- Historical Linguistics, Language Classification, Qur'anic Studies, Epigraphy (Archaeology), Arabic Language and Linguistics, North Arabian Epigraphy, and 58 moreArabic, Greek Epigraphy, Greek Papyrology, Arabic Dialects, Arabic Dialectology, Arabic Epigraphy, History of Pre-Islamic Arabia, Ancient North Arabian Linguistics, Linguistics, Egyptology, Folklore, Linguistic Anthropology, Egyptian Archaeology, Oral Traditions, Egyptian History, Diachronic Linguistics (Or Historical Linguistics), Languages and Linguistics, Ancient Near East, Comparative Linguistics, Hebrew Language, Semitic languages, Near Eastern Studies, Contact Linguistics, Etymology, Ancient Near Eastern Languages, Aramaic, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Northwest Semitic Epigraphy, Oriental Studies, Arabic Language, Arabic Sociolinguistics, Phonology, Diglossia, Language Variation and Change, Greek Language, Semitic Philology, Epigraphy, South Arabian Culture, Linguistic Typology, Phoenician, Palmyra, Ancient Near Eastern Religions, Dialectology, Arabic Studies, Arabian Peninsula in Antiquity, South Arabian Epigraphy, Anthropology of Religion, Writing Systems & Decipherment, Arab Christian Studies, Zodiac Calendars, Archaeoastronomy, Desert Road Archaeology, History, Science, Astronomy, Ancient Chronological Systems, Calendars, Ancient Astronomy, Ancient Astronomy and Calendars, Safaitic, Nabataean Inscriptions, and Nabataean Petraedit
- Author of blog on Safaitic and other Arabian inscriptions: https://safaitic.blogspot.com/ Ahmad Al-Jallad specializes... moreAuthor of blog on Safaitic and other Arabian inscriptions: https://safaitic.blogspot.com/
Ahmad Al-Jallad specializes in the history, language, and cultures of pre-Islamic Arabia, the construction of the Jāhiliyyah in later sources, Arabian epigraphy, the history of Arabic, and Semitic philology.edit
A survey of the inscriptions produced by the tribe of ʿād, the tribe's location, and its relationship with Quran 89:6-7.
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The Thamudic D script is only partially deciphered. This article attempts to advance our understanding of the script by the Thamudic D glyphs and their phonemic values with varying degrees of certainty. It also discusses the major writing... more
The Thamudic D script is only partially deciphered. This article attempts to advance our understanding of the script by the Thamudic D glyphs and their phonemic values with varying degrees of certainty. It also discusses the major writing formulae associated with this script type and offers a few notes on the language it inscribes.
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Brief notes on the linguistic situation in East Arabia before Arabic.
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Pre-print version of forthcoming second edition of the Outline of the Grammar of Safaitic, sections 4-10.
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Version 2020-1 Updates: 1) chronological divisions - Pre-Historic Old Arabic 2) broken plurals and agreement 3) mythologies of Arabic 4) sound changes, Old Higazi and Tamimi 5) new texts 6) some typos removed, new ones surely generated.... more
Version 2020-1 Updates:
1) chronological divisions - Pre-Historic Old Arabic
2) broken plurals and agreement
3) mythologies of Arabic
4) sound changes, Old Higazi and Tamimi
5) new texts
6) some typos removed, new ones surely generated.
I first compiled this manual in 2014 to teach the Historical Grammar of Arabic at the Leiden Linguistics Summer School. I have since continued to update it with new material and insights, and have used various iterations to teach my classes at Leiden University and again at the Leiden Linguistics Summer School, the second time with Dr. Marijn van Putten. The book as it stands now is incomplete; future iterations will cover subjects not treated here, such as the plurals, the morphology of the infinitives and participles, and syntax. The bibliography is not fully formatted and the appendix of texts contains mostly Old Arabic inscriptions but will soon be expanded to include texts from all periods. This text has not been copy edited so please forgive any typos and other infelicities. It is my intention to keep this book open access and free for all to use for research purposes and instruction. Please feel free to cite this text but be sure to include the version number. I will archive the versions at H-Commons so that previous versions are available even though the main text will continue to be updated.
Visit my academida.edu (https://leidenuniv.academia.edu/AhmadAlJallad) page to comment a permanent “session”. Users are encouraged to send me suggestions and improvements to better the overall text; I will acknowledge these contributions in the notes.
I would like to thank Marijn van Putten for his corrections on this draft while using this manual in his courses and privately.
1) chronological divisions - Pre-Historic Old Arabic
2) broken plurals and agreement
3) mythologies of Arabic
4) sound changes, Old Higazi and Tamimi
5) new texts
6) some typos removed, new ones surely generated.
