Documents

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Yaʿaqov, Abū l-Surūr b. Natan, Maṣliaḥ, ʿAllūsh, and Yehoshuaʿ b. Natan. Verso: Three lines in Arabic script, apparently the draft of a beginning of a letter (a basmala followed by waṣala kitābuka ayyuhā l-ḥājib aṭāla allāh baqāka wa-adāma ʿizzaka wa-taʾyīdaka). There are also a few jottings in Hebrew. Bodl. MS heb. b 11/32 (PGPID 19296) and T-S 20.4 (PGPID 5931) are two copies of the same document.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

He reports that he has arrived safely after a terrible Nile voyage when the boat sprang a leak and everyone almost drowned. The silk has been selling well, but not the garments. […] He offers to send some flax for this purpose. Regards to Sitt al-Gharb, Sitt al-Banāt, and Sitt al-Nās.

Tags

• boat
• flax
• silk
• to edit

No Scholarship Records

Document date

5 Dhū l-Ḥijja 536 Kharājī

Primary language

Arabic

Two receipts for payment of kharāj in grain (qamḥ)and beans (fūl) on one sheet of paper from 535/1140–41 (date works well with return to collection in kind), written 16 Dhū l-Qaʿda 536, which also makes sense because the harvest is in April/May and then you dry the grain and then you bring it to the granaries. […] The tax payer is Ibrāhīm b. ʿAlī. There are multiple ʿalāma on the documents(s), once including, "الحمد لله على نعمه".

Related Documents

1

Tags

• dimme

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Is he permitted to teach "things in Hebrew" "from his religion" alongside the medicine that he teaches? One of the drafts adds that the teaching of medicine is "for the benefit of Muslims and others." This fragment also has geomancy markings, miscellaneous jottings, and the following text: "These are the materia medica that I need: aloeswood 1/2 ounce; Indian boxthorn 1/2 ounce.

Tags

• medicine
• physician

1 Transcription

Primary language

Arabic

However, it has the petition-like phrase "iḥsānuhu ʿalayhi" in r4. At the bottom of the recto, there is a date (4xx H) and ḥasbala and ṣalwala. […] MS heb. f 22/39v, and Med Soc II, p. 358 notes 14 and 15) in this case for Muḥammad b. ʿAsākir al-Ḥayfī(?); further down mentions al-tawqīʿ al-muʿaẓẓam ("the mighty rescript").

Tags

• dimme

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

T-S 10J8.4 (PGPID 3069)). Also congratulates his brother in law on his sister having delivered a boy and a girl. (Information from Marina Rustow and from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 22, from Goitein's index cards; Goitein also has an English translation of this, to be uploaded soon.)

Related People

4

Related Places

1

Tags

• halfon b. menashshe
• hillel b. eli
• tax
• tax receipt

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

Tuesday, 8 Ṭevet 4861 Anno Mundi (11 December 1100 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

"The slave of... my master the noble qāḍī Abū l-Ḥusayn Aḥmad b. ʿAlīal-[...]." (There are also Hebrew pen trials on verso.)

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Opens with the titles and names of various distinguished people: the Gaon Rav [...] and al-Rayyis al-[...] and Yehosef his son Rosh ha-Midrash Qahal Yehosef and Rav Shemuel ha-Levi. "I have gathered in this book [what has come] into my hand from the words [al-kalām]. . . of my brother(?) . . . and I wrote it in my own hand. . ." The writer then gives the date of completion, probably Dhū l-Qaʿda 6[..] AH (although אלקדעה is written instead of אלקעדה) and 4[...]

Tags

• colophon

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Petition (or maybe a report) from Ibrāhīm al-Naqīb to ʿAbd al-Karīm. The sender repeatedly asserts that he serves as the representative or head (naqīb) of 'the councils' (al-majālis) in a certain community (al-jamāʿa), and that there is no naqīb other than him.

1 Transcription

Document date

Thursday, 21 Elul 1404 Seleucid (15 September 1093 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Elʿazar sues his brother Shela for stealing his medical books and other valuables (money, clothes, and 50 pounds of mercury) from their hiding place (maṭmūra) and selling them in Alexandria. Shela flatly denies this. The document is also signed by ʿEli b.

Related Places

1

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Document date

1239 Hijrī (7 September 1823–25 August 1824 CE)

The ledger's heading on the first scan begins with the blessing "דפטר מובארך אן שא אללה / may this register be blessed God willing" and goes on to depict entries as "a record of the sales of the butchers' guild" (al-ṭaʾīfat al-qasabjiyya). The entries span multiple pages and relate to a variety of individuals with Muslim, Christian, and, possibly, Jewish names: Sayyid Aḥmed al-Sāda, Manṣūr al-Jihāmi, Yūsuf, Aḥmad Sa'ūdi, Muḥ[ammad] Tāhā, Tedrōs Gurguis, Dawud Sulaymān, Mikhaīl ʿAywāz, Salāma (=Shelomo?).

Tags

• 19th c
• butchers
• christians
• copts
• guild
• (+ 1 more)

No Scholarship Records

The content is mostly lost. The recto also has a small patch of text in one corner in a different hand, mentioning הפסד (vocalised), ‘loss, damage’, and an address written upside down at the bottom, belonging to the letter on verso. […] (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's note card.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Fragment of a deed of sale for one half of a sugar factory (al-Dār al-Sukkariyya) in Minyat Zifta. Dating: probably ca. 12th century. […] Other neighboring properties are known by the names of the heirs of Ḥusayn b. Ibrāhīm al-Maʿarrī; and Sālim Ibn al-Ashqar. On verso there are jotted accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals, mentioning wheat.

Tags

• bill of sale

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Yehuda b. Simḥa, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1050 CE. […] Note that Gil identifies the sender as Yosef b. Yehuda b. Simḥa, who also sent ENA 3793.6. This is possible, but the word "Yosef" is not preserved on this fragment, and the hands do not seem to be identical.

Related People

2

Related Places

1

Tags

• nahray b. nissim
• suftaja
• trade

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Mentions people including Abū Saʿīd, Murhaf al-Dawla, the qāʾid Salmān, and 'al-haḍra al-zaʿīmiyya.' […] Probably an indirect join (identified by Alan Elbaum): ENA NS 48.28 (PGPID 12161) and T-S 12.405 (PGPID 3155).

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1310–1355 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Goitein suggests that the reference is to a Jewish preacher with Sufi inclinations, whose influence at this time is also evident in the well known letter published as "A Jewish Addict to Sufism in the time of David II Maimonides." See also Moss. IV,85 (PGPID 36653), a copy or draft of the same letter.

Related People

1

Tags

• 14th c
• yehoshua maimonides

1 Discussion

Document date

last third of Ḥeshvan 4965 Anno Mundi (17 October 1204–25 October 1204 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Deed of sale of a part of a house. Location: Alexandria. Dated: last decade of Ḥeshvan 4965 AM = October 1204 CE. […] Names mentioned: Abū l-Baqāʾ al-Kohen and Abū l-Mufaḍḍal. Signed by the teacher Yehuda b. Aharon the physician (Ibn al-ʿAmmānī). and Yefet b. Moshe. Validated by Anatoli b.

Related People

5

Related Places

1

1 Discussion

Copy of a will of Mahara bat Avraham ha-Kohen that had been made and dated in Alexandria in January 1143, issued at the request of her nephew, to whom his dying aunt had willed 10 dinars and also money to other family members.

Related Places

1

Tags

• will

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Yosef to his father Abū l-Bishr b. Makārim al-Iskandarī to be delivered via Eliyyahu the judge. […] He reports that the letter sent with Shemuel ha-Rav ha-Muvhaq arrived; also with Mūsā Ibn al-Dubb the Qaraite, 5 dirhams did not come.

