TheDūmat al-Jandal inscription (also known as theDūmat al Ğandal inscription orDaJ144PAr1) is an Arabic Christian graffito written in thePaleo-Arabic script, and discovered at the Arabian site ofDumat al-Jandal. It was carved into the middle-left of a sandstone bolder, above a Nabataean Arabic inscription found a little lower. The rock also contains drawings of four female camels, one male camel, and an ibex.[1]
It was first published in 2017 alongside seventeenNabataean Arabic inscriptions.[2]
This inscription dates to 548/9 AD according to theGregorian calendar (though the date is given as 443 in the inscription according to theBostran calendar whose first year corresponds to the year of the creation of theRoman province ofArabia Petraea), making it the first paleo-Arabic inscription from northwestern Arabia that can be precisely dated to the sixth century.[1]
As with other Paleo-Arabic Christian inscriptions, the divine epithetʾl-ʾlh, then a Christian expression,[3] is used to refer to God.[4] Christians may have continued to use this uncontracted form as an isomorphism for the Greek expressionho theos, which is how theHebrewʾĕlōhîm is rendered in theSeptuagint.[5] The inscription contains an inscribedcross, such as in some of theHima Paleo-Arabic inscriptions. Furthermore, it makes use of the formula "May God remember" (ḏakara al‐Ilāh). Two other Paleo-Arabic inscriptions which use this formula include theZabad inscription and theYazid inscription.[6]
The inscription has been also named/itemized as DaJ144PAr1:[1]
Transliteration
dkr
dkr ʾl-ʾlh
ḥgʿ{b/n}w br
šlmh
{b}y{r}[ḥ] šnt 4×100
+20+20+3 cross
Translation
May be remembered. May God remember Ḥgʿ{b/n}w son of Salama/Sa-lāma/Salima {in} the m[onth] (gap) year 443 [AD 548/549].