I first compiled this manual in 2014 to teach the Historical Grammar of Arabic at the Leiden Linguistics Summer School. I have since continued to update it with new material and insights, and have used various iterations to teach my classes at Leiden University and again at the Leiden Linguistics Summer School, the second time with Dr. Marijn van Putten. The book as it stands now is incomplete; future iterations will cover subjects not treated here, such as the plurals, the morphology of the infinitives and participles, and syntax. The bibliography is not fully formatted and the appendix of texts contains mostly Old Arabic inscriptions but will soon be expanded to include texts from all periods. This text has not been copy edited so please forgive any typos and other infelicities. It is my intention to keep this book open access and free for all to use for research purposes and instruction. Please feel free to cite this text but be sure to include the version number. I will archive the versions at H-Commons so that previous versions are available even though the main text will continue to be updated.
Visit my academida.edu (https://leidenuniv.academia.edu/AhmadAlJallad) page to comment a permanent “session”. Users are encouraged to send me suggestions and improvements to better the overall text; I will acknowledge these contributions in the notes.
I would like to thank Marijn van Putten for his corrections on this draft while using this manual in his courses and privately.
Research Interests:
This document contains additions to A Dictionary of the Safaitic Inscriptions (A. Al-Jallad and K. Jaworska, 2019, Brill) from inscriptions published after 2018. I will apply updates as new inscriptions are published so be sure to check... more
This document contains additions to A Dictionary of the Safaitic Inscriptions (A. Al-Jallad and K. Jaworska, 2019, Brill) from inscriptions published after 2018. I will apply updates as new inscriptions are published so be sure to check back from time to time and to reference the version date when citing. Updates to existing entries are marked with an asterisk *. This format is temporary until the electronic Dictionary of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia (DIANA) is online.
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This book investigates Arabic’s transformative historical phase, the passage from the pre-Islamic to the Islamic period, through a new approach. It asks, What would Arabic’s early history look like if we wrote it based on the documentary... more
This book investigates Arabic’s transformative historical phase, the passage from the pre-Islamic to the Islamic period, through a new approach. It asks, What would Arabic’s early history look like if we wrote it based on the documentary evidence? The book frames this question through the linguistic investigation of the Damascus Psalm Fragment (PF), the longest Arabic text composed in Greek letters from the early Islamic period. It is argued that its language is a witness to the Arabic vernacular of the early Islamic period, and then moves to understand its relationship with Arabic of the pre-Islamic period, the Quranic Consonantal Text, and the first Islamic century papyri, arguing that all of this material belongs to a dialectal complex we call “Old Ḥigāzī.” The book concludes by presenting a scenario for the emergence of standard Classical Arabic as the literary language of the late eighth century and beyond.
https://www.isdistribution.com/BookDetail.aspx?aId=140594
https://www.isdistribution.com/BookDetail.aspx?aId=140594
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This is the first comprehensive dictionary of the Safaitic inscriptions, comprising more than 1400 lemmata and 1500 lexical items. The dictionary includes a lengthy introduction to the inscriptions as well an outline of various aspects of... more
This is the first comprehensive dictionary of the Safaitic inscriptions, comprising more than 1400 lemmata and 1500 lexical items. The dictionary includes a lengthy introduction to the inscriptions as well an outline of various aspects of the Safaitic writing tradition.
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Michael C.A. Macdonald is one of the great names of Arabian Studies. He pioneered the field of Ancient North Arabian and made invaluable contributions to the history of Arabia and the nomads of the Near East, their languages, and their... more
Michael C.A. Macdonald is one of the great names of Arabian Studies. He pioneered the field of Ancient North Arabian and made invaluable contributions to the history of Arabia and the nomads of the Near East, their languages, and their scripts. This volume gathers thirty-two innovative contributions from leading scholars in the field to honor the career of Michael C.A. Macdonald, covering the languages and scripts of ancient Arabia, their history and archaeology, the Hellenistic Near East, and the modern dialects and languages of Arabia. The book is an essential part of the library of any who study the Near East, its languages and its cultures.
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The writing of Arabic’s linguistic history is by definition an interdisciplinary effort, the result of collaboration between historical linguists, epigraphists, dialectologists, and historians. The present volume seeks to catalyse a... more
The writing of Arabic’s linguistic history is by definition an interdisciplinary effort, the result of collaboration between historical linguists, epigraphists, dialectologists, and historians. The present volume seeks to catalyse a dialogue between scholars in various fields who are interested in Arabic’s past and to illustrate how much there is to be gained by looking beyond the traditional sources and methods. It contains 16 innovative studies ranging from pre-Islamic epigraphy to the modern spoken dialects, and from comparative Semitics to Middle Arabic. The combination of these perspectives hopes to stand as an important methodological intervention, encouraging a shift in the way Arabic’s linguistic history is written.
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This volume contains a detailed grammatical description of the dialects of Old Arabic attested in the Safaitic script, an Ancient North Arabian alphabet used mainly in the deserts of southern Syria and north-eastern Jordan in the... more
This volume contains a detailed grammatical description of the dialects of Old Arabic attested in the Safaitic script, an Ancient North Arabian alphabet used mainly in the deserts of southern Syria and north-eastern Jordan in the pre-Islamic period. It is the first complete grammar of any Ancient North Arabian corpus, making it an important contribution to the fields of Arabic and Semitic studies. The volume covers topics in script and orthography, phonology, morphology, and syntax, and contains an appendix of over 500 inscriptions and an annotated dictionary. The grammar is based on a corpus of 33,000 Safaitic inscriptions.