1 Discussion

Inferred date

1007–1055 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Shemarya (fl. 1007–1055 CE). Also signed by Moshe b. Efrayim and Yosef b. Zekharya. […] Shemuel losses from a business partnership Ṣedaqa had delivered 205 dinars to ʿEli b. Shelomo Ibn al-Zayyān against receipts(?) which Moshe was supposed to produce. This was not done, Moshe received the money, and caused additional losses to Ṣedaqa by involving the government (ṭālabahū bi-yad al-dīwān). As witness: Shemuel b. Naḥum. The end is not preserved.

Related People

2

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter probably from Sulaymān al-Maghribī, in Gaza, to his brother-in-law ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Ṣā'igh, probably in Fustat/Cairo. […] Dating: Late, after 1425 CE because the currency ashrafī is mentioned– which was first minted under Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay in this year. So this fragment is likely 15th or 16th century.

Related Places

1

Tags

• numismatic dating

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Concerned with rent payments for a house belonging to Abū l-Aʿlā ʿAmram b. Levi Ibn al-Buhūrī. The sender describes his relations with someone who helped him in successful dealings with the government in Jerusalem. Mentions names such as Abū ʿImrān Mūsā b. Yaʿaqov Ibn al-Jāsūs, Abū l-Khayr the goldsmith (al-ṣāʿiḡ), and the cantor Harūn.

Related People

3

Tags

• abun b. sedaqa

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Arabic, Hebrew

Approximately 6 lines are preserved. (There are also additional jottings in both Hebrew and Arabic script on both recto and verso.) […] What is most to be feared is an excommunication in Egypt/Fustat, after there has already been an excommunication in Jerusalem. Mentions correspondence "with all the lands, in accordance with the dictates of religion" (والمكاتبة الى البلدان حسب ما يوجبه الدين).

Related Places

1

Tags

• bialphabetic

No Scholarship Records

Document date

1179–1180 CE

Primary language

Arabic

Related to the 12th-century India trade. Mentions Abū l-ʿAlāʾ b. Abū Naṣr al-Isrāʾīlī al-Tājir (the trader) who arrived from Egypt this year and stayed in Aden for a time. […] and encountered Abū l-Riḍā b. Abū l-Faraj al-Isrāʾīlī (cf. ENA NS I.38 (PGPID 12294)) "who oversees the [...] in those lands."

Related People

2

Related Places

1

Tags

• calendar
• ib-addenda
• india book unedited

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

One of them (underneath the Hebrew script, at 90 degrees to the other two text blocks) consists of business accounts ("...bayʿ mā biʿnā min al-ḥawāʾij..."). The two larger text blocks are related to each other, as they each begin with a basmala and "the children (or slaves?) of the cantor" (al-ṣibyān alladhī lil-ḥazzān), the first of whom is Sitt al-Samar (incidentally this is the name of a slave who appears in T-S 13J22.2).

Related Documents

1

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Mercantile letter in Arabic script. Refers to Isḥāq Ibn al-Wakīl "and others out of those who were present." The sender along with "the witnesses" reports opening the warehouse of a certain deceased merchant. They conducted an inventory of the contents of the warehouse including a container of coral (qafaṣ marjān) weighing 88 raṭls and silver ingots (sabāʾik fiḍḍa) weighing 690 dirhams. The term qashsha is also mentioned twice. The letter ends in formal style on verso, with taqbīl, greetings to various people, ḥamdala, ṣālwala, and ḥasbala.

1 Transcription

Document date

Wednesday, 26 Adar II 4848 Anno Mundi (22 March 1088 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Dated Wednesday, 26th Adar II 4848 AM (= Spring 1088 CE). Location: Alexandria. Written and signed by the cantor Mawhūb b. […] (Information from CUDL; see also Goitein's index card.)

