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On the genetic background of the Rbbl bn Hfʿm grave inscription at Qaryat al-Fāw1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2014

Ahmad Al-Jallad
Ahmad Al-Jallad*
Affiliation:
Leiden University
*
a.m.al-jallad@hum.leidenuniv.nl
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Abstract

It is widely believed that the Rbbl bn Hfʿm grave inscription found at Qaryat al-Fāw is the earliest example of Old Arabic. The ten-line inscription – written in the Sabaic script – attests the common Arabic definite article, ʾl, plus several other non-Sabaic linguistic features. I argue that the definite article is not a suitable diagnostic of genetic affiliation, and other features, such as mimation, the conjunction ʿdky, and more, should also be given consideration. Through a close linguistic examination based on the principle of shared morphological innovations, I demonstrate that none of the morphological innovations which characterize Arabic are attested in this inscription. As such, its language is probably not a descendant of proto-Arabic. Our results further suggest that the ʾl- article, which has previously been used as a marker of Arabic, was simply one of many definite article forms which spread to Arabic, and other Semitic languages of Arabia, through areal diffusion.

Keywords

ArabicAncient North ArabianLinguistic classificationPre-Islamic ArabiaSemitic linguisticsAncient South Arabian

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Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of SOAS , Volume 77 , Issue 3 , October 2014 , pp. 445 - 465
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS, University of London 2014 

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Footnotes

1

Abbreviations: ASA = Ancient South Arabian; ANA = Ancient North Arabian; PS = Proto-Semitic; CS: Central Semitic; PCS: Proto-Central Semitic; QCT = Quranic Consonantal Text (the rasm). I thank John Huehnergard, Michael C.A. Macdonald and Na'ama Pat-El for their helpful comments and improvements on an earlier draft of this paper. I also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful insights and improvements. Any errors are of course my own.

References

Abbreviations

C

Safaitic inscriptions published in Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum. Pars V. Inscriptiones Saracenicas continens, Tomus 1. Inscriptiones Safaiticae (Paris, 1950–51).

KRS

Safaitic inscriptions recorded by G.M.H. King on the Basalt Desert Rescue Survey and published on http://krcfm.orient.ox.ac.uk/fmi/iwp/cgi?-db=AALC_BDRS&-loadframes

SIJ

Safaitic inscriptions published in F.V. Winnett, Safaitic Inscriptions from Jordan (Near and Middle East Series 2. Toronto, 1957).

MSNS

Safaitic inscriptions in S.A. Ma'ani and I.S. Sadaqah, “New Safaitic inscriptions from the Mafraq office Department of Archeology of Jordan” Syria, T. 79, 2002, pp. 249–69.

PAES

Greek and Latin inscriptions in E. Littmann, Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904–1905. Division III: Greek and Latin Inscriptions. Section A. Southern Syria (Leiden, 1907).

WH

Safaitic and Greek inscriptions, in F.V. Winnett and G.L. Harding, Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns (Near and Middle East Series 9. Toronto, 1978).

Safaitic inscriptions published in Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum. Pars V. Inscriptiones Saracenicas continens, Tomus 1. Inscriptiones Safaiticae (Paris, 1950–51).

Safaitic inscriptions recorded by G.M.H. King on the Basalt Desert Rescue Survey and published on http://krcfm.orient.ox.ac.uk/fmi/iwp/cgi?-db=AALC_BDRS&-loadframes

Safaitic inscriptions published in F.V. Winnett, Safaitic Inscriptions from Jordan (Near and Middle East Series 2. Toronto, 1957).

Safaitic inscriptions in S.A. Ma'ani and I.S. Sadaqah, “New Safaitic inscriptions from the Mafraq office Department of Archeology of Jordan” Syria, T. 79, 2002, pp. 249–69.

Greek and Latin inscriptions in E. Littmann, Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904–1905. Division III: Greek and Latin Inscriptions. Section A. Southern Syria (Leiden, 1907).

Safaitic and Greek inscriptions, in F.V. Winnett and G.L. Harding, Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns (Near and Middle East Series 9. Toronto, 1978).

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