Research Interests: Semitic languages, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Arabic Dialects, Northwest Semitic Epigraphy, and 11 moreComparative Semitics, Semitic Linguistics, Epigraphic South Arabian, Ancient Arabs, Arabic Dialectology, Arabian Peninsula in Antiquity, Semitic Philology, History of Pre-Islamic Arabia, History of Arabic Language, Ancient South Arabia, and Arabic and Islamic Studies
This paper discusses the Proto-Semitic word for night and reconstructs *laylay- for Proto-Arabic. From its plural, I argue that a separate nominal declension emerged in Arabic for III-w/y i-class patterns.
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This open-access teaching/reference document presents a small selection of Safaitic inscriptions fully glossed with reconstructed vocalizations and translations.
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An edition and discussion of two Paleo-Arabic inscriptions from Taif dated to the life time of Muhammad, and one possibly by a Companion. This is not the full article; email to request the full version or download here:... more
An edition and discussion of two Paleo-Arabic inscriptions from Taif dated to the life time of Muhammad, and one possibly by a Companion.
This is not the full article; email to request the full version or download here:
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/729531
This is not the full article; email to request the full version or download here:
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/729531
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https://ancientarabia.huma-num.fr/dictionary/definition/hasaitic Up-to-date description of the Hasaitic corpus (East Arabia, late 1st millennium BCE to possibly early 1st millennium CE).... more
https://ancientarabia.huma-num.fr/dictionary/definition/hasaitic
Up-to-date description of the Hasaitic corpus (East Arabia, late 1st millennium BCE to possibly early 1st millennium CE).
https://ancientarabia.huma-num.fr/dictionary/definition/hasaitic
Up-to-date description of the Hasaitic corpus (East Arabia, late 1st millennium BCE to possibly early 1st millennium CE).
https://ancientarabia.huma-num.fr/dictionary/definition/hasaitic
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This is a close review of Grasso 2023 with a special focus on the matter of Arab identity in pre-Islamic times.
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Popularizing article of the ʿsy inscription
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This paper presents a new edition of the Jabal Dabūb ASA inscription containing the earliest attestation of the Basmala. I attempt to refine our understanding of the text, discuss its language, dating, and its significance for our... more
This paper presents a new edition of the Jabal Dabūb ASA inscription containing the earliest attestation of the Basmala. I attempt to refine our understanding of the text, discuss its language, dating, and its significance for our interpretation of the meaning of the basmala in the pre-/paleo-Islamic period.
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This paper attempts a history of wawation (the non-etymological waw on Arabic personal names from pre-Islamic times) based on new documentary evidence and the ever-sharpening picture of the development of the Arabic script.
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This paper identifies a hitherto unrecognized orthographic practice in the QCT, which perhaps emerged in the period before the loss of the glottal stop and was phased out by the more phonetic writing principle of the main orthography of... more
This paper identifies a hitherto unrecognized orthographic practice in the QCT, which perhaps emerged in the period before the loss of the glottal stop and was phased out by the more phonetic writing principle of the main orthography of the Qur’an: the digraph اى, that is alif + denticle, to represent the non-initial glottal stop, most often adjacent to the high vowels i/ī and less commonly in other environments. This discovery leads to the identification of a new letter shape for the hē in early Islamic Arabic hand, originating in the Nabataeo-Arabic script, which in turn explains a number of previously enigmatic spellings in the QCT.
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This paper offers a Safaitic parallel to ʿkdy confirming its reading and meaning, discusses the relationship between its language and that of the Safaitic inscriptions, and suggests a new interpretation of l-prs w-l-rwm in line four.
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This paper will produce a new edition of the Rīʿ al-Zallālah inscription, discussing in detail its paleographic features and content, and the ramifications it has on our understanding of the linguistic and religious milieu of the... more
This paper will produce a new edition of the Rīʿ al-Zallālah inscription, discussing in detail its paleographic features and content, and the ramifications it has on our understanding of the linguistic and religious milieu of the sixth–early seventh century Ḥigāz.
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This paper investigates three linguistic features—wawation, the 1CS genitive clitic pronoun, and the relative pronoun—that are shared between the ancient epigraphic forms of Arabic and modern dialects, to the exclusion of Classical... more
This paper investigates three linguistic features—wawation, the 1CS genitive clitic pronoun,
and the relative pronoun—that are shared between the ancient epigraphic forms of Arabic and
modern dialects, to the exclusion of Classical Arabic. I suggest that these features represent the
earliest linguistic layer of the modern dialects.
and the relative pronoun—that are shared between the ancient epigraphic forms of Arabic and
modern dialects, to the exclusion of Classical Arabic. I suggest that these features represent the
earliest linguistic layer of the modern dialects.
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An edition of a Safaitic inscription containing an invocation to a god called ʾḥd 'One'.
