Paleo-Arabic
Paleo-Arabic (or Palaeo-Arabic, sometimes also referred to as pre-Islamic Arabic or Old Arabic[1]) is a script that represents a pre-Islamic phase in the evolution of the Arabic script at which point it becomes recognizably similar to the Islamic Arabic script. It comes prior to Classical Arabic, but it is also a recognizable form of the Arabic script, emerging after a transitional phase of Nabataean Arabic as the Nabataean script slowly evolved into the modern Arabic script.[2][3][4] It appears in the late fifth and sixth centuries and, though was originally only known from Syria and Jordan, is now also attested in several extant inscriptions from the Arabian Peninsula, such as in the Christian texts at the site of Hima in South Arabia.[5] More recently, additional examples of Paleo-Arabic have been discovered near Taif in the Hejaz[6] and in the Tabuk region of northwestern Saudi Arabia.[7]
The term "Paleo-Arabic" was first used by Christian Robin in the form of the French expression "paléo-arabe".[8]
Classification[edit]
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[9]:
- Wawation
- Use of Arameograms
- Absence of alif to represent the long ā
- Occasional phonetic spelling of the definite article
- Occasional relic use of dots to distinguish the dāl from rē
Genres[edit]
Known Paleo-Arabic inscriptions fall into one of three categories[6]:
- simple signatures with no confessional statements
- monotheist invocations
- specifically Christian texts
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.[6]
Terminology[edit]
God[edit]
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.[6]
Introductory formulae[edit]
The present corpus of Paleo-Arabic inscriptions attests the following introductory formulae[10]:
- b-sm-k rb-nʾ / In your name, our lord
- brk-[k]m rb-nʾ / May our lord bless you
- b-sm-k ʾllhm / In your name, O God
- b-sm lh rḥmn / In the name of Allāh, the Raḥmān
Calendar[edit]
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[edit]
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.[6]
| Page | Location | Number of texts | Date | Publication |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zabad inscription | Zabad, Syria | 1 | 512 | [11] |
| Jebel Usays inscription | Jebel Usays, Syria | 1 | 528 | [11] |
| Harran inscription | Harran, Syria | 1 | 562 | [11] |
| Umm al-Jimal Paleo-Arabic inscription | Umm el-Jimal, Jordan | 1 | undated | [12] |
| Yazid inscription | Qasr Burqu, Jordan | 1 | undated | [13] |
| Hima Paleo-Arabic inscriptions | Hima, Saudi Arabia | 25 | 470, 513 | [3] |
| Ri al-Zallalah inscription | Ri al-Zallalah, Saudi Arabia | 1 | undated | [6] |
| None | Medina, Saudi Arabia | 2 | undated | Unpublished
but see [1] |
| Umm Burayrah (Abd Shams) inscription | Northwest Hejaz, Saudi Arabia | 9 + 2 | undated | [14] + [7] |
| Dumat al-Jandal inscription | Dumat al-Jandal, Saudi Arabia | 2 | 548 | [12][15] |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ a b Lindstedt 2023, p. 49–50.
- ^ Nehmé 2010, p. 47–48.
- ^ a b Robin, al-Ghabbān & al-Saʿīd 2014.
- ^ Nehmé 2020.
- ^ Fisher 2020, p. 186–187.
- ^ a b c d e f Al-Jallad & Sidky 2021.
- ^ a b Alhatlani & Al-Otibi 2023.
- ^ Robin, al-Ghabbān & al-Saʿīd 2014, p. 1039.
- ^ Al-Jallad & Sidky 2024, p. 4.
- ^ Al-Jallad & Sidky 2024, p. 8.
- ^ a b c Fiema et al. 2015, p. 377.
- ^ a b Nehmé et al. 2018.
- ^ al-Shdaifat et al. 2017.
- ^ "نقوش عربية بــ"لكنة" نبطية!". 2019-09-05.
- ^ Nehmé 2017.
Sources[edit]
- Al-Jallad, Ahmad; Sidky, Hythem (2021). "A Paleo-Arabic inscription on a route north of Ṭāʾif". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 33 (1): 202–215.
- Al-Jallad, Ahmad; Sidky, Hythem (2024). "A Paleo-Arabic Inscription of a Companion of Muhammad?". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 83 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1086/729531.
- al-Shdaifat, Younis; Al-Jallad, Ahmad; al-Salameen, Zeyad; Harahsheh, Rafe (2017). "An early Christian Arabic graffito mentioning 'Yazīd the king'". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 28 (2): 315–324.
- Alhatlani, Abdullah Saad; Al-Otibi, Ajab Mohammad (2023). "A Palaeo-Arabic inscription from the Ḥismā Desert (Tabūk region)". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 34 (1): 183–193. doi:10.1111/aae.12235.
- Fiema, Zbigniew; Al-Jallad, Ahmad; MacDonald, Michael C.A.; Nehmé, Laila (2015). "Provincia Arabia: Nabataea, the Emergence of Arabic as a Written Language, and Graeco-Arabica". In Fisher, Greg (ed.). Arabs and Empires Before Islam. Oxford University Press. pp. 373–433.
- Fisher, Greg (2020). Rome, Persia, and Arabia: shaping the Middle East from Pompey to Muhammad. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-74090-5.
- Lindstedt, Ilkka (2023). Muhammad and His Followers in Context: The Religious Map of Late Antique Arabia. Brill.
- Nehmé, Laila (2010). "A glimpse of the development of the Nabataean script into Arabic based on old and new epigraphic material". In MacDonald, Michael C.A. (ed.). The development of Arabic as a written language: Papers from the special session of the Seminar for Arabian Studies held on 24 July, 2009. Archaeopress. pp. 47–88.
- Nehmé, Laila (2017). "New dated inscriptions (Nabataean and pre-Islamic Arabic) from a site near al-Jawf, ancient Dūmah, Saudi Arabia". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 3: 121‒164.
- Nehmé, Laila; Briquel-Chatonnet, Françoise; Desreumaux, Alain Jacques Paul; Al-Ghabban, Ali I; MacDonald, Michael; Villeneuve, François F. (2018). The Darb al-Bakrah. A Caravan Route in North-West Arabia Discovered by Ali I. al-Ghabban. Catalogue of the Inscriptions. Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage.
- Nehmé, Laila (2020). "The religious landscape of Northwest Arabia as reflected in the Nabataean, Nabataeo-Arabic, and pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions". Semitica et Classica. 13: 127–154. doi:10.1484/J.SEC.5.122984.
- Robin, Christian; al-Ghabbān, ʿAlī Ibrāhīm; al-Saʿīd, Saʿīd Fāyiz (2014). "Inscriptions antiques de la région de Najran (Arabie Séoudite meridionale): nouveaux jalons pour l'histoire de l'écriture, de la langue et du calendrier Arabes". Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres. 158 (3): 1033–1128.