The Quranic ʾAbb as a South Arabian magical formula
Keywords:
Ancient South Arabian, amulets, Qurʾān, Wadd, spoliaAbstract
This article proposes a new interpretation for the common magical formula in the Ancient South Arabian inscriptions “Wd-ʾb”, which is usually translated as (Wadd is father). Instead, it suggests interpreting it as "Wadd blessing" based on the Semitic root "ʾb," which also appears as the problematic Qurʾānic term “ʾabbā” and in various Yemeni dialects (ʾab; ʾabīb) meaning (grass, fodder). The custom of engraving similar protection formulas on the building may have survived in Yemen and other regions, through engraving Islamic blessing formulas such as mā šāʾ Allāh (what God has willed) or tabārak Allāh (what God has blessed), which is quite common in modern Yemen.
References
Abdel Haleem M.A.S. 2004. The Qurʾan. A new translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
al‑Bukhārī 2001 [AH 1422]. Ṣaḥīḥ al‑Bukhārī, according to the index by M.F. ʿAbd al‑Bāqī. Beirut: Dār ṭawq al‑najāt.
Ali A.Y. [n.d.]. The Holy Qur’an. Beirut: Dar Al-Arabia.
Atbuosh M. (forthcoming). From Ancient Yemen to modern terrorism: The evolution of Islamic apocalyptic prophecies on a Himyaritic background.
ʿAṭīya M.ʿA. 2020. Mamlakat ʾAwsān – Dirāsa fī at-tārīḫ as-siyāsī wa-l-ḥaḍārī. Malāmiḥ. United Arab Emirates: Malāmiḥ.
Avanzini A. 2016. By land and by sea. A history of South Arabia before Islam recounted from the inscriptions. (Arabia Antica, 10). Rome: ‘L’Erma’ di Bretschneider.
Beeston A.F.L. 1984. Sabaic grammar. (Journal of Semitic Studies. Monograph, 6). Manchester: University of Manchester.
Beeston A.F.L., Ghul M.A., Müller W.W. & Ryckmans J. 1982. Sabaic dictionary (English-French-Arabic). (Publication of the University of Sanaa, YAR). Louvain-la-Neuve: Peeters/Beirut: Librairie du Liban.
Behnstedt P. 1992. Die nordjemenitischen Dialekte. Teil 2. Glossar Alif–Dāl. (Jemen-Studien, 3). Wiesbaden: Reichert.
Bonnenfant P. 2002. La symbolique de la demeure, le thème du serpent. Chapter 23 in P. Bonnenfant (ed.), Sanaa: architecture domestique et société. (OpenEdition 2014). Paris: CNRS Éditions via OpenEdition. https://books.openedition.org/editionscnrs/4423
Butts A.M., Gross S. & Hensley M. 2022. Once again on ʾbk wdm in Ethiopian Sabaic. Aethiopica 25: 193–200.
Dādayh Y.ʿA.Y. 2009. ʾAlfāẓ az-zirāʿah w-ar-rayy fī lahjat manṭiqat ʿUtmah bi-muḥāfaḍat Ḏamār. MA thesis, University of Aden. [Unpublished.]
Del Olmo Lete G. & Sanmartín J. 2015. A dictionary of the Ugaritic language in the alphabetic tradition. (2 vols). Leiden: Brill.
Derenbourg H. 1891. Les Monuments sabéens et himyarites de la Bibliothèque nationale (Cabinet des médailles et antiques). Paris: Léopold Cerf.
Doe B. 1979. The WDʾB formula and the incense trade. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 9: 40–43.
Faqʿas ʾA. 2022. ʾalfāẓ nuqūš az-zabūr al‑manšūra: dirāsa muʿjamīya muqārina bi-l-luġāt as-sāmīya (Dictionary of the published Ancient South Arabian minuscule inscriptions). Sana’a: sumuww for printing.
Gajda I. 2012. Liens entre symboles et divinités dans les inscriptions sudarabiques. Pages 447–459 in I. Sachet (ed.), Dieux et déesses d’Arabie: Images et représentations. Actes de la table ronde tenue au Collège de France (Paris) les 1er et 2 octobre 2007. (Orient & Mediterranée, 7). Paris: De Boccard.