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This contribution presents two new inscriptions from the basalt desert of northeastern Jordan: a Safaitic inscription detailing service in a military unit and a Greek inscription, sharing the same rock face, that contains the names of a... more
This contribution presents two new inscriptions from the basalt desert of northeastern Jordan: a Safaitic inscription detailing service in a military unit and a Greek inscription, sharing the same rock face, that contains the names of a Roman and Iranian serving in the same unit. This article edits both texts and discusses what light they shed on the relationship between the local nomads and the Roman military on the Arabian frontier.
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This essay reconsiders the history of the am-definite article, which by Islamic times had become one of the most salient linguistic features of Southwest Arabia. Drawing on historical and epigraphic sources, I argue that this article form... more
This essay reconsiders the history of the am-definite article, which by Islamic times had become one of the most salient linguistic features of Southwest Arabia. Drawing on historical and epigraphic sources, I argue that this article form originates in northcentral Arabia sometime in the first half of the first millennium CE. The article form was brought to Yemen as part of an early diffusion of Arabic dialects to southwest Arabia in the late pre-Islamic period.
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This contribution proposes an interpretation of a newly attested divine title of the ancient Arabian deity Ruḍaw, mkśd, as '(the one) from Chaldea'. It explores what sense this title could have had and the implications it has on our... more
This contribution proposes an interpretation of a newly attested divine title of the ancient Arabian deity Ruḍaw, mkśd, as '(the one) from Chaldea'. It explores what sense this title could have had and the implications it has on our understanding of Ruḍaw's position in the ancient Arabian pantheon, especially in relation to Allāt. It also examines mentions of Ruḍaw in Islamic-period narrative sources and concludes that his cult likely disappeared by Islamic times; tales of the destruction of his cult site reflect the use of the 'smashing idols' topos to narrativize the passage from pre-Islam to Islam.
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Direct Message for Full PDF: This is the inaugural paper of a series on material attested in ancient North Arabia inscriptions that is of particular importance to the history of Arabic, its linguistic context, and its development and... more
Direct Message for Full PDF:
This is the inaugural paper of a series on material attested in ancient North Arabia inscriptions that is of particular importance to the history of Arabic, its linguistic context,
and its development and classification. The article edits eleven Safaitic inscriptions,
inscribed on seven stones, discovered during the 2019 Badia Survey in Northeastern
Jordan. Most of these texts attest new grammatical and lexical features that shed
important light on this shadowy phase of Arabic’s pre-Islamic history, including attestations of the subordinating particle ḥt (= ḥattV), the negator ls (= laysa), possible
nūnation, and idioms that appear later in the Qurʾān, e.g. tmny h-mt ‘he wished for
death (in combat)’ (cf. Qurʾān tamannūna l-mawta).
This is the inaugural paper of a series on material attested in ancient North Arabia inscriptions that is of particular importance to the history of Arabic, its linguistic context,
and its development and classification. The article edits eleven Safaitic inscriptions,
inscribed on seven stones, discovered during the 2019 Badia Survey in Northeastern
Jordan. Most of these texts attest new grammatical and lexical features that shed
important light on this shadowy phase of Arabic’s pre-Islamic history, including attestations of the subordinating particle ḥt (= ḥattV), the negator ls (= laysa), possible
nūnation, and idioms that appear later in the Qurʾān, e.g. tmny h-mt ‘he wished for
death (in combat)’ (cf. Qurʾān tamannūna l-mawta).
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The inscription under discussion here attests the first clear reference to the Pleiades in Safaitic, called sbʿt ʾgm. This paper will present a decipherment of the inscription and an in-depth discussion of the meaning of sbʿt ʾgm along... more
The inscription under discussion here attests the first clear reference to the Pleiades in Safaitic, called sbʿt ʾgm. This paper will present a decipherment of the inscription and an in-depth discussion of the meaning of sbʿt ʾgm along with other unique aspects of the text, including the first attestation of the ‘evil eye’ and the first invocations to Allāt and Dusares associated with localities.
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This paper publishes a new Safaitic inscription containing the month name adar and attempts to explain the absence of spirantization in Aramaic loans into the ancient languages of Arabia through 'Arabian' Aramaic.
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The meaning of the term "Arab" in pre-Islamic times has been hotly debated in recent literature. This article presents two new Safaitic inscriptions which use (ʾ)ʿrb as a group name. I argue that this word is a generic term to refer to... more
The meaning of the term "Arab" in pre-Islamic times has been hotly debated in recent literature. This article presents two new Safaitic inscriptions which use (ʾ)ʿrb as a group name. I argue that this word is a generic term to refer to the nomads east of the Ḥawrān, suggesting indeed that (ʾ)ʿrb was an endonym used by Arabic-speaking tribespeople in pre-Islamic times. The article ends with a discussion on the name of the Arabic language in pre-Islamic times based on a reassessment of the evidence in light of the new inscriptions presented here.
