Paleo-Arabic

Paleo-Arabic (or Palaeo-Arabic, previously called pre-Islamic Arabic or Old Arabic^[1][2]) is a pre-Islamic script used to write Arabic. It began to be used in the fifth century, when it succeeded the earlier Nabataeo-Arabic script, and it was used until the early seventh century, when the Arabic script was standardized in the Islamic era.^[3][4][5]

Text of the Zabad inscription: May [the Christian] God be mindful of Sirgu son of Abd-Manafu and Ha{l/n}i son of Mara al-Qays and Sirgu son of Sadu and Syrw and S{.}ygw.

Evidence for the use of Paleo-Arabic was once confined to Syria and Jordan. In more recent years^[when?], Paleo-Arabic inscriptions have been discovered across the Arabian Peninsula including: South Arabia (the Christian Hima texts),^[6] near Taif in the Hejaz^[7] and in the Tabuk region of northwestern Saudi Arabia.^[8]

Most Paleo-Arabic inscriptions were written by Christians, as indicated by their vocabulary, the name of the signing author, or by the inscription/drawing of a cross associated with the writing.^[9]

The term "Paleo-Arabic" was first used by Christian Robin in the form of the French expression "paléo-arabe".^[10]

Classification

Paleo-Arabic refers to the Arabic script in the centuries prior to the standardization Arabic underwent in the Islamic era. According to Ahmad Al-Jallad and Hythem Sidky, Paleo-Arabic can be distinguished from the script that occurs in later periods by a number of orthographic features, including:^[11]

• Wawation (the addition of a seemingly superfluous waw (و) to the end of nouns)^[12]
• Use of Arameograms
• Absence of ʾalif ( ا ) to represent the long ā
• Occasional phonetic spelling of the definite article
• Occasional relic use of dots to distinguish the dāl (د) from rē (ر)

Genres

Known Paleo-Arabic inscriptions fall into one of three categories:^[7]

• simple signatures with no confessional statements
• monotheist invocations
• specifically Christian texts

As such, they reflect the dominance attained by the spread of monotheism in pre-Islamic Arabia from the fourth to sixth centuries in the pre-Islamic period.^[7]

Terminology

God

Paleo-Arabic inscriptions most commonly refer to "God" as al-ʾilāh or by its orthographic variant illāh, though the term Rabb for "Lord" also appears as is seen in the Abd Shams inscription, Jabal Dabub inscription, and the Ri al-Zallalah inscription.^[7]

Introductory formulae

The present corpus of Paleo-Arabic inscriptions attests the following introductory formulae:^[13]

• b-sm-k rb-nʾ / In your name, our lord
• brk-[k]m rb-nʾ / May our lord bless you
• b-sm-k ʾllhm / In your name, O God
• b-sm lh rḥmn / In the name of Allāh, the Raḥmān

Calendar

Several Paleo-Arabic inscriptions, including the Jebel Usays inscription and the Hima Paleo-Arabic inscriptions typically date events according to the Bostran era, whose beginning is the equivalent of the year 106 in the Gregorian calendar. However, at least one, the Zabad inscription (known from Syria) uses the Seleucid era.

List of Paleo-Arabic inscriptions

The current list of known Paleo-Arabic texts and inscriptions is given in a table and appendix of a paper jointly written by Ahmad Al-Jallad and Hythem Sidky.^[7]

Name	Location	Number of texts	Date	Publication
Zabad inscription	Zabad, Syria	1	512	[14]
Jebel Usays inscription	Jebel Usays, Syria	1	528	[14]
Harran inscription	Harran, Syria	1	562	[14]
Umm al-Jimal Paleo-Arabic inscription	Umm el-Jimal, Jordan	1	undated	[15]
Yazid inscription	Qasr Burqu, Jordan	1	undated	[16]
Hima Paleo-Arabic inscriptions	Hima, Saudi Arabia	25	470, 513	[4]
Ri al-Zallalah inscription	Ri al-Zallalah, Saudi Arabia	1	undated	[7]
None	Medina, Saudi Arabia	2	undated	Unpublished but see [1]
Umm Burayrah (Abd Shams) inscription	Northwest Hejaz, Saudi Arabia	9 + 2	undated	[8][17]
Dumat al-Jandal inscription	Dumat al-Jandal, Saudi Arabia	2	548	[15][18]

See also

• Namara inscription
• Old Arabic
• Safaitic