeaux. 80 Ibid. p. though he did report Chabot's suggestion.. see Diem I.79 Chabot proposed (b) yqbr ~ ' ~ mnh. . 175. . . 'May DhuShara c u r s e . . Ka'b Haritat made it. Jaussen and Savignac's true reading. 481. The sense of the passage may be illuminated by reconsideration of Nabatean burial practices. In English it may usually be rendered by the present"83-though the use of a perfect directly after an imperfect in the same sense seems odd. mn governs a prefixing. . vol. p. pp.ytpjs mn kl dy bhm m n d c m nml' ytqbr bybr ' dnh 'nwS klh Ihn nln d. . . "(and may he curse whoever) alters that which is above. S4. m i ? . . For this reading. remarking. . 78 The feminine suffix would presumably be -h'. in suggesting the reading. wlcn mn yqbr ~ ' ~ mnh l y yqbr . mnh. l'. said to take a future sense.84It has been proposed that wXly mnh is a compound preposition. . for an illun~inating discussion. . Mission. but the latter is not rare. But the editors realized that in their reading. the second y of j c ~ . for example. 270. In these two cases. .' (IngNab 11: 3-6). Chabot rendered mn yqbr ~. anyone. body snatching seems to be preliminary to tomb squatting. 86 min 'a18 means 'from above'. 215. Note F. p. 89 Or perhaps on the terms of the "late NabateanHijazi" group Diem associates it with (Diem I. since the morphology has little that is diagnostic and the syntax. and fen. all the words except lcn are common: mn 'who'. 99-100. Sn' in S3 is Aramaic.87as is the date formula (Snt. not snt. in this case. it may be identical to the arum. pth). seven Arabic. S3. pp. It is manifest that the R a q a h Epitaph is closer to being a polyglot puzzle than Nabatean plain text. brt. And may he curse anyone who buries (anyone else in it) or exhumes (anyone) from it. and more generally. And she died in al-Hijr (in the) year 162 in the month of Tammuz.222. 353-54). The lexicon as a whole is. and wld (be it noun or verb) are Arabic. S2. mn. my paper "Writing Systems. And may Mare 'Alma curse him who alters the tomb or opens it. hlk. group (Diem 111. and wld.89 without being allowed to irregularize Nabatean grammar on a regular basis. see n. 1. If we exclude the nine naming words (six in S l . S2. pp. perhaps the use of yrh in byrh tmwz. it should be emphasized that the Raqssh text is a radical exception t o the general . of these only lcn is known elsewhere in Nabatean). hy and dy are common. qbr. L. pp. d' is Arabic. while of the pronouns. 'ly. 217). half are Arabic (wld. pp. qbr. hSy. 'lhgrw in S2. p. qbr. and 'ly. lcn. a group that includes (at least?) J71 and J85 (Diem 11. mn." in C. as we have seen. if a verb. 333. d'.for R a q a h berat 'Abd-Manat. dnh is distinctively Aramaic. Of the verbs. and hlk and py to Arabic only. of the prepositions. and the Earliest Stages of Northwest Semitic Orthography. three are common (qbr 'to bury'.90 87 O n the use of br. dy. Le Nabateen. 59-60. contrast bkslwl in al-Namiirah). 213. ' m h why hlkt py GN DATE wlcn DN m n ySn3 'lqbrw d' wmn ypthh hSy d. 87-90. 353. In the last sentence. It is eccentric enough to demand being treated on its own terms.v wldh wlcn rnn yqbr w X l y mnh In S1. is uniquely Arabic. and only in' is Aramaic. are neither. ten out of nineteen words are common. S4. and (Arb. The names are largely Arabic. Fuller epigraphic evaluation will be a matter of the ethnography of writing. the numbers. which would bring in RES 1097 and 518. In linguistic terms. "Newly Found Inscriptions in Old Canaanite and Early Phoenician Scripts. hy is proper to either language. not Heb) bn in name formulas. we are left with the following schematic text: S1. 1983). 8-15. pp. and the rest of the words. see Diem 11. pp. 1 and mn are common. A more revealing view of the distribution is based on the parts of speech. Native Speaker Analyses. his mother." B A S O R 238 (1980): 1-20 on pp. cf. Two classes of grammatical words are represented. and py and hSy are Arabic. 339. Assessment of all these texts is not possible here. though Diem takes a broader view of loanwords in general (Diem 111. are common. 91 below. the other words. 439-65. IPN. cf. snc distinctively Arabic. if a noun. Of the nouns. Meyers's and my collection of Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman (Philadelphia. 'bn. 337). Cross's qualifications on the use of the freakish 'Izbet Sartah ostracon. 88 Cantineau. and two Aramaic. mry 'lm' in S3) and the six words of the date in S2. pp.