Letter: T-S 12.21

Description

Letter from Abū Saʿīd, in Alexandria, to his father in Fusṭāṭ (to the shop of Barakāt). In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dating: Likely 12th century, based on the typical hand and layout. Begins, "Your letters arrived, and my spirit was calm after being fearful, and my eyes rested after their insomnia, and I thanked the exalted Creator for His beneficence to you, for you and those with you are healthy. . . that man whom you know has not changed his ways. . . he says, 'I fed my mother and father until they died, when I had (money?), and today I have not even a penny. . . ." Mentions poppy anemones (shaqāʾiq al-nuʿmān) and the winter. The sender has previously sent four letters: to 'the rayyis,' to Avraham and Ḥasan, and to Sayyid al-Ahl. The wife of Mūsā arrived the eve of Yom Kippur. Greetings to the sender's mother, brother, sister, and a woman and her husband. Greetings to Sayyid al-Ahl, Abū l-Faraj and his brothers, Mīkhāʾīl and Abū Sahl(?), Rabīʿ, the teacher Isḥāq. Greetings from: Sahlān and his brothers, Mūsā b. Ḥassūn and his brother. The sender's paternal aunt is healthy, but elderly and frail and misses the addressee (her brother) greatly. (Information in part from CUDL.)