#New on #OCIANA - The #Dhofari Script 2 inscriptions documented by Dr. Al-Mashikhi, many thanks for his hard work. DhI 8 is simply remarkable. The Mušrikīn of the Quran state: 'nothing dooms us but Fate (ad-dahr)'. DhI 8 states: 'Dahr, lord of plunder and fear, burned fiercely'.
November 18, 2025 at 2:05 PM
There is an unpublished Dhofari inscription (Oman) by a man called Rbʾl (popular name)! Nabataean territory was diverse and people of various linguistic backgrounds surely identified as subjects of the Nabataean king. Here's a beautiful example of this diversity: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
There is an unpublished Dhofari inscription (Oman) by a man called Rbʾl (popular name)! Nabataean territory was diverse and people of various linguistic backgrounds surely identified as subjects of the Nabataean king. Here's a beautiful example of this diversity: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
Even names like Rbʾl are not decisive. Here is a local nomad from the Ḥarrah, belonging to the nomadic tribe of Nġbr, writing in Safaitic, who is the son of a man called Rabb-ʾEl: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions.... The diminutive Rbbʾl occurs as far away as Qaryat al-Fāw in the famous Rbbʾl epitaph.
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Even names like Rbʾl are not decisive. Here is a local nomad from the Ḥarrah, belonging to the nomadic tribe of Nġbr, writing in Safaitic, who is the son of a man called Rabb-ʾEl: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions.... The diminutive Rbbʾl occurs as far away as Qaryat al-Fāw in the famous Rbbʾl epitaph.
Here is a fantastic text, an Arabic speaker who says he belongs to the people (lit. tribe ʾāl) of Rm /rūm/ Rome.
l ʾkzm bn ġṯ ḏ ʾl rm w ws¹qt -h ṯmd mn- {s¹}bl
By ʾkzm son of Ġṯ of the people of Rm and the Ṯamūd drove him away from (the) road
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
l ʾkzm bn ġṯ ḏ ʾl rm w ws¹qt -h ṯmd mn- {s¹}bl
By ʾkzm son of Ġṯ of the people of Rm and the Ṯamūd drove him away from (the) road
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Here is a fantastic text, an Arabic speaker who says he belongs to the people (lit. tribe ʾāl) of Rm /rūm/ Rome.
l ʾkzm bn ġṯ ḏ ʾl rm w ws¹qt -h ṯmd mn- {s¹}bl
By ʾkzm son of Ġṯ of the people of Rm and the Ṯamūd drove him away from (the) road
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
l ʾkzm bn ġṯ ḏ ʾl rm w ws¹qt -h ṯmd mn- {s¹}bl
By ʾkzm son of Ġṯ of the people of Rm and the Ṯamūd drove him away from (the) road
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
My favorite: this fellow, Bayān son of Taym, belongs to the tribe of Titus! ḏ ʾl tts. He records spending the dry season in this place, qyẓ. ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions.... Maybe the tribe's eponymous ancestor was a runaway Roman, or maybe just a local whose parents gave him a Roman name.
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
My favorite: this fellow, Bayān son of Taym, belongs to the tribe of Titus! ḏ ʾl tts. He records spending the dry season in this place, qyẓ. ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions.... Maybe the tribe's eponymous ancestor was a runaway Roman, or maybe just a local whose parents gave him a Roman name.
This graffito is by a guy called Ntn. His inscription, however, is not in Canaanite or Aramaic, but Safaitic. Ntn son of Ḫlf and he pastured (w rʿy) so, O Allāt, grant abundance (f h lt ġny{t})). There are also non-Arabic tribal names among the nomads.
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
This graffito is by a guy called Ntn. His inscription, however, is not in Canaanite or Aramaic, but Safaitic. Ntn son of Ḫlf and he pastured (w rʿy) so, O Allāt, grant abundance (f h lt ġny{t})). There are also non-Arabic tribal names among the nomads.
Is the etymology of this name suggestive that he was not an Arabic speaker or an "Arab" (whatever that meant in this period)? True, Ntn is not Arabic, but so what? Here is a Dadanitic txt by a man in the mirror: Natan-Baʿl, whose father had an Arabian name, wny. ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Is the etymology of this name suggestive that he was not an Arabic speaker or an "Arab" (whatever that meant in this period)? True, Ntn is not Arabic, but so what? Here is a Dadanitic txt by a man in the mirror: Natan-Baʿl, whose father had an Arabian name, wny. ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
Pre-Islamic Arabic and Greek! The #Safaitic abecedary we posted earlier this week was far more interesting than originally thought. A close re-reading of the stone revealed the entire Safaitic alphabet in the Greek letter order!
See the study here: www.academia.edu/144853577/Al...
See the study here: www.academia.edu/144853577/Al...
November 8, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Pre-Islamic Arabic and Greek! The #Safaitic abecedary we posted earlier this week was far more interesting than originally thought. A close re-reading of the stone revealed the entire Safaitic alphabet in the Greek letter order!
