Taymanitic

Script variant of the Ancient North Arabian (ANA) script family, formerly called Thamudic A, used to write inscriptions in a Semitic language, in and around the oasis of Taymāʾ in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula, around the 6th and 5th centuries BCE.

The corpus of Taymanitic inscriptions

Distribution and chronology

Winnett first recognised Taymanitic as an independent local script variety (Winnett and Reed 1970: 89-90; see Macdonald 2000: 32–33 for current nomenclature). Some of the Taymanitic inscriptions were found in the ancient settlement of Taymāʾ, but most were inscribed on rock surfaces in the surrounding desert. A large concentration of inscriptions dedicated to the deity Ṣalm have been found at a site called Jabal Ghunaym and at an ancient watchtower called Minṭār Banī ʿAṭiyya (Fig. 1).

The exact start and end of the Taymanitic writing tradition are unknown. However, several inscriptions found near Taymāʾ mention (nbnd) mlk bbl “(Nabonidus) king of Babylon”, placing the writing of these inscriptions sometime in the middle of the first millennium BCE, when Nabonidus resided there (552–543 BCE).

Number

Currently, the OCIANA database comprises the largest corpus of Taymanitic inscriptions, with about 475 entries, a significant portion of which were published by Eskoubi (1999). However, the actual number of inscriptions probably exceeds this.

Language

The language of the inscriptions belongs to the Semitic family. It cannot be considered as a form of Arabic, as it merged s³ with ṯ, instead of s¹. Additionally, it did not participate in the Proto-Arabic sound change iwa to iya, as can be seen in the spelling of raḍiwa as rḍw “may he please” and not rḍy. Finally, there is evidence for the shift of the initial w- to y-, as observed in yrẖ “month” for wrḫ. This sound change is also attested in northwest Semitic languages (Kootstra 2016: 104–107).

From a phonological perspective, the merger of s³ with ṯ is part of a regular merging of the interdental fricatives with their sibilant (or affricate) counterparts: *ḏ, *z > z; *ṯ, s³ > s³; and probably *ẓ, *ṣ > ṣ (Kootstra 2016: 75–81). Taymanitic assimilated n to directly following consonants in unstressed position, resulting in the characteristic b forms for bn “son of” in genealogies at the beginning of inscriptions.

The introductory particle lm- is specific to Taymanitic, although it also employs the more common l- form, known as the lam auctoris. Similar to most other ANA varieties, Taymanitic uses a definite article h-.

Genres, compositional formulae and writing system

Common themes in the inscriptions are military activity and related titles, and religious inscriptions, mostly dedicated to Ṣalm (Figs 2–3). Inscriptions mentioning Ṣalm are often associated with carvings of bull’s heads as a depiction of the deity. The majority of attested inscriptions are graffiti, consisting mostly of personal names, sometimes elaborated with titles. Taymanitic makes common, but not consistent, use of word-dividers. Multiple-line inscriptions are usually written boustrophedon (Macdonald 2008: 186).

Fokelien Kootstra

References and suggested readings

• Eskoubi, Kh.M. 1999. Dirāsa taḥlīliyya muqārana li-nuqūš min minṭaqat (Ramm) ǧanūb ģarb Taymāʾ. Riyadh: Wazārat al-Maʿārif (Wakālat al-āṯār wal-matāḥif).
• Kootstra, F. 2016. The language of the Taymanitic inscriptions and its Classification. AEN 2: 67–140. https://hdl.handle.net/1887/42063.
• Macdonald, M.C.A. 2000. Reflections on the linguistic map of pre-Islamic Arabia. AAE 11: 28–79. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0471.2000.aae110106.x.
• Macdonald, M.C.A. 2008. Ancient North Arabian, in R.D. Woodard (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia: 179–224. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Winnett, F.V. & W.L. Reed 1970. Ancient records from North Arabia (Near and Middle East, 6). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

_{Alternate spellings: Taymanite, Thamudic A}