Letter: T-S 10J12.18
Letter T-S 10J12.18What's in the PGP
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Description
Letter from a woman to her mother ʿAzza al-ʿIblāniyya (from Iʿbillīn, a village in western Galilee), in Fustat. She is asked by her daughter to save her from her husband, life with whom was hell (l. 10), and who wants to take her, against her will, to his native town of Aleppo. The daughter asks her mother to come herself or send a proxy. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 177, and from Goitein's index cards)
Tags
Editor: Goitein, S. D.
Translators: (in English)
T-S 10J12.18 1r
Recto:
- בשמ רחמ
- אלדי אריד בה אעלמך יא ואלדתי אני וצלת אלי אלמחלה
- וקלבי ענדך אללה תעאלי יגעלך פי חייז אלסלאמה
- וענדי מן אלשוק ואלוחשה לפרקכם מא לא אחסן אצף
- ללה אלחמד מקבול קצאה וממא אעלמך יא ואלדתי
- אן מן וקת כרוגי מן ענדך מא צפא לי עיש ולא חייה
- ממא יכאלקני ויטלב מני אלרגוע אלי חלב וקד מלת
- רוחי פ/ב/ללה עליך אסעיי פי כלאצי מן אלדי אנא פיה
- . . . כ]רוגך אלי ענדי או בוכיל תוכליה או תבעתי לה
- . . . . . . . . א]לדי ענדך פאני מעה פי אלנאר ויכון סרעה
- . . . . . . . . . . . . ל]תעתקיני מן אהל נאר ויכון דאלך בלא
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ] אמר פאני מא תנשף לי תמעה(!)
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ] ו לדתך קבל אן יכון שיי
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ] פע חבה
Translated by Renée Levine Melammed
In Your name, O Merciful One.
That which I wish to inform you, mother of mine, is that I arrived in al-Maḥalla, but my heart was still with you, may God [the exalted] grant you resilient good health. As for me, my yearning and loneliness from our separation is something I cannot describe well. Praise to God whose judgment is accepted. What I am informing you, mother of mine, is that from the time of my leaving you, my life has not been serene or untroubled from what saddens me and he [i.e., my husband] is demanding that I return to Aleppo. My spirit has become weary, and by God, [will you] make an effort to rescue me from that [this situation] in which I am [stuck]!
[Either] by your going forth to me [you come] or appoint a proxy or send him . . . that is with you. I am in hell with him, and soon he/it will be . . . that you redeem me from the people from hell and let this be without [delay] . . . matter, and I cannot dry my tears . . . . I am informing you . . . before something [awful] will happen. Without help the size of a grain . . .
T-S 10J12.18 1v
Verso, address:
אלי מצר לעזה אל עבלאניה מן בנתהא לא עדמתהא
verso, address
To Fustāt, to ‘Azza l-‘Iblāniyya
From her daughter, may she not be bereft of her.
