Arabic balad

150 Years after Dillmann’s Lexicon: Perspectives and Challenges of Gǝʿǝz Studies, ed. Alessandro Bausi, 2016

150 Years after Dillmann's Lexicon: Perspectives and Challenges of Gǝʿǝz Lexicography, 2016

A Study of the Monetary Word 'BLṬT' in Ancient South Arabian Inscriptions in the Light of Old Mesopotamian Texts, 2020

The monetary term "blṭt" is frequently found in Ancient South Arabian Inscriptions (ASAI), both monumental and minuscule. However, the epigraphic data does not provide us with sufficient information to attribute the term to its possible origins. Therefore, it is not an easy task to deal only with Ancient South Arabian, especially because the Old Mesopotamian cuneiform archives are paradigmatic for analyzing the meaning and determining the origin of the term in question. This paper discusses the word "blṭt" as one of the monetary terms in Ancient South Arabian Inscriptions in the light of Akkadian (Babylonian and Assyrian) texts. It deals also with the different views of scholars on the origin, signs, and derivations of the word, because linguistic clues to the word are still odd. Another mysterious issue related to the word is the way in which it was transferred to Ancient South Arabian languages and its different derivations.

The Arabist: Budapest Studies in Arabic

Journal of the American Oriental Society 130.4 (2011) 541-549

2019

The first part of the paper (§§1-3) discusses phonetic reading of Hieroglyphic Luwian word for ‘place/plot of land’ found in the form LOCUS- la/i-t- (vel sim.). It is argued that the spellings of the word are incompatible with the reading *pidant- traditionally assumed on the basis of Hittite evidence (peda- < PIE *pédo-). Instead, it is suggested that the Luwian word has to be read as alad-, representing probably a suffixal extension of root ala- (āla-), of which HLuw. alawa- may represent a further derivative. This suggestion allows one to re-address the thorny problem of precise meaning of Lycian terms alaha- and aladehali (§4), which can now be interpreted as ‘to let somebody (into) a place’ > ‘concede’ (= Greek συγχωρῆσαι) and ‘concession/transferral’ respectively. §5 addresses the problem of formal interpretation of aladehxxãne and argues for identification of a Lycian nominal suffix -(a)xa- likely connected with PIE *-eh2. The last part of the paper (§6) revisits the interpretation of term miñti- suggesting that it refers to ‘all adult (male) population of a polis’ and thus closely corresponds to Greek δῆμος.

Exploring the Holy Land - 150 Years of the Palestine Exploration Fund (eds. D. Guervich and A. Kidron), 2018

There are three instances of toponyms based on לבנ (lavan) in the Bible. These include Libnah/Laban of the wilderness Sinai wanderings (Num 33:20; Deut 1:1), Lebonah of Ephraim (Judg 21:19), and Libnah of the Judean Shephelah (e.g., Josh 10:29–31). Notably, the last two are possibly preserved in Arabic toponyms from 19th century Palestine. These toponyms were recorded with varying spellings in such cartographic projects as the Van de Van de Velde’s Map of the Holy Land (1858a; 1858b; 1865), Warren’s unpublished Reconnaissance of the Plain of Philistia (1867), and Conder and Kitchener’s Survey of Western Palestine (1880; 1882; 1883), the last two conducted under the auspices of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Using these and other cartographic sources as the basis for our discussion, we will analyse the etymology and site identifications of Lebonah of Ephraim and Libnah of the Shephelah in connection with their occurrences in the various post-biblical sources, with the purpose of understanding the linguistic development of the לבנ toponyms from the biblical period to pre-modern times. Our analysis shows that the toponymic history of these sites corroborates the current identifications of Lebonah with El-Lubban and Libnah with Tell Bornat.