~~ use of the grammatical words from Arabic is the most vivid testimony to the extent of linguistic interference. brt). M. 71). 111. dnh qbrw ?nch P N . the category most liable to be loaned. pth. ' m . a better index to the background of the text. In S2.-arab. is full of problems. 90 Such a reasonable approach is implicit in the work of Blau and Diem. Aretas (hrtt) is notably Nabatean in background. The name formulas are Aramaic (br. snc. On this rather crude accounting. S3. 362. mn 'from'. qbr 'grave' and ' m are common. vol. 1 . save for him whom he (Kacb) has begotten/his progeny. S4. and dnh is ~ r a m a i cThe . n. "The Parsimonious Bilingual.g. p. -on 'Protestant'. (2) In the Petraios Epitaph from the BZb aal-Siq at Petra. "Origines. for the most part. and hpyt 'encouragement1-are readable because of that ~ o n t e x t . 158. and Pre-Islamic Arabic.. pylys 'phylt?~. the Book of Qoheleth in particular has been alleged to be in its present state a (not-very-good) translation from the Aramaic. Levinson notes 'rk 'bed. and (I( 'to cut'. Milik is correct in saying apropos of the Rawwsah texts. Their context is political. 366 and n. v.aw o r with the article 'I o r used in an arabizing syntactic context should be taken as a loan. trh(y) 'His Abundance'. "The Nabatean Inscriptions. qlwny' 'colonia'. form a semantic cluster explicable. etc. 20:19). 19. Milik has noted not only the Greek loan threptos in the phrase br trpfs'adoptee'. and probably P-S. 42-44). 98. 263. ... both Nab srpyw and Srpyw. however. see Milik in Royaume. p. 263. and the loans-Srkt 'company. 82 on s. rm? 'to make peace'. 1982). this may reflect the 'ApCFl/HapcPI vacillation in Nabatean Aramaic. 1. almost all political. but also a IV Form verb with h. do something continually' and ml (mwl) 'to grow rich'.. See also Diem 11. 'bd wml 'he grew progressively richer'. p." p. Obler and L. too. federation'. consulate'. Le NabatPen. Another exception has been alleged for the class of supposed translators associated with certain "late" biblical texts. compare simply Arb 'usquf pl. the extent to which speakers/writers of the languages were aware of overlap. the sibilant of irkt has not been aramaized (viz. see L. couch' (Arb arika' 'couch'). K. Nab s.'. (5) Diem has also singled out as an interesting hybrid mqtry for Arm mtqr'. Heb. p. in the occurrence of the verb rm?. pp. in terms of the funerary concerns of the main body of substantial texts. 90.. I?yr 'good' (cf. p. ibid. vol. tribe'. on npS/ (hapax) nps and p. 372). "Arabic loanwords are well known in the Nabatean lexicon. which offers: i. 212-13. etc. see "Origines. etc. Old-Syriac. 263. Classical Arabic. 11. Arb sacid. p. For a description of the actual phonological functioning of bilingualism (unified perceptual system. (\6. more spontaneous in their expression of current preoccupations. 132. 93 Milik. 54-57." p. is not written s ) . The attested exceptions to this pattern involve the mixed Aramaic-Hebrew dialect associated with the Qabbalah and its predecessors. and on the last Diem IV. etc. no consensus on the matter of Qoheleth's often difficult Hebrew. hpty' 'hypateia. Heb. similarities." p. K. ' ~ pattern found in bilingual Semitic texts and in texts produced by bilinguals: the native speaker of two Semitic tongues generally does not merge or confuse them. I. msgd 'offering stone'. the sibilants in Nabatean texts are generally regular: Proto-Semitic. hwhb. Cantineau. 77. horseman'. 'asaqif(al) 'episkopos' and briitustanti pi. Milik is surely correct to aver that Arabic locutions are more to be expected in "texts which are less formal. ) On some other uossible loans. Is the variation in slirf-names (for example. There is. seems to be the Old Syriac Sale Deed from Dura. see Drijvers. v.' hpws 'hippeus. p. For the text. see Diem IV. Exceptional Language a n d Linguistics (New York. however. and the Semitic-Greek-Semitic calque-loan mtrpwls 'metropolis' (cf. see Diem on mahr '(sacrifice) inspecto. and the verbs 'bd 'to stay. P-S. IV." "Origenes. Levinson. 158). and Nab Slymt/Slmw. (4) Diem has construed the syntax of the openings of RES 2052 and 583 as arabizing. Diem 111. dual production system). vol. Arb salim. Arb 1 = Heb S = Nab t.. 'yr w'm in 2 Sam. it combines the Aramaic sense 'to call' and the Aramaic use of the Gt as a passive with the Arabic VIII Form morphology. Menn. against late Aramaic (generally). See Milik. Obler. P-S. 354." p. the last two used together. which includes verbs. 