List or table: BL OR 10126(1).7

Description

List in Judaeo-Arabic, neat and well-preserved, with quantities of food items and materia medica on the recto. There are three columns from right to left which list the materials, units of measurement, and perhaps Coptic-numerical quantities. Among the goods listed are two types of soap ( "בלדי" and "שאמי" ), pepper, and plums. A diverse array of units of measurement are in use such as the raṭl and the wayba, which Goitein notes "comprised about 15 liters (approximately 4 gallons) and the irdabb consisted of 6 waybas." (Goitein, Mediterranean Society I, 361). These details help estimate the dating of this document as 14th-16th-century. The verso features a different hand, however, that is listing similar goods such as pepper, almond, and wax albeit without the organized column structure of units and numerical quantities. MCD.