Arabian Epigraphic Notes

An Open Access Online Journal on Arabian Epigraphy.

The development of the triphthongs in Quranic and Classical Arabic

Abstract

The original Proto-Semitic triphthongs have developed in a variety of ways in the history of Arabic. Employing data from Old Arabic and the Quranic Consonantal Text, this paper examines the developments of these triphthongs in Classical Arabic and the language of the Quran. It describes the development in hollow and defective roots and shows that Quranic Arabic developed a new long vowels /ē/ and /ō/ in positions where Classical Arabic merges triphthongs with *ā.


Keywords

Nabataeo-Arabic Old Arabic Quranic Consonantal Text Triphthongs Historical linguistics

Nabataean inscriptions from southwest of Taymāʾ, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This group of inscriptions was found at several sites southwest of Taymāʾ, on the way to Al-ʿUlā. They were discovered by Dr Bader al-Faqayr, Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, King Saud University during his geographical survey of the province, in the spring of 2008. The study of these fifteen inscriptions provides twenty-three personal names; four of them occur for the first time in Nabataean inscriptions. They provided us with thirteen lexical items, two of which are attested for the second time in Nabataean inscriptions: gʾyʾ ‘the tailor’ and yhwdyʾ ‘the Jew’.


Keywords

Aramaic Graffiti Nabataeans Nabataeo-Arabic Saudi Arabia