Letter: ENA 2716.11 + ENA 2716.10

Description

Letterbook in Judaeo-Arabic (fragment) likely eighteenth- or ninteenth-century that contains drafts and possibly copies of business-related correspondence. The letters frequently use the phrase "יא אכי/ O my brother" which implies the that this was business correspondence between brothers (l. 2r, 17r, 19r). In the first section, lines 9-10r echo the structure of the drafts in the join ENA 2716.10r and also the third section of the same page (l.26-31r) in ENA 2716.11. The latter section is repeated five times on the join ENA 2716.10r. Section two of ENA 2716.11 l.21r lists a quantity of "ריאל פראנסא" which Kenneth Cuno observes was a way of referencing the notional unit of account 1 riyal:90 medin/para in this time period (The Pasha's Peasants, 211). And the unit of weight "אוקה" is in also use (l.24). On the verso a wide variety of quantities in various Ottoman coinage denominations are listed often with respective numerical quantities, for example: gold "maḥbūb Istanbuli" (l.11v) and silver kuruş (l.13). There is also reference to the "friendly conversation/ṣohbet" that will accompany the arrival of the letter carrier, Aḥmed al-Sharqawi "אחמד אל שרקווי" (l.17-18, 20-21). Date: 18th c or 19th c. MCD.