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Safaitic (Arabic:ٱلصَّفَائِيَّةAl-Ṣafāʾiyyah) is a variety of theSouth Semitic scripts used by the Arabs in southernSyria and northernJordan in theḤarrah region, to carve rock inscriptions in various dialects ofOld Arabic and Ancient North Arabian. The Safaitic script is a member of theAncient North Arabian (ANA) sub-grouping of theSouth Semitic script family, the genetic unity of which has yet to be demonstrated.^[1]

The first attempt at a comprehensive Safaitic dictionary was published in 2019 byAhmad Al-Jallad and Karolina Jaworska.^[2]

Safaitic inscriptions are named after the area where they were first discovered in 1857:As-Safa, a region of basalt desert to the southeast ofDamascus,Syria. Since then they have been found over a wide area including south Syria, easternJordan and northwesternSaudi Arabia. Isolated examples occur further afield in places such asPalmyra in Syria, inLebanon, in Wadi Hauran in westernIraq, and inHa'il in north central Saudi Arabia. The largest concentration appears to be in theHarrat al-Shamah, a black basalt desert, stretching south and east fromJabal al-Druze throughJordan and intoSaudi 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.

A small number of Safaitic inscriptions have been found outside the Harrat al-Sham, including examples fromPalmyra, theHejaz,Lebanon, andPompeii.^[3]

The Safaitic alphabet comprises 28 letters. Severalabecedaries (lists of the alphabet) are known, but all are written in different orders, giving strength to the suggestion that the script was casually learned rather than taught systematically.

The 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 andHismaic letter shapes.

Letter[4]		Name	Pronunciation (IPA)[5]	Classical Arabic transcription[6] (Modern Arabic form)	Latin transcription
Normal	Square				OCIANA[4]	Winnett & Harding[7]	SSHB[7]
		alif	[ʔ]ⓘ	ا، ى، و) أ، إ، ئ، ؤ)	ʾ
		ayn	[ʕ]ⓘ	ع) ع)	ʿ
		ba	[b]ⓘ	ٮ) ب)	b
		dal	[d]ⓘ	د) د)	d
		dhal	[ð]ⓘ	د) ذ)	ḏ
		Ḍād	[dˤ]	ص) ض)	ḍ
		fa		ڡ) ف)	f
		gim	[g]ⓘ	ح) ج)	g
		ghayn	[ɣ]ⓘ	ع) غ)	ġ
		ha	[h]ⓘ	ه) ه)	h
		hha	[ħ]ⓘ	ح) ح)	ḥ
		kha	[x]ⓘ	ح) خ)	ẖ
		kaf	[kʰ]	ک) ك)	k
		lam	[l]ⓘ	ل) ل)	l
		mim	[m]ⓘ	م) م)	m
		nun	[n]ⓘ	ں) ن)	n
		qaf	[q]ⓘ	ٯ) ق)	q
		ra	[r]ⓘ	ر) ر)	r
		sin		س) س)	s¹	s
		shin	[ɬ]ⓘ	س) ش)	s²	š	ś
		sad	[s]ⓘ	ص) ص)	ṣ	s
		ta	[tʰ]	ٮ) ت)	t
		tha	[θ]ⓘ	ٮ) ث)	ṯ
		tta		ط) ط)	ṭ
		waw	[w]ⓘ	و) و)	w
		ya	[j]ⓘ	ى) ي)	y
		zayn	[z]ⓘ	ر) ز)	z
		za		ط) ظ)	ẓ

The traditional view held that because the Safaitic inscriptions often make use of the definite articleha-, in contrast to Classical Arabic'al, that their language should not be regarded as Arabic proper, but rather as Ancient North Arabian.^[8] However, as more inscriptions have come to light, it is clear that the Safaitic dialects make use of a variety of definite article forms, including'al, and even a simple'a-.^[1] Based on this fact, the competing view holds that the dialects attested in the Safaitic script represent alinguistic continuum, on whichClassical Arabic and other older forms of the language lie.

Most Safaitic inscriptions aregraffiti 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 byrock art, showing hunting or battle scenes, camels and horses and their riders, bedouin camp scenes, or occasional female figures.^[9]

• Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2015).An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions. Brill.
• Al-Jallad, Ahmad; Jaworska, Karolina (2019).A Dictionary of the Safaitic Inscriptions. Leiden: Brill.ISBN 978-90-04-40042-9.

• Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2022).The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia: A Reconstruction Based on the Safaitic Inscriptions. Brill.
• King, G. (1990) "The Basalt Desert Rescue Survey and some preliminary remarks on the Safaitic inscriptions and rock drawings"Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 20:55-78
• Macdonald, M. C. A. (1992) "Inscriptions, Safaitic" inThe Anchor Bible Dictionary Vol 3 (editor in chief D N Freedman) Doubleday
• Macdonald, M. C. A. (2000) "Reflections on the linguistic map of pre-Islamic Arabia"Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 11(1):28–79
• Oxtoby, W. G. (1968)Some Inscriptions of the Safaitic Bedouin American Oriental Society, Oriental Series 50. New Haven, Connecticut
• Winnett, F. V. and Harding, G. L. (1978)Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns Toronto

• Media related toSafaitic at Wikimedia Commons
• Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia (OCIANA)
• Readings in Early Arabic: #4 Safaitic War Chant from Marabb al-Shurafā' onYouTube

• Arabic languages
• Arab ethnic groups
• Ancient history of Jordan
• Ancient Syria
• Ancient North Arabian
• Extinct languages of Asia

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