Gesenius H.F.W. 1906. A Hebrew and English lexicon of the Old Testament, with an appendix containing the biblical Aramaic, based on the lexicon of William Gesenius as translated by Edward Robinson. Boston/New York: Oxford University Press.
Ghul M.A. 1963. Early southern Arabian languages and classical Arabic sources: A critical examination of literary and lexicographical sources by comparison with the inscriptions. PhD thesis, SOAS University of London. doi: https://doi.org/10.25501/SOAS.00029058
Gingrich A. 2006. Ländliche Sternenkalender aus dem südlichen Hijāz. (Mit drei Anhängen zu örtlichen Kalendern aus dem Norden des ‛Asīr und aus Jīzān von A.R. Aloshban, R.B. Serjeant und J. Lambert. Pages 407–467 in W. Dostal (ed.), Tribale Gesellschaften der südwestlichen Regionen des Königreiches Saudi Arabien: sozialanthropologische Untersuchungen. (Veröffentlichungen zur Sozialanthropologie Band 8, Sitzungsberichte der Phil.-Hist. Kl., 732). Vienna: Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Graf D.F. & Zwettler M.J. 2004. The North Arabian ‘Thamudic E’ inscription from Uraynibah West. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 335/1: 53–89.
Hayajneh H. 2012. The usage of Ancient South Arabian and other Arabian languages as an etymological source for Qurʾānic vocabulary. Pages 139–168 in G.S. Reynolds (ed.), New perspectives on the Qur’an. London/NewYork: Routledge.
Hehmeyer I. & Schönig H. 2012. Herbal medicine in Yemen: Traditional knowledge and practice, and their value for today’s world. (Islamic History and Civilization, 96). Leiden: Brill.
Ibn Fāris, Abū al‑Ḥusayn Aḥmad/ed. Abd El Salām Haroun. 1979. maqayīs al‑luġa. (6 volumes). Beirut: Dār al‑Fikr.
Ibn Kathir, al‑Hafiz. 2006. The exegesis of The Grand Holy Qur’an. (9 volumes). Lebanon: Dar al‑Kotob al‑Ilmiyah.
al‑Iryānī M. 2012. al‑muʿjam al‑Yamanī fī al‑luġah wa-l-tūrāṯ. (2nd edition). Damascus: muʾssassat al‑mīṯāq.
Al-Jallad A. 2015. An outline of the grammar of the Safaitic inscriptions. Boston/Leiden: Brill.
Jeffery A. 1938. The foreign vocabulary of the Qur’ān. Baroda: Oriental Institute.
Johnstone T.M. 1987. Mehri lexicon and English-Mehri word-list, with index of the English definitions in the Jibbâli lexicon, compiled by G. Rex Smith. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Jung M. 2021. A brief note on South Arabian spolia in Yemeni mosques. Pages 199–226 in S. Antonini de Maigret & A. Agostini (eds), Missione Archeologica Italiana in Yemen. Perugia: OL3 s.r.l.
Kane T.L. 1990. Amharic-English dictionary. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
al‑Khulāqī ʿA.Ṣ. 2012. Muʿjam lahjat sarū Ḥimyar – Yāfiʿ. Ṣanʿāʾ: Markaz ʿUbādī.
Kogan L. 2015. Genealogical classification of Semitic: The lexical isoglosses. Boston: De Gruyter.
Lane E.W. 1863–1893. An Arabic-English lexicon. Part 1. London: Williams & Norgate.
Lecker M. 2007. Wadd, the weaponed idol of Dūmat al‑Jandal and the quṣṣāṣ. Pages 131–138 in Dieux et déesses d’Arabie: Images et représentations. Actes de la table ronde tenue au Collège de France, Paris, les 1er et 2 octobre 2007. (Orient & Mediterranée, 7). Paris: De Boccard.
Maraqten M. 1996. An inscribed amulet from Shabwa. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 7/1: 88–94.
