Letter: ENA NS 7.47

Description

Original document: Accounts in very small Arabic script. Subsequent document: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to a woman. Written in the spaces around the original Arabic script. The writer reports on his meeting with the prospective groom of the addressee's daughter, in which they reached an agreement that the man would go to Bilbays and betroth (yuqaddis ʿalā) the woman (al-ṣughayyira) there and maintain her until Shavuʿot (al-ʿAnṣara), at which time the wedding will take place (yadkhulu baytahu). The early marriage payment is to be 5 dinars "with the conditions" (bi-l-shurūṭ: on this term see Ashur's dissertation, p. 217, n. 9) and the late marriage payment 20 dinars. Following the betrothal, the fiance's brother is going to take her to Cairo and rent her a house and maintain her until Shavuʿot when the marriage will take place. The writer warns the addressee 'not to let him come close' without paying the 5 dinars of the early marriage payment. He then suggests that there will be a second betrothal (taqdīs/qiddushin) ceremony in Cairo. He exhorts the addressee to be diligent in all this so that her daughter will obtain her livelihood/support. The letter becomes more difficult to understand around here. The writer mentions the army or army camp (al-ʿaskar) in connection with his own affairs. The letter is very faded in some places; this reading is provisional. Merits further examination. ASE.