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This chapter provides an overview of Arabic in contact in the pre-Islamic period, from the early first millennium BCE to the rise of Islam. Contact languages include Akkadian, Aramaic, Ancient South Arabian, Canaanite, Dadanitic, and... more
This chapter provides an overview of Arabic in contact in the pre-Islamic period, from the early first millennium BCE to the rise of Islam. Contact languages include Akkadian, Aramaic, Ancient South Arabian, Canaanite, Dadanitic, and Greek. The chapter concludes with two case studies on contact-induced development: the emergence of the definite article and the realization of the feminine ending.
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This paper discusses the classification of the languages of Ancient North Arabia and Arabic as presented in the introduction of Routledge's The Semitic Language's handbook.
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A concise and up-to-date grammatical description of Safaitic for the second edition of Routledge's The Semitic Languages (eds. J. Huehnergard and N. Pat-El). Uncorrected proofs.
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An essay discussing the linguistic classification of the epigraphy of North and Central Arabia, focused on addressing the issue of the relationship between these ancient texts and "Arabic".
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The history of Arabic was recently the subject of a monograph-length study by M. al-Sharkawi. This review uses the work to outline some common methodological pitfalls in studying the history of Arabic, while highlighting recent advances... more
The history of Arabic was recently the subject of a monograph-length study by M. al-Sharkawi. This review uses the work to outline some common methodological pitfalls in studying the history of Arabic, while highlighting recent advances in archaeology and epigraphy to challenge some long held assumptions about Arabic's past.
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A description of the Arabic dialect of 6th c. CE Petra and a treatment of the Arabic material in Greek transcription in 62
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This paper edits a Safaitic inscription containing the negator laysa, its earliest attestation and first in Safaitic. Based on its form, I revisit the origins of laysa in Arabic as a whole and suggest a few possible scenarios to account... more
This paper edits a Safaitic inscription containing the negator laysa, its earliest attestation and first in Safaitic. Based on its form, I revisit the origins of laysa in Arabic as a whole and suggest a few possible scenarios to account for its source and shape.
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Located 90 km inland from the Gulf coast, west of modern al-Jubayl, Thāj is the largest ancient site known in eastern Arabia. It was a major hub of long-distance trade in the ‘Hellenistic’ period and in the first centuries AD. It has been... more
Located 90 km inland from the Gulf coast, west of modern al-Jubayl, Thāj is the largest ancient site known in eastern Arabia. It was a major hub of long-distance trade in the ‘Hellenistic’ period and in the first centuries AD. It has been known to Western scholarship since the beginning of the twentieth century, but only limited surveys and excavations have been carried out at the site so far. In 2016, an international archaeological project led by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), the CNRS (France), and Leiden University (Netherlands) was launched in order to conduct a comprehensive archaeological exploration of the site, including large-scale excavations and a wide array of specialized studies. This paper presents the results of the first field season of this project, which took place in October–November 2016. These first results already shed new light on the ancient environment, layout, chronology, and material culture of Thāj.
Research Interests: Near Eastern Archaeology, Geoarchaeology, Pottery (Archaeology), Hellenistic and Roman Fortifications, Saudi Arabia, and 7 moreArabian Gulf, Ancient Trade & Commerce (Archaeology), Arabian/Persian Gulf Archaeology, Arabian Peninsula in Antiquity, History of Pre-Islamic Arabia, North Arabian Epigraphy, and Ancient Trade Routes
A new proposal for the etymology of Hatta.
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A summary of what we know about Old (pre-Islamic) Arabic, its classification, and a sketch of its phonology, morphology, a few notes on syntax. Old Arabic here is defined by documentary sources like epigraphy and papyri, and excludes... more
A summary of what we know about Old (pre-Islamic) Arabic, its classification, and a sketch of its phonology, morphology, a few notes on syntax. Old Arabic here is defined by documentary sources like epigraphy and papyri, and excludes sources collected in the Islamic period, such as the poetry attributed to the pre-Islamic period.
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This article is an edition and commentary on an early Christian Arabic inscription discovered near Qaṣr Burquʿ in northeastern Jordan. The text mentions a certain yzydw ʾl-mlk 'Yazid the king' and could date to the sixth or seventh... more
This article is an edition and commentary on an early Christian Arabic inscription discovered near Qaṣr Burquʿ in northeastern Jordan. The text mentions a certain yzydw ʾl-mlk 'Yazid the king' and could date to the sixth or seventh century. We discuss the text's palaeography, its relevance for the history of the Arabic script, and attempt to identify the historical figure to which it refers.
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This paper attempts to reconstruct aspects of the phonology and morphology of the Arabic of the Islamic conquests on the basis of Greek transcriptions in papyri of the first Islamic century. The discussion includes phonemic and... more
This paper attempts to reconstruct aspects of the phonology and morphology
of the Arabic of the Islamic conquests on the basis of Greek transcriptions in
papyri of the first Islamic century. The discussion includes phonemic and
allophonic variation in consonants and vowels, and nominal morphology.
The essay concludes with a discussion on possible Aramaic and South
Arabian influences in the material, followed by a short appendix with
remarks on select Arabic terms from the pre-Islamic papyri.
of the Arabic of the Islamic conquests on the basis of Greek transcriptions in
papyri of the first Islamic century. The discussion includes phonemic and
allophonic variation in consonants and vowels, and nominal morphology.
The essay concludes with a discussion on possible Aramaic and South
Arabian influences in the material, followed by a short appendix with
remarks on select Arabic terms from the pre-Islamic papyri.
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A discussion on the valences of the root hgr in Safaitic
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This paper engages with J. Owens' idea that case is not reconstructable with certainty to Proto-Semitic. We make the opposite case.
Research Interests: Arabic Literature, Semitic languages, Dialectology, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, and 12 moreArabic, Qur'anic Studies, Arabic Sociolinguistics, Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language (TAFL), Islamic Studies, Arabic Dialects, Comparative Semitics, Arabic Historical Sociolinguistics, Arabic Dialectology, Semitic Philology, Arabic Linguistics and Dialectology, and Arabic Language and Literature
This contribution presents a decipherment of a new Safaitic inscription argued to contain a short war poem. This is followed by a discussion of its relationship with the other two Old Arabic poetic texts known to date, KRS 2453 and the... more
This contribution presents a decipherment of a new Safaitic inscription argued to contain a short war poem. This is followed by a discussion of its relationship with the other two Old Arabic poetic texts known to date, KRS 2453 and the ʿĒn ʿAvdat inscription. The article concludes with some further notes on KRS 2453.
Research Interests: Arabic Poetry, Semitic languages, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Islamic Studies, and 8 moreClassical Arabic Poetry, Arabic Dialects, Comparative Semitics, Arabic Dialectology, Safaitic, Ancient North Arabian Linguistics, Arabic and Islamic Studies, and Arabic Language and Literature
This paper contains a comprehensive study of the Arabic in Greek transcription from the pre-Islamic Levant based on documentary sources (epigraphy and papyri).
Research Interests: Diachronic Linguistics (Or Historical Linguistics), Historical Linguistics, Semitic languages, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, and 29 moreArabic, Aramaic, Greek Epigraphy, Quranic Studies, Arabic Sociolinguistics, Afro-Asiatic Linguistics, Late Antiquity, Arabic Dialects, Ancient Near East, Greek Papyrology, Northwest Semitic Epigraphy, Comparative Semitics, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Semitic Languages (Languages And Linguistics), Epigraphic South Arabian, Arabic Dialectology, Nabataean Petra, Arabic language and dialects, Arabian Peninsula in Antiquity, Semitic Philology, History of Pre-Islamic Arabia, Pre-Islamic Arabia, Arabic Linguistics, North Arabian Epigraphy, Ancient North Arabian Linguistics, South Arabian Archaeology, Moroccan Arabic, Arabic Linguistics and Dialectology, and Arabic and Islamic Studies
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This contribution provides a preliminary update to An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions (ssll 80; Leiden: Brill, 2015) based on new inscriptions and the re-interpretation of previously published texts. New data pertain... more
This contribution provides a preliminary update to An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions (ssll 80; Leiden: Brill, 2015) based on new inscriptions and the re-interpretation of previously published texts. New data pertain to phonology, demonstratives, verbal morphology, and syntax. The supplement to the dictionary contains hundreds of new entries, mainly comprising rare words and hapax legomena.
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A recently published Safaitic inscription was alleged to contain the group name Ghassān (i.e. the Ghassanids). We re-examine the inscription, and conclude that this interpretation was based on a misreading. Instead, the text provides... more
A recently published Safaitic inscription was alleged to contain the group name Ghassān (i.e. the Ghassanids). We re-examine the inscription, and conclude that this interpretation was based on a misreading. Instead, the text provides the first pre-Islamic attestation of the Ṭayyiʾ deity "Fals".
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Research Interests: Semitic languages, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Aramaic Dialectology, Aramaic, and 9 moreArabic Dialects, Old Aramaic, Canaanite Languages, Northwest Semitic Epigraphy, Epigraphic South Arabian, Arabic Dialectology, Arabic Linguistics, Safaitic, and Ancient North Arabian Linguistics
of them is the first to contain a translation of the Old Arabic prose into Greek. In addition to their decipherment and translation, the paper offers a few grammatical observations on the Arabic and Greek and remarks on the growing... more
of them is the first to contain a translation of the Old Arabic prose into Greek. In addition to their decipherment and translation, the paper offers a few grammatical observations on the Arabic and Greek and remarks on the growing evidence for Arabic-Greek bilingualism in the Harrah.
Research Interests: Semitic languages, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Greek Epigraphy, Late Antiquity, and 8 moreIslamic Studies, Arabic Dialectology, Greek Philology, Arabian/Persian Gulf Archaeology, History of Pre-Islamic Arabia, Safaitic, Ancient South Arabia, and Ancient North Arabian Linguistics
The second part of 'An ancient Arabian zodiac. The constellations in the Safaitic inscriptions' discusses the position of the Arabian zodiac visa -vis other parapegmata from antiquity, and takes up a comparative etymological study of the... more
The second part of 'An ancient Arabian zodiac. The constellations in the Safaitic inscriptions' discusses the position of the Arabian zodiac visa -vis other parapegmata from antiquity, and takes up a comparative etymological study of the zodiac names in an attempt to locate their source. Four appendices discussing tangential issues that arose in the course of this study follow.
