Paleo-Arabic

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Text of the Zabad inscription: May [the Christian] God be mindful of Sirgu son of Abd-Manafu and Ha{l/n}i son of Mara al-Qays and Sirgu son of Sadu and Syrw and S{.}ygw. Trilingual Inscription at Zebed - arabic text - after Combe 1931.jpg
Text of the Zabad inscription: May [the Christian] God be mindful of Sirgu son of Abd-Manafu and Ha{l/n}i son of Mara al-Qays and Sirgu son of Sadu and Syrw and S{.}ygw.

Paleo-Arabic (or Palaeo-Arabic, previously called pre-Islamic Arabic or Old Arabic [1] [2] ) is a pre-Islamic script used to write Arabic. It began to be used in the fifth century, when it succeeded the earlier Nabataeo-Arabic script, and it was used until the early seventh century, when the Arabic script was standardized in the Islamic era. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Evidence for the use of Paleo-Arabic was once confined to Syria and Jordan. In more recent years[ when? ], Paleo-Arabic inscriptions have been discovered across the Arabian Peninsula including: South Arabia (the Christian Hima texts), [6] near Taif in the Hejaz [7] and in the Tabuk region of northwestern Saudi Arabia. [8]

Most Paleo-Arabic inscriptions were written by Christians, as indicated by their vocabulary, the name of the signing author, or by the inscription/drawing of a cross associated with the writing. [9]

The term "Paleo-Arabic" was first used by Christian Robin in the form of the French expression "paléo-arabe". [10]

Linguistics

Distinguishing features

Paleo-Arabic refers to the Arabic script in the centuries prior to the standardization Arabic underwent in the Islamic era. According to Ahmad Al-Jallad and Hythem Sidky, Paleo-Arabic can be distinguished from the script that occurs in later periods by a number of orthographic features, including: [11]

Categories

Known Paleo-Arabic inscriptions fall into one of three categories: [7]

Introductory formulae

The present corpus of Paleo-Arabic inscriptions attests the following introductory formulae: [13]

Spelling of "God"

Paleo-Arabic inscriptions most commonly refer to "God" as al-ʾilāh or by its orthographic variant illāh, though the term Rabb for "Lord" also appears as is seen in the Abd Shams inscription, Jabal Dabub inscription, and the Ri al-Zallalah inscription. [7]

Religion

Christian authors wrote Paleo-Arabic inscriptions found in Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and South Arabia. [14] [15] According to Ahmad Al-Jallad and Hythem Sidky, all known Paleo-Arabic inscriptions are monotheistic (that is, they all only mention the one, same God) and, when it is possible to specify further, Christian. [16] As such, they reflect the dominance attained by the spread of monotheism in pre-Islamic Arabia from the fourth to sixth centuries in the pre-Islamic period. [7]

Calendar

The Bostran era is used, whose starting point is equal to 106 AD in the Gregorian calendar, is used in the Jebel Usays inscription and the Hima Paleo-Arabic inscriptions. The Seleucid era is used in the Zabad inscription.

List of Paleo-Arabic inscriptions

The current list of known Paleo-Arabic texts and inscriptions is given in a table and appendix of a paper jointly written by Ahmad Al-Jallad and Hythem Sidky. [7]

NameLocationNumber of textsDatePublication
Zabad inscription Zabad, Syria 1512 [17]
Jebel Usays inscription Jebel Usays, Syria 1528 [17]
Harran inscription Harran, Syria 1562 [17]
Umm al-Jimal Paleo-Arabic inscription Umm el-Jimal, Jordan 1undated [18]
Yazid inscription Qasr Burqu, Jordan 1undated [19]
Hima Paleo-Arabic inscriptions Hima, Saudi Arabia 25470, 513 [4]
Ri al-Zallalah inscription Ri al-Zallalah, Saudi Arabia 1undated [7]
None Medina, Saudi Arabia 2undatedUnpublished

but see [1]

Umm Burayrah (Abd Shams) inscription Northwest Hejaz, Saudi Arabia 9 + 2undated [8] [20]
Dumat al-Jandal inscription Dumat al-Jandal, Saudi Arabia 2548 [18] [21]

See also

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Lindstedt 2023, p. 49–50.
  2. ↑ Alhatlani & Al-Manaser 2024, p. 4–5.
  3. ↑ Nehmé 2010, p. 47–48.
  4. 1 2 Robin, al-Ghabbān & al-Saʿīd 2014.
  5. ↑ Nehmé 2020.
  6. ↑ Fisher 2020, p. 186–187.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Al-Jallad & Sidky 2021.
  8. 1 2 Alhatlani & Al-Otibi 2023.
  9. ↑ Alhatlani & Al-Manaser 2024, p. 6.
  10. ↑ Robin, al-Ghabbān & al-Saʿīd 2014, p. 1039.
  11. ↑ Al-Jallad & Sidky 2024, p. 4.
  12. ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Stages-in-the-development-of-wawation_fig1_367852828
  13. ↑ Al-Jallad & Sidky 2024, p. 8.
  14. ↑ Reynolds 2025, p. 105–106.
  15. ↑ Al-Jallad, Al-Manaser & Fisher 2026.
  16. ↑ Al-Jallad & Sidky 2024, p. 10.
  17. 1 2 3 Fiema et al. 2015, p. 377.
  18. 1 2 Nehmé et al. 2018.
  19. ↑ al-Shdaifat et al. 2017.
  20. ↑ "نقوش عربية بــ"لكنة" نبطية!". فريق الصحراء. 2019-09-05.
  21. ↑ Nehmé 2017.

Sources

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