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]

Classification

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]

Genres

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

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]

Terminology

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]

Introductory formulae

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

Calendar

Several Paleo-Arabic inscriptions, including the Jebel Usays inscription and the Hima Paleo-Arabic inscriptions typically date events according to the Bostran era, whose beginning is the equivalent of the year 106 in the Gregorian calendar. However, at least one, the Zabad inscription (known from Syria) uses the Seleucid era.

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 [14]
Jebel Usays inscription Jebel Usays, Syria 1528 [14]
Harran inscription Harran, Syria 1562 [14]
Umm al-Jimal Paleo-Arabic inscription Umm el-Jimal, Jordan 1undated [15]
Yazid inscription Qasr Burqu, Jordan 1undated [16]
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] [17]
Dumat al-Jandal inscription Dumat al-Jandal, Saudi Arabia 2548 [15] [18]

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. 1 2 3 Fiema et al. 2015, p. 377.
  15. 1 2 Nehmé et al. 2018.
  16. ↑ al-Shdaifat et al. 2017.
  17. ↑ "نقوش عربية بــ"لكنة" نبطية!". فريق الصحراء. 2019-09-05.
  18. ↑ Nehmé 2017.

Sources

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