Research Interests: Semitic languages, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Astrology, History of Astronomy, History of Astrology, and 17 moreIslamic Studies, Arabic Dialects, Ancient Near East, Calendars, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Cultural Astronomy, Ancient Astronomy, Qumran, Semitic Philology, History of Pre-Islamic Arabia, Safaitic, Sabaic inscriptions, Zodiac Signs, Ancient North Arabian Linguistics, Qumran Calendars, Mesopotamian Astronomy & Astrology, and The Origin of the Constellations
This paper argues that the voiceless reflex of the emphatics *ṣ́ (ḍād) and *ṯ ̣ (ẓāʾ) in some pre‑Hilalian Maghrebian Arabic dialects is in fact an archaism. These phonemes were voiceless in Old Arabic, as proven by Greek transcriptions... more
This paper argues that the voiceless reflex of the emphatics *ṣ́ (ḍād) and *ṯ ̣ (ẓāʾ) in some pre‑Hilalian Maghrebian Arabic dialects is in fact an archaism. These phonemes were voiceless in Old Arabic, as proven by Greek transcriptions from the pre-Islamic period, and so pre‑Hilalian Maghrebian Arabic may continue the original situation. The voiced reflexes, more common in other modern Arabic dialects and in the conventional pronunciation of Classical Arabic, are then interpreted as a later development.
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This paper studies the first abecedary discovered in the Thamudic B script and its historical and linguistic implications.
Research Interests: Semitic languages, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, History of Reading and Writing, Northwest Semitic Epigraphy, and 11 moreWriting systems, Alphabetic Writing, South Arabian Epigraphy, Semitic Philology, History of Pre-Islamic Arabia, South Arabian Culture, Sabaic inscriptions, Ancient South Arabia, Ancient North Arabian Linguistics, Arabic and Islamic Studies, and Pre Islamic Period
This paper examines a Safaitic inscription allegedly containing a reference to the crucifixion of Christ.
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This addendum contains four additional notes to my 2014 article.
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http://15minutehistory.org/2016/04/27/episode-82-what-writing-can-tell-us-about-the-arabs-before-islam/ In most world history survey courses, Arabia is introduced for the first time only as backstory to the rise of Islam. We’re told that... more
http://15minutehistory.org/2016/04/27/episode-82-what-writing-can-tell-us-about-the-arabs-before-islam/
In most world history survey courses, Arabia is introduced for the first time only as backstory to the rise of Islam. We’re told that there was a tradition of oral poetry in Arabic, a language native to central Arabia, and that the Qur’an was the zenith of this oral tradition. New evidence, however, suggests that Arabia was linguistically diverse, that the language we’ve come to know as Arabic originated in modern day Jordan, and that the looping cursive writing system that’s become the language’s hallmark wasn’t the original system used to write it. What to make of all this?
In most world history survey courses, Arabia is introduced for the first time only as backstory to the rise of Islam. We’re told that there was a tradition of oral poetry in Arabic, a language native to central Arabia, and that the Qur’an was the zenith of this oral tradition. New evidence, however, suggests that Arabia was linguistically diverse, that the language we’ve come to know as Arabic originated in modern day Jordan, and that the looping cursive writing system that’s become the language’s hallmark wasn’t the original system used to write it. What to make of all this?
Research Interests: Semitic languages, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Islamic Studies, Arabic Dialects, and 8 moreNabataeans (Archaeology), Arabic Language, Nabataean Petra, Arabian/Persian Gulf Archaeology, Quranic and Islamic Studies, History of Pre-Islamic Arabia, Ancient North Arabian Linguistics, and Arabic Language and Literature
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Contribution to the Leiden Islam Blog:
http://leiden-islamblog.nl/articles/an-ancient-zodiac-from-arabia-discovered
http://leiden-islamblog.nl/articles/an-ancient-zodiac-from-arabia-discovered
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Summing up ANA studies till today.
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The Petra Papryi stand as one of the most important witnesses to the vernacular Arabic of the pre-Islamic period. These documents attest over 100 Arabic personal names, toponyms, and oikonyms in Greek transcription. In addition to the... more
The Petra Papryi stand as one of the most important witnesses to the vernacular Arabic of the pre-Islamic period. These documents attest over 100 Arabic personal names, toponyms, and oikonyms in Greek transcription. In addition to the Arabic, one also finds several Aramaic, both western and eastern, lexical items and a few isolated relics from an older Canaanite substratum. The final volume of the series is now being prepared, and one of its key documents, Inv. 98, contains a wealth of new evidence on the linguistic situation in Petra and its surrounding areas.