Related People

8

Related Places

1

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Several fragments of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Refers to 'al-Segula' and a court case; having enclosed additional letters; refers to the addressee as חמדת לבינו (the beloved of our hearts) and asks him to forward those letters; and reports that Abū Naṣr Ibn al-Tustarī (= Ḥesed b. Sahl) has become a government secretary (kātib al-amīr). T-S AS 146.329 (indirect join identified by Alan Elbaum) is likely the continuation, mentioning Abū l-Najm Hilāl, the amīr of Bayrūt, and greetings.

Related Places

1

Tags

• amir

2 Transcriptions

Document date

416 Hijrī (4 March 1025–21 February 1026 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

The documents on both recto and verso concern Ismāʿīl b. Yūsuf al-ʿAṭṭār al-Sharīf(?). The document on recto may have to do with Ismāʿīl's will (mā awṣā bihī), and it contains Quranic references about death and Islamic invocations. […] The document on the verso may describe the property in his will; it mentions something built out of brick (mabniyy bi-l-ṭūb), oak wood (khashab sindiyān), and gypsum (wa l-jibs fīhi madfūn), and also mentions marble pillars (ʿamūd rukhām). Needs further examination.

1 Transcription

Primary language

Arabic

Reporting that the addressee's son (also named Abū ʿImrān?) arrived with nothing but [...] and a kind of fūṭa garment. They set him up with al-Qazzāz (the silk weaver), but then he ran away and was gone all day.

Tags

• runaway

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Munajjā Muqaddasī, who has left Egypt (or Fustat), to a certain al-Shaykh al-Mukarram/Mukrim. In Judaeo-Arabic. […] He is preoccupied on account of the female slave (? al-waṣīfa) and perhaps how much money she sold for. Regards to the addressee’s brother and to Hibat Allāh (Information in part from CUDL.)

Tags

• letter

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Monday, 7 Shaʿbān 503 Hijrī (1 March 1110 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The scribe notes that the estate also included household utensils (māʿūn), apparently omitted here. It also adds that the captain Kabsa (? כבסה) contracted a loan of 2 dinars and 306 dirhams (from the estate?)

Related Places

1

Tags

• ib6
• india book

2 Transcriptions

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Hillel seems to be sheepishly asking for the clothes back, or at least asking for some favor in return. Also mentions the addressee's in-law ʿAllūnal-ʿAṭṭār.

Related Places

1

No Scholarship Records

Document date

July 1747 CE

Primary languages

Italian, Spanish

The righthand side of verso appears to be the same, also in Spanish. The lefthand side of verso appears to be a note in Italian as it is headed "26 Lug[lio] 1747" and "di" is used instead of "de." […] Ottoman gold "mahbub" coinage is also referenced on the verso.

Tags

• 18th c
• italian
• spanish

No Scholarship Records

Primary languages

Arabic, Judaeo-Arabic

This is followed by a few lines in Arabic script containing the opening verse of a poem by the 10th-century poet al-Waʾwāʾ al-Dimashqī (بِاللَهِ رَبِّكُما عُوجَا عَلَى سَكَنِي...). (Verses by the same poet appear also on T-S Ar.34.88.) Dating: uncertain, but likely ca. 13th century.

Tags

• to edit

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from a certain ʿAbd al-Karīm possibly to someone named Ḥasan or Iḥsān (margin, line 1). […] The addressee is probably the sender's brother-in-law, as Sulaymān is the son of the addressee and of "the dear sister" Sitt al-Ḥasan. The Niessen and Shivtiel catalogue suggests that there are also well wishes for a good match ('shiddukh'), but it is not clear where this is mentioned.

Tags

• personal

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Arabic

Literary text in Arabic script. Narrative of Alexander the Great.

Tags

• alexander
• arabic literary

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Literary text in Arabic script. The adventures of Alexander the Great.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Alexandria and silk.

Related Places

1

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. There is also literary text on this fragment.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Hebrew

Possibly the poetic opening of a letter. But may also be literary.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Small fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Alexandria.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Top of an iqrār for ʿAlī b. Ḥadīd al-Naqqār.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, also on remaining space of the recto.

Related Documents

1

Tags

• account

No Scholarship Records