Sabaic Dictionary (English-French-Arabic)

This paper reflects on some Arabic terms, previously noted by scholars, of small‐scale monument types, which have a symbolic and semantic conflation of ‘cooking fire’ and ‘permanent occupation’, such as raḍfa, jamara, ʾaṯfiya and rabaʿa. The paper discusses more terms that confirm this conflation and widen it to include the concept of tribal protection, as a parallel with the pre‐Islamic practice of the ‘fire of alliance’, described by classical Muslim writers and alluded to in Ancient South Arabian inscriptions. The association of fire terminology with tribal protection concepts appears to be related to the idea of food‐sharing alliances.

Section: Arab Groups According To Ibn ḥAbībmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Yemeni Terms For Tribal Protectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Yemeni Terms For Tribal Protectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tribal ties around the cooking fire in South Arabia: Some ethnographic lexical notes

Atbuosh

2022

“…He supposes this ownership would then be communicated through an oracle (Lundin, 1972: 30–32, 36–37). Beeston later seems to have hesitantly adopted this interpretation (Beeston et al, 1982: 40) while Biella (1982: 98) hedged between Lundin and Beeston’s earlier interpretations.…”

Section: Previous Scholarship and The Meaning Of √ḏQṭmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Usually, the base meaning of the word tḥt(y) is rightly interpreted as “under”. Yet when this word is preceded by the prepositions b or bn , scholars generally translate the phrase as “under” (Stein, 2013b: 108–109) or metaphorically as “by the authority of” (Beeston et al, 1982: 147; Sabäisches Wörterbuch ). However, the preposition ʿd “at” in the minuscule inscriptions is notably locative.…”

Section: Previous Scholarship and The Meaning Of √ḏQṭmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dripping divination in pre‐Islamic South Arabia: The oracle sanctuary of Jār al‐Labbā revisited

Weimar

2021

Since Halévy first published the Jār al‐Labbā texts (CIH 460–466), their difficult terminology combined with the poor quality of the text copies has inhibited scholarly consensus and no systematic study of them has been undertaken since Beeston’s 1949 treatment. Here, I provide an up‐to‐date study of these inscriptions, including CIH 970 and the recently published FB‐Jawf 1, which also come from the same site. I propose that Jār al‐Labbā was an oracular sanctuary known as “the domain of ʿAṯtar” from where several oracular stick inscriptions claim to originate. I further connect the enigmatic √ḎQṬ‐ritual in the Jār al‐Labbā texts with Syriac zqt “to goad, direct”, the etymology which denotes an ongoing oracular relationship with the god ʿAṯtar from whom the individuals “receive direction.” This ritual seems to have involved sacrifice and the manipulation of liquids (probably blood) to produce oracles, a practice attested elsewhere in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean.

A Sabaic inscription from Wādī al‐Jawf during the Era of Yadaʿʾil Bayyin, son of Yaṯaʿʾamar, King of Sabaʾ

Al‐Hajj

2023

This is an analytical study of a new Sabaic inscription probably coming from the town of Naššān in Wādī al‐Jawf in northern Yemen. The text of this inscription, which is of a construction/dedicatory and a legal nature at the same time, bans the violation of the properties of Yaqdumʾil son of Ṯawrān, by the people of Ḫawlān and their vassals who had attacked that man's properties by cutting his trees and scattering his crops. The inscription is dated by the name of the Sabaean king Yadaʿʾil Bayyin son of Yaṯaʿʾamar, who reigned about the end of the fifth and the beginning of the fourth century BC. What distinguishes the inscription is that it contains new historical and linguistic material. Along with other Sabaic inscriptions found in the region, the text refers to the extent of settlement of Sabaean families from Mārib, Ṣirwāḥ, and Ḫawlān in the cities of al‐Jawf, specifically in Naššān and Našq, to control the roads of incense.