מכתב: T-S AS 150.9

תיאור

Letter draft(s) in Judaeo-Arabic. From someone in Sammanud who is in need and usually earