מכתב: Moss. VII,203

תיאור

Interesting letter in calligraphic Judaeo-Arabic, probably 15th century or later, full of creative spellings, probably from someone whose mother tongue was not Arabic. The writer is probably Yosef פלקון (line 3), but someone named Yiṣḥaq Sūsī also 'speaks' in the first person starting 4 lines from the bottom. In any case, the letter was sent from Alexandria to Shemuel b. Avraham מחיץ, in Tinnīs. The content of the letter is not as interesting as its context and form; it mainly consists of inquiring about family news and small transactions. The writer sends regards to the addressee's mother Doña Dolsa—addressed as al-Ḥurra al-Jalīla—and to Simḥa and Seʿadya and Esther and Ḥanna and the little ones and big ones and Bū Najwā (?). The addresee is to forward some letters in "Frankish" (Spanish? Ladino?) to בונאנד (?). ASE.