List or table: T-S NS 321.7a

List or table T-S NS 321.7a

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T-S NS 321.7a
Document Date
Inferred Date
Primary Language
Judaeo-Arabic

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Abū Zikrī Kohen, representative of merchants in Fustat, settles accounts with his banker Khiyār b. Nissim. Dating: 1134 CE. The two had concluded a partnership in November 1131 for the duration of one year in a banking business with Abū Zikrī as senior partner entitled to grant loans. From this partnership there have survived orders of payments to Khiyār ranging from 1¼ to 100 dinars between 1138 and 1141. In four columns, all crossed out with a vertical stroke probably indicating that the accounts were settled or transferred to al-daftar al-kabīr, the ledger referred to in other accounts that are similarly crossed out. Columns 1 and 2 contain Khiyār's debits, i.e., Abū Zikrī's payments to him or made for him; columns 3 and 4 contain his credits, mainly smaller sums, and continued on consecutive pages that are lost. The account shows among other things how many payments — even in dirhams — were made by book transfer. It also shows that Abū Zikrī, despite his position in the community of merchants, refrained from making overdrafts. He also avoidedd letting his money sit and deposited payments immediately. Abū Zikrī usually writes numbers in words, which sometimes throws off his line distribution from the otherwise regular spreadsheet format. Goitein's translation renders the numbers in numerals for ease of reference. In four columns beginning on verso left, recto right, recto left, verso right, recto right, i.e., the fragment has been conserved with recto as verso and verso as recto, and after folding the page, Abū Zikrī handled it in the usual manner of bifolios. (Information from Goitein, LMJT, and from Marina Rustow)

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Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter
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In PGP since 2017
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Translation

T-S NS 321.7a recto

recto
S. D. Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1973).

Column 1 (verso, left): Payments to the banker in cash

  1. The Elder Khiyār b. Nissīm
  2. Balance to his debit after all
  3. accounts
  4. to 10
  5. Shaʿbān
  6.                                                  75⅙ dinar
  7. Other debits                           6½ dinar
  8.                                                   20 less 5 qīrāṭ
  9. Through his son-in-law         9 dinar
  10. From me                                   5⅛ dinar
  11. From the elder
  12. Abu l-Faḍāʾil                             5 dinar
  13. From Zikrī                                 3 dinar
  14. From the same                         1 dinar 10 qīrāṭ
  15. 28½ balance to his debit         28 dinar 5 qīrāṭ 1 dāniq

Column 1 (verso, left): Payments to the banker, mostly in cash

16. From me in gold                  17¼, ⅛

17. In silver                                 11 dinar

18. Gold and silver                    20 dinar, 13½ qīrāṭ

19. Also in dirhams                   1 dinar

Column 2 (recto, right): Payments to the banker, mostly in cash, continued

  1. From me in gold                    22 dinar, 2 qīrāṭ
  2. Promissory note                    1½ dinar
  3. From my cousin                     1 dinar
  4.                                                 102½, ¼ din. less 1 habba ______________________________________________
  5. Debit beginning: his note on 7 dinar
  6.                                                 109⅔ dinar  ______________________________________________

  7. Balance of debit                     14 dinar 1 qīrāṭ ______________________________________________

  8. Balance, debit                         14 dinar ⅙

Column 2 (recto, right): The banker's promissory notes

9. His note                        100 dinar

10. His note                       66 dinar 9 qīrāṭ

11. His note                        36 dinar

12. His note                        30 dinar less ⅙

13. His note                        26 dinar

T-S NS 321.7a verso

verso

Column 3 (recto, right): The banker's credits

  1. The Elder Khiyār b. Nissīm
  2. Credit beginning: a note               9½, ⅛ dinar
  3. Paid to Abu Ί-Muna                       1 dinar
  4. Note to Abu Ί-Muna                      4 dinar
  5. To our lord                                      15 dinar exactly
  6. Note to Joseph                              10 dinar exactly
  7. Price of . . .                                     9⅔, ¼ dinar
  8. To the hazzan                                17 (or 16) qīrāṭ
  9. To the Nezer                                  1 dinar
  10. Credit                                              19 qīrāṭ
  11. Credit                                               23 dinar
  12. To the hazzan                                 1 dinar, 7 qīrāṭ
  13. Balance (price of) the slave girl    1 dinar
  14. To Musallam                                    7 dirham
  15. Note                                                 1 dinar
  16. Note                                                 10 dinar exactly
  17. Price of wheat                                 140 dirham
  18. Note to Ibn al-'Abd                         3 dinar
  19. T o al-Qastallanl                               3¼ dinar
  20. Price of grapes                                 5 dinar 1 qīrāṭ
  21. To Musallam                                     120 dirham
  22. A note                                               4 dinar, 2 qīrāṭ

Column 4 (verso, right)

  1. Note                               2⅓ dinar
  2. Note                               1 dinar 13½ qīrāṭ
  3. Note                               5 dirham
  4. Note                               3 dirham
  5. To me                             1 dinar
  6. Note                               109½ dirham
  7. Through Musallam       2 dinar ________________________________________
  8. Total
  9.                                        96½, ⅓, ⅛ less ¹⁄₁₄₄ ________________________________________
  10. To his debit
  11.                                        125 1/6 dinar ________________________________________
  12. Balance to his debit     28 dinar 1/8, 2 qīrāṭ ¹⁄₁₄₄ ________________________________________
  13. 〚My note on 70 dinar. He has cashed it.〛
  14. Credit against this         15 qīrāṭ
  15. Credit two notes for four payments
  16.         of poll tax                6 dinar 10 qīrāṭ 2 habba and 4 dirham
  17. Note on                           35 1/2 dirham
  18. Paid to me                       30 dinar yellowish ones
  19. For customs duties        10 qīrāṭ
  20. 〚Note to the Rayyis       5 dinar cancelled〛
  21. Note given to Musallam  10 dinar exactly
  22. Note                                   7 qīrāṭ less 1 daniq 1/144 dinar
  23. Credit                                 30 dinar
Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter, T-S NS 321.7a. Available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/8675/, accessed April 26, 2025.
https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/8675/