See the study here: www.academia.edu/144853577/Al...
See the study here: www.academia.edu/144853577/Al...
And this isn't the first time we observe such a thing. This Thamudic B text from the Ḥarrah records the erection of a cult stone hnṣb, a prayer, and then is followed by a partial halḥam abecedary (not in ociana yet).
Read here: t.co/7Euu6Cqxo9
Read here: t.co/7Euu6Cqxo9
November 6, 2025 at 8:11 AM
And this isn't the first time we observe such a thing. This Thamudic B text from the Ḥarrah records the erection of a cult stone hnṣb, a prayer, and then is followed by a partial halḥam abecedary (not in ociana yet).
Read here: t.co/7Euu6Cqxo9
Read here: t.co/7Euu6Cqxo9
The Quran displays various arrangements of mysterious, disconnected letters. The magico-sacred aspect of the alphabet stretches far into the pre-Islamic past. This Safaitic text begins with a prayer to Allāt followed by a partial abecedary.
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
November 6, 2025 at 8:11 AM
The Quran displays various arrangements of mysterious, disconnected letters. The magico-sacred aspect of the alphabet stretches far into the pre-Islamic past. This Safaitic text begins with a prayer to Allāt followed by a partial abecedary.
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
#Incredible ! There is good evidence that Greek literacy was relatively widespread among the ancient Arabs east of Ḥawrān. Here, our #Safaitic author partially writes out the Safaitic letters in the Greek order, omitting vowels!
Find more on #OCIANA: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
Find more on #OCIANA: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
November 5, 2025 at 8:51 AM
#Incredible ! There is good evidence that Greek literacy was relatively widespread among the ancient Arabs east of Ḥawrān. Here, our #Safaitic author partially writes out the Safaitic letters in the Greek order, omitting vowels!
Find more on #OCIANA: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
Find more on #OCIANA: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
#Testing #Testing - want to visual a linguistic feature like 'N-assimilation'? Compare the distribution of the word 'daughter' spelled 𝒃𝒏𝒕 (left) and 𝒃𝒕 (right). Overall, we can see that N-assimilation is less common and that it did not reach East Arabia. But there are still bugs...
October 22, 2025 at 9:44 AM
#New on #OCIANA: A #Dhofari script 2 inscription from the Yemeni al-Mahrah region, documented by a local and sent to OCIANA for preservation.
It records hopelessness as the goats (ʾrn, cf. Mehri rawn), the flock of the writer, were afflicted with illness
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
It records hopelessness as the goats (ʾrn, cf. Mehri rawn), the flock of the writer, were afflicted with illness
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
October 18, 2025 at 4:48 PM
#New on #OCIANA: A #Dhofari script 2 inscription from the Yemeni al-Mahrah region, documented by a local and sent to OCIANA for preservation.
It records hopelessness as the goats (ʾrn, cf. Mehri rawn), the flock of the writer, were afflicted with illness
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
It records hopelessness as the goats (ʾrn, cf. Mehri rawn), the flock of the writer, were afflicted with illness
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
And check out this new functionality to be deployed soon for public on OCIANA. You can now 'map' your search results! Here are all the attestations of the phrase ʾl rm /ʾāl rūm/ 'the people of Rome' in the database.
October 18, 2025 at 9:29 AM
And check out this new functionality to be deployed soon for public on OCIANA. You can now 'map' your search results! Here are all the attestations of the phrase ʾl rm /ʾāl rūm/ 'the people of Rome' in the database.
#New on #OCIANA - from the cosmopolitan world of ancient Arabia: ʾAkzam son of Ġawṯ, of the people of Rm (Rome?), records being driven away from the road (𝑠𝑎𝑏𝑖̄𝑙!) by the tribe of Thamūd, mentioned in the Quran! From near ʿarʿar عرعر KSA. Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
October 18, 2025 at 9:29 AM
#New on #OCIANA - from the cosmopolitan world of ancient Arabia: ʾAkzam son of Ġawṯ, of the people of Rm (Rome?), records being driven away from the road (𝑠𝑎𝑏𝑖̄𝑙!) by the tribe of Thamūd, mentioned in the Quran! From near ʿarʿar عرعر KSA. Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
#New on #OCIANA - a remarkable #Dhofari 1a text containing 3 generations of a family devoted to the deity 𝐑𝐚̄𝐦 'high, exalted'. The verb of devotion is 𝒌𝒘𝒓 (cf. Mehri kīwer) 'to love'.
Find more:
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
Find more:
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
October 12, 2025 at 10:57 AM
#New on #OCIANA - a remarkable #Dhofari 1a text containing 3 generations of a family devoted to the deity 𝐑𝐚̄𝐦 'high, exalted'. The verb of devotion is 𝒌𝒘𝒓 (cf. Mehri kīwer) 'to love'.
