رسالة: ENA NS I.67

الوصف

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: probably 11th century. Consisting almost entirely of instructions for commodities the sender wants the addressee to buy for him, with a list of those commodities. The addressee is not to buy anything from Barhūn. The introduction: על שמך . . . אסאלך יא סידי וסנדי אן תתפצל תקף לי פי שרא הדה אלחואיג ותצת . להא ותחטאט עלי פיהא וכנת סאלתך אלא תשתרי לי מן ברהון חאגה פליס לאחד פיה מנה ולא . . . אחד תגמעהא מן אלדכאכין אין מא ופק אללה תעאלי מן דלך. Items include: purple cloth (arjuwān); sandarac resin (sandarūs); hard sugar candy (sukkar sulaymānī, i.e., from Sulaymān in SW Iran); a kind of large vessel (ajājīn, sg. ijjāna); good quality chebulic myrobalan (kābulī); good quality Indian aromatic wood (ʿūd hindī); Meccan boxthorn (khawlān makkī); Ḥaḍramī aloe (ṣabr); camphor (kāfūr); Maghribi kohl; violet flower (zahr banafsaj); cassia fistula (khiyār shanbar); cinnamon (qirfa); jujube (ʿunnāb); Iraqi violet oil; a kind of wood (ʿūd al-[...]); pine resin (ʿilk ṣanawbar); sarcocolla (ʿanzarūt); litharge (martak); basil seed (bizr rayḥān); pepper; and several further entries which are hard to read. The list is followed by a paragraph mentioning the names Mūsā b. Ghulayb (known from other documents); Barhūn again; Fustat/Egypt; al-Nūtī(?). At the bottom and again in the margin mentions Abū Brāhīm or Ibrāhīm ʿAyyāsh (perhaps ʿAyyāsh b. Ṣadaqa). On verso, adds that if the addressee is unable to fulfill this order, he should not entrust it to somebody else; instead he should wait for the arrival of Faraḥ Ibn al-Jāsūs and give him the purse for taking over the task (פאן לם ימכן חצורך פי שי [מנ]הא פלא תכלף אלאמר ללגיר תדע אלצרה לוצול פרח בן אלגאסוס יתולא שראהא ואלסלם). At 180 degrees on verso there is also what may be a brief Arabic address with the name Yaḥyā b. Ṭū[...], but this is preceded by the word 'ḥawāʾij' so may not be an address at all. Next to this is another note in Judaeo-Arabic giving an instruction about the goods (ולא ת . . ל מן כרוג אל . . . מן גמלה אלחואיג). ASE