词条 | Safaitic |
释义 |
Geographical distributionSafaitic inscriptions are named after the area where they were first discovered in 1857: As-Safa, a region of basalt desert to the southeast of Damascus, Syria. Since then they have been found over a wide area including south Syria, eastern Jordan and northwestern Saudi Arabia. Isolated examples occur further afield in places such as Palmyra in Syria, in Lebanon, in Wadi Hauran in western Iraq, and in Ha'il in north central Saudi Arabia. The largest concentration appears to be in the Harrat al-Shamah, a black basalt desert, stretching south and east from Jabal al-Druze through Jordan and into Saudi Arabia. Approximately 30,000 inscriptions have been recorded, although doubtless many hundreds of thousands more remain undiscovered due to the remoteness and inhospitable nature of the terrain in which they are found. Typically the inscriptions are found on the rocks and boulders of the desert scatter, or on the stones of cairns. In many cases it is unclear whether the inscriptions on the cairns pre- or post-date the construction of the cairns. ScriptThe Safaitic script exhibits considerable variability in letter shapes and writing styles. The inscriptions can be written in nearly any direction and there are no word dividers. There are two primary variants of the script: normal and square. The normal variant exhibits a large degree of variation, depending on the hand of individual authors and writing instrument. The square script appears to be a deliberate stylistic variant, making use of more angular forms of the letters.[1] Inscriptions rarely employ the square variants consistently, but mix these shapes with normal letter forms. Finally, a minority of inscriptions exhibit a mix of Safaitic and Hismaic letter shapes. Language{{Infobox language| name = Safaitic | region = Syria | era = 1st century BCE to 4th century CE | script = Safaitic |familycolor=Afro-Asiatic |fam1=Afroasiatic|fam2=Semitic |fam3=West Semitic | glotto = safa1245 | glottorefname = Safaitic }}{{Main article|Old Arabic#Safaitic}} The linguistic classification of the dialects expressed by the Safaitic script continues to be debated. The traditional view held that because the Safaitic inscriptions often make use of the definite article ha-, in contrast to Classical Arabic ContentMost Safaitic inscriptions are graffiti that reflect the current concerns of the author: the availability of grazing for his camel herd, mourning the discovery of another inscription by a person who has since died, or simply listing his genealogy and stating that he made the inscription. Others comment on raids and pray for booty, or mention religious practices. A few inscriptions by female authors are known. Inscriptions are sometimes accompanied by rock art, showing hunting or battle scenes, camels and horses and their riders, bedouin camp scenes, or occasional female figures. Material cultureApart from the inscriptions and images left behind, very little is known of the material culture of the Safaitic people. Several factors play a part: the Bedouin of necessity have few belongings and a transient lifestyle and so relatively little will have been preserved in the archaeological record; the conditions for successful preservation are not good, and little research and very few excavations have been undertaken concerning this aspect of Safaitic life. Sources
References1. ^1 2 {{Cite book|url=http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/books/b9789004289826_002|title=An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions|last=Al-Jallad|first=Ahmad|publisher=Brill|pages=1-22|doi=10.1163/9789004289826_002}} 2. ^{{Cite journal|last=Macdonald|first=Michael C.A.|date=2000|title=Reflections on the linguistic map of pre-Islamic Arabia|url=|journal=Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy|doi=|pmid=|access-date=}} External links
6 : Arabic languages|Arab groups|Ancient history of Jordan|History of Saudi Arabia|Ancient Syria|Ancient North Arabian |
随便看 |
|
开放百科全书收录14589846条英语、德语、日语等多语种百科知识,基本涵盖了大多数领域的百科知识,是一部内容自由、开放的电子版国际百科全书。