Find more:
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
Find more:
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
#New on #OCIANA - Perhaps one of the commonest themes in graffiti world wide are records of sexual intercourse. Ancient graffiti are no exception! This Script 2 #Dhofari txt reads:
{r}{ḥ}km w nk hls¹m
'Rḥkm and he had sex with Hls¹m'
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
{r}{ḥ}km w nk hls¹m
'Rḥkm and he had sex with Hls¹m'
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
October 10, 2025 at 4:06 PM
#New on #OCIANA - Perhaps one of the commonest themes in graffiti world wide are records of sexual intercourse. Ancient graffiti are no exception! This Script 2 #Dhofari txt reads:
{r}{ḥ}km w nk hls¹m
'Rḥkm and he had sex with Hls¹m'
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
{r}{ḥ}km w nk hls¹m
'Rḥkm and he had sex with Hls¹m'
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
#New on #OCIANA, the 1st #Dhofari Script 2 txt is now online. It is a simple 3 generation genealogy, 𝒅̣𝒍ʿ𝒕 (𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇) ʿ𝒎𝒓 (𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇) 𝒍𝒃𝒏𝒎. These texts are written horizontally rather than vertically and have a lovely butterfly 𝒎.
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
October 6, 2025 at 9:40 AM
#New on #OCIANA, the 1st #Dhofari Script 2 txt is now online. It is a simple 3 generation genealogy, 𝒅̣𝒍ʿ𝒕 (𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇) ʿ𝒎𝒓 (𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇) 𝒍𝒃𝒏𝒎. These texts are written horizontally rather than vertically and have a lovely butterfly 𝒎.
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
While #Dhofari Script 1a is well understood and its corpus is growing, the much less frequently attested Script 2 remained illusive. Here are some notes on that variant for discussion: academia.edu/144277088/Al...
To learn about #Dhofari, tune in here: open.spotify.com/episode/0zVe...
To learn about #Dhofari, tune in here: open.spotify.com/episode/0zVe...
October 3, 2025 at 8:28 PM
While #Dhofari Script 1a is well understood and its corpus is growing, the much less frequently attested Script 2 remained illusive. Here are some notes on that variant for discussion: academia.edu/144277088/Al...
To learn about #Dhofari, tune in here: open.spotify.com/episode/0zVe...
To learn about #Dhofari, tune in here: open.spotify.com/episode/0zVe...
#NEW on #OCIANA - Drought is a major theme in the #Safaitic inscriptions. This text records a drought in the spring, during 𝒅̱𝒏𝒃 𝒅̱𝒌𝒓 (ذنب ذكر) 'the tail of Aries'! And calls upon the god Yayṯeʿ to deliver from the dry land.
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
September 24, 2025 at 2:47 PM
#NEW on #OCIANA - Drought is a major theme in the #Safaitic inscriptions. This text records a drought in the spring, during 𝒅̱𝒏𝒃 𝒅̱𝒌𝒓 (ذنب ذكر) 'the tail of Aries'! And calls upon the god Yayṯeʿ to deliver from the dry land.
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
Happening at OSU this Friday-Sunday - #NACAL_48!
Three days of Afro-Asiatic linguistics. See the link for the program and registration.
nesa.osu.edu/events/north...
Three days of Afro-Asiatic linguistics. See the link for the program and registration.
nesa.osu.edu/events/north...
September 23, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Happening at OSU this Friday-Sunday - #NACAL_48!
Three days of Afro-Asiatic linguistics. See the link for the program and registration.
nesa.osu.edu/events/north...
Three days of Afro-Asiatic linguistics. See the link for the program and registration.
nesa.osu.edu/events/north...
The first epigraphic attestation of the Modern South Arabian lexical isogloss ġayg 'man' in a #Dhofari text
'Bar-Shahm son of Mb---- has love for a man'
Amorous expressions are common in the inscriptions, as is concealing the identity of the lover with generic nouns!
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
'Bar-Shahm son of Mb---- has love for a man'
Amorous expressions are common in the inscriptions, as is concealing the identity of the lover with generic nouns!
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
September 17, 2025 at 9:43 AM
The first epigraphic attestation of the Modern South Arabian lexical isogloss ġayg 'man' in a #Dhofari text
'Bar-Shahm son of Mb---- has love for a man'
Amorous expressions are common in the inscriptions, as is concealing the identity of the lover with generic nouns!
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
'Bar-Shahm son of Mb---- has love for a man'
Amorous expressions are common in the inscriptions, as is concealing the identity of the lover with generic nouns!
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
Lots of new grammar in the #Dhofari inscriptions, suggesting further links with the Modern South Arabian languages. The verb yġfrm 'may they pardon' shows the plural ending -m. See these two new texts just uploaded to #OCIANA
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
September 14, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Lots of new grammar in the #Dhofari inscriptions, suggesting further links with the Modern South Arabian languages. The verb yġfrm 'may they pardon' shows the plural ending -m. See these two new texts just uploaded to #OCIANA
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...
ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...