Mordtmann E. & Mittwoch J.H. 1931. Sabäische Inschriften. Rathjens-v. Wissmannsche Südarabischen-Reise. i. Hamburg: Friederichsen, De Gruyter.
Mulat T. [ዉሳት, ከታዾሰ] 1970. በሠርግ ፡ ዘፈኖች ፡ ውስጥ ፡ የሚታዩ ፡ ያማርኛ ፡ ግጥሞች. Journal of Ethiopian Studies 8/2: 155–170.
Müller D.H. 1899. Südarabische Alterthümer im Kunsthistorischen Hofmuseum. Vienna: Alfred Hölder.
Naẓīr W. 2020. al‑ṯarwa al‑nabātīya ʿind qudamāʾ al‑miṣryīn. Cairo: wikālat al‑ṣaḥāfa al‑ʿarabīya.
Nebes N. 2010. Die Inschriften aus dem ʾAlmaqah-Tempel in ʿAddi ʾAkawǝḥ (Tigray). Zeitschrift für Orientarchäologie 3: 214–237.
Nielsen D. 1927. Zur altarabischen Religion. Pages 177–250 in D. Nielsen, F. Hommel & N. Rhodokanakis (eds), Handbuch der altarabischen Altertumskunde. Copenhagen: Nyt Norsdik Forlag.
Piamenta M. 1990–1991. Dictionary of post-classical Yemeni Arabic. (2 volumes). Leiden/New York: Brill.
Qurṭubī A.ʾA./eds ʾA. al‑Bardūnī & I. ʾAṭfīš. 1964. Al-Jāmiʿ li Aḥkām al‑Qurʾān. (20 volumes). Dār al‑kutub al‑miṣrīyah.
Robin Ch.J. 1994. Documents de l’Arabie antique III. Raydān 6: 69–90.
Robin Ch.J. 1986–2004. Wadd. Pages 820–821 in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. xii. Supplement. Leiden: Brill.
Robin Ch.J. 2021. The Judaism of the ancient kingdom of Ḥimyar in Arabia: A discreet conversion. Pages 165–270 in G. McDowell, R. Naiweld, D. Stökl & B. Ezra (eds), Diversity and Rabbinization: Jewish texts and societies between 400 and 1,000 CE. (Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures). Cambridge Openbook Publishers.
Rossi I. 2023. Wadd. Thematic dictionary of ancient Arabia. (Online edition 2023). Available at https://ancientarabia.huma-num.fr/dictionary/definition/wadd, accessed on 6/3/2024. doi: https://doi.org/10.60667/tdaa-0142
Roth M.T. (ed.). 1956–2011. Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (CAD). (21 volumes). Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
Samarqandī, abū al‑Layṯ Naṣr b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm. 1993. Tafsīr as-Samarqandī al‑Musammā: Baḥr al‑ʿulūm. Ed. ʿA.M. Muʿawwaḍ, ʿĀ.A. ʿAbdulmawjūd & Z. ʿAbdulmajīd an-Nūtī. (3 volumes). Beirut: Dār al‑Kutub al‑ʿilmīyah.
Schneider R. 1976. Documents épigraphiques de l’Éthiopie – V. Annales d’Éthiopie 10: 81–93.
Serjeant R.B. 1976. South Arabian hunt. London: Luzac.
Sibbing-Plantholt I. 2022. The image of Mesopotamian divine healers. Healing goddesses and the legitimization of professional Asûs in the Mesopotamian medical marketplace. Boston: Brill.
Stein P. 2013. The first incantation from Ancient South Arabia. Pages 151–160 in Fr. Briquel-Chatonnet, C. Fauveaud & I. Gajda (eds), Entre Carthage et l’Arabie heureuse. Mélanges offerts à François Bron. (Orient & Méditerranée, 12) Paris: De Boccard.
Wakin J. & Zysow A. 1986–2004. Raʾy. Pages 687–690 & 821 in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. xii. Supplement. Leiden: Brill.
Yāqūt al‑Ḥamawī 1995. Muʿjam al‑buldān. (2nd edition). Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Archaeopress Publishing, Oxford, UK
