The ẓll of ancient Dadān : ritual and documentary practice
- Author
- Fokelien Kootstra (UGent)
- Organization
- Project
- Abstract
- In and around the site of ancient Dadan (modern-day al-'Ula), located in the Northwest of the Arabian Peninsula, many inscriptions are found in the local North Arabian script variety called Dadanitic (6th-1st centuries BC). Many of the Dadanitic inscriptions mention the zll ceremony for the main local deity Dugabat, both unique to Dadan. While the zll inscriptions are the most common type of monumental inscriptions in the Dadanitic script, their function is still little understood. Previous interpretations of the zll inscriptions have primarily relied on the etymology of the root zll, 'to cover' or 'shade' (compare Arabic zulal 'shade'). This article takes a broader approach to the inscriptions and considers their formulaic structure, phrasing, the distribution of attested personal names in them, and the use of the root in other genres and corpora to arrive at a new interpretation of the ritual, suggesting that the zll inscriptions are better understood as documenting land leases. In this context the root ZLL should be understood as 'to write, to put down in writing; to record'.
- Keywords
- al-'Ula, Ancient North Arabian, Dadanitic, epigraphy, ritual practice
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01GQ76AQM19SQC2TMS6NNT6F01
- MLA
- Kootstra, Fokelien. “The Ẓll of Ancient Dadān : Ritual and Documentary Practice.” ARABIAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY, vol. 33, no. 1, 2022, pp. 178–87, doi:10.1111/aae.12205.
- APA
- Kootstra, F. (2022). The ẓll of ancient Dadān : ritual and documentary practice. ARABIAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY, 33(1), 178–187. https://doi.org/10.1111/aae.12205
- Chicago author-date
- Kootstra, Fokelien. 2022. “The Ẓll of Ancient Dadān : Ritual and Documentary Practice.” ARABIAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY 33 (1): 178–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/aae.12205.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Kootstra, Fokelien. 2022. “The Ẓll of Ancient Dadān : Ritual and Documentary Practice.” ARABIAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY 33 (1): 178–187. doi:10.1111/aae.12205.
- Vancouver
- 1.Kootstra F. The ẓll of ancient Dadān : ritual and documentary practice. ARABIAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY. 2022;33(1):178–87.
- IEEE
- [1]F. Kootstra, “The ẓll of ancient Dadān : ritual and documentary practice,” ARABIAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 178–187, 2022.
@article{01GQ76AQM19SQC2TMS6NNT6F01,
abstract = {{In and around the site of ancient Dadan (modern-day al-'Ula), located in the Northwest of the Arabian Peninsula, many inscriptions are found in the local North Arabian script variety called Dadanitic (6th-1st centuries BC). Many of the Dadanitic inscriptions mention the zll ceremony for the main local deity Dugabat, both unique to Dadan. While the zll inscriptions are the most common type of monumental inscriptions in the Dadanitic script, their function is still little understood. Previous interpretations of the zll inscriptions have primarily relied on the etymology of the root zll, 'to cover' or 'shade' (compare Arabic zulal 'shade'). This article takes a broader approach to the inscriptions and considers their formulaic structure, phrasing, the distribution of attested personal names in them, and the use of the root in other genres and corpora to arrive at a new interpretation of the ritual, suggesting that the zll inscriptions are better understood as documenting land leases. In this context the root ZLL should be understood as 'to write, to put down in writing; to record'.}},
author = {{Kootstra, Fokelien}},
issn = {{0905-7196}},
journal = {{ARABIAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY}},
keywords = {{al-'Ula,Ancient North Arabian,Dadanitic,epigraphy,ritual practice}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{178--187}},
title = {{The ẓll of ancient Dadān : ritual and documentary practice}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1111/aae.12205}},
volume = {{33}},
year = {{2022}},
}
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