94 The Middle Aramaic document with the greatest number of loans. Arb. 335 o n the sibilants. 91 Some other new material may be mentioned here. as noted above. 339-46. Nab S = Arb s. 43) phonetically conditioned (by the r)? For the notion of degrees of loan adaptation.."93 Those loans. pp.a. pp. 'wfqr!wr 'autokratdr. The implicit criterion seems to he that any noun marked with the Nabatean h. and the Rawwafah loans are not to be accounted for in the same way. 353. " i h e Nabatean Inscriptions. (3) On the epithet (or name?) of the goddess of Tayma." Unlike nSyb. p. eds. Heb S = Arb S = Nab s (the only example I know is qns 'fine' from qSS). p. and (though they must surely be rejected) rb 'teacher' and 'tr 'place'(Diem 111. ~ The ~ linguistic diversity of the larger class of loans. but this set of criteria would sidestep a major aspect of the investigation.." p. "Rawwafa." in L. (1) In a graffito published by Jaussen and Savignac (J109). 92 Pace Cantineau (Le Nabate'en. Even names are generally regular.The three Arabic loanwords in the RawwFifah texts stand apart from other Arabic loans in abate an. etc. p. pp. 57. see Diem I. 13. is seen here. Nab SCdy/SCdt/SCydw." p. caravan'. e. Milik has proposed to read the Arabic noun nsc 'shipment. Art and Influence." pp. Studies. see the preliminary remark in my article "Writing Systems. 145. historical plausibility is a matter distinct from linguistic structure. It is commonly thought that. P. who spoke an Arabic dialect. o n account of its limited scope and of the particular subjects treated in the Bible. Milik has instructed us to associate Nabatean texts not with witness to Nabateans or nabateophones but with n a b a t e ~ g r a ~ h the s .Milik immediately adds that the loans "are even less surprising in a Nabatean text drafted by Thamudeans. see. For a similar problematic involving Biblical Hebrew and Inscriptional Hebrew of the biblical 95 96 period. Parr. "The Excavations at Petra. 1974: Cultural Aspects of Nabataean Architecture." pp. for example." pp. 76. that is."95 In fact. and the Raq2sh Epitaph clarifies neither the grammar nor history of Nabatean-and we must be careful not to be similarly misled. difficult of interpretation. ~ inscriptional ~ language. 57. 50 (1981): 415-28. As we have seen. apparently written in Classical Arabic. A further stage in argumentation would involve suggesting that we have attestations of all the Arabic loanwords that might have been attested in the kinds of texts we have. . 97 Milik." p. Hammond. O n writing systems and lexicon growth. a direct bridge between the realms is a commonplace of the ethnography of writing. "Contacts Between North West Arabia and Jordan in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. but there are three clauses.97The Rawwiifah texts." p. n. "Hebrew Inscriptions. "Jordan Archeology Conference at Oxford. 127-34. the contributions t o the Oxford Symposium." p.98 Milik. This volume can be supplemented with R . and P. which mentions useful elements of the discussion after the papers. Cantineau's versions of those notions led him astray-the Arabic loan vocabulary is smaller and more specialized than he was led to imagine. 98 A late first or early second-century Nabatean inscription has recently been found at Oboda. is a tentative one.s. "Bilingue." Or. the lexicon of the biblical period contained far greater vocabulary than that preserved in scripture. C. but a suspect bridge. "The Archaeology of Jordan: Achievements and Objectives. The view of the Nabatean language implicit here is complementary t o the notions of Nabatean culture now accepted among historians and archaeologists. compare Sarfatti's remarks: "A surprising feature is the small number of words and roots found in the inscriptions which were not already known t o us from Biblical Hebrew. North's report. the body of the votive text is Aramaic plaintext. which have given us the Semitic etymon of Saracen. 44." p. of A. Professor Avraham Negev of the Hebrew University. Religion. "Rawwafa. 23 1-38. at the same time remind us of the difficulties of reading such evidence." See Sarfatti. Thus far.. who will publish the text in a forthcoming issue of IEJ. Hadidi. kindly alerted me t o its existence. The Negevite provenience of the text is noteworthy. this opinion cannot be sustained by the inscriptional evidence. 15-21.
Report "M. O'Connor, The Arabic Loanwords in Nabatean Aramaic"