מכתב: T-S AS 177.86

תיאור

Note addressed to Abū Naṣr, in which the sender asks for a loan of a wine jug for three days (yā shaykh Abū Naṣr anʿim ʿalayya bi-ʿayrat baʿḍ al-adnān masāfat thalathat ayyām wa-uʿīduh). The last two lines of this document are difficult to read, maybe about finding someone to send the jug with or "if you are not able to loan it...." The phrase "baʿḍ al-adnān" could indicate several wine jugs, however "I will return it" suggests that a singular is meant. The plural "adnān" is not the standard plural for "dann," but it is attested in later Yemeni Judaeo-Arabic and seems most plausible here (see Wagner, Like Joseph in Beauty, p. 176 note 135). The term عيرة/ʿayra for "loan" (from the verb اعار) does not seem to be a standard term found in dictionaries; the same usage can be found in CUL Or.1080 J264 (PGPID 5302), r23. It is likely a collapsing of عائرة/ʿāʾira which in turn probably derives from standard Arabic عاريّة/ʿāriyya; see Blau, Dictionary, p. 469.