The primary concern of this talk is not the Arabic of these documents in isolation, but rather its interaction with Aramaic. The interchange between the two languages in the papyri points towards a situation of bilingualism. Taking the Petra Papyri as a starting point, we will examine the extensive interaction between Arabic and Aramaic in the pre-Islamic period based on documentary materials - monumental inscriptions, graffiti, and papyri - from the northern Hijaz and the southern Levant. Our conclusions show that Arabic-Aramaic contact stretched back centuries before the spread of Christianity in Arabia, and can explain several characteristic features of early sedentary forms of Arabic, such as the dialect upon which Arabic orthography is based. Conversely, contact with Arabic may also explain some characteristic features of western Aramaic.
The primary concern of this talk is not the Arabic of these documents in isolation, but rather its interaction with Aramaic. The interchange between the two languages in the papyri points towards a situation of bilingualism. Taking the Petra Papyri as a starting point, we will examine the extensive interaction between Arabic and Aramaic in the pre-Islamic period based on documentary materials - monumental inscriptions, graffiti, and papyri - from the northern Hijaz and the southern Levant. Our conclusions show that Arabic-Aramaic contact stretched back centuries before the spread of Christianity in Arabia, and can explain several characteristic features of early sedentary forms of Arabic, such as the dialect upon which Arabic orthography is based. Conversely, contact with Arabic may also explain some characteristic features of western Aramaic.
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The goal of this talk is to demonstrate how pre-Islamic documentary sources can change our view of the history and development of Arabic. I focus on one of the most iconic features of the language, the definite article /ʾal/-. This form... more
The goal of this talk is to demonstrate how pre-Islamic documentary sources can change our view of the history and development of Arabic. I focus on one of the most iconic features of the language, the definite article /ʾal/-. This form of the article—with its various patterns of assimilation—is found in nearly all the modern dialects of Arabic, Classical Arabic, and the language of the Qur’an. While the Arab Grammarians documented other forms of the definite article, namely, /am/ and /an/, both of which are encountered in some Yemeni dialects today, the comparative method would suggest that such marginal forms are secondary. Consequently, the reconstruction of /ʾal/ to Proto-Arabic would seem uncontroversial. The increase in the availability of epigraphic sources from the pre-Islamic period, and advances in their interpretation, however, challenges this view. I will present various pieces of Old Arabic evidence from Syria and North Arabia which suggests that the earliest stages of Arabic did not have a definite article at all. I hypothesize that the pattern of overtly marking definiteness spread to Arabic through contact with Northwest Semitic languages. This scenario will explain not only the variety of definite article forms that we encounter in the epigraphic record, but also the unique distribution of the article vis-à-vis nunation—the article does not occur with nunation in the singular and broken plurals but does in the dual and sound plurals. I conclude with a discussion on how the addition of documentary sources to the study of Arabic’s early linguistic history constitutes a paradigm shift in the way we conceive of Old Arabic and the developmental trajectories of later forms of the language.
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On December 9th, 2015, the Leiden University Center for the Study of Islam and Society and the Leiden Center for the Study of Ancient Arabia will host a joint conference to highlight the state-of-the-art in Arabian Archaeology in the 21st... more
On December 9th, 2015, the Leiden University Center for the Study of Islam and Society and the Leiden Center for the Study of Ancient Arabia will host a joint conference to highlight the state-of-the-art in Arabian Archaeology in the 21st century. The event will gather prominent scholars—archaeologists and epigraphists—to share their research, cross-fertilize with others working in the Peninsula, and outline the goals for Arabian Archaeology in the coming decades.
The conference will be followed by the launch of the journal Arabian Epigraphic Notes.
The conference will be followed by the launch of the journal Arabian Epigraphic Notes.
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This lecture will present, for the first time extensively, what we know of the Nabataean presence in the Arabian Peninsula, based on the literary, archaeological and epigraphic sources. The traces the Nabataeans left will be examined in... more
This lecture will present, for the first time extensively, what we know of the Nabataean presence in the Arabian Peninsula, based on the literary, archaeological and epigraphic sources. The traces the Nabataeans left will be examined in the context of the trans-Arabian incense trade in order to reassess their involvement in the latter. The speaker will take into account the most recent discoveries related to contacts between the Nabataeans and South Arabia and will focus on the results of the currently ongoing excavation projects in several oases of the north-western part of the Peninsula, where the Nabataeans exerted political control.
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Arabian Epigraphic Notes (ISSN: 2451-8875) is a journal of the Leiden Center for the Study of Ancient Arabia. It is dedicated to the publication of epigraphy from Arabia and the discussion of relevant historical and linguistic issues.
Research Interests: Arabic Language and Linguistics, Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Greek Epigraphy, Nabataeans (Archaeology), Northwest Semitic Epigraphy, and 17 moreComparative Semitics, Semitic Linguistics, Epigraphic South Arabian, Nabataean Petra, Arabian Peninsula in Antiquity, Semitic Epigraphy, History of Pre-Islamic Arabia, South Arabian Culture, Safaitic, West Semitic Epigraphy, History of Arabic Language, Ancient South Arabia, Ancient North Arabian Linguistics, Old South Arabian Linguistics, Archaeology of the Levant, Archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula, and Nabataean Inscriptions
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Handout from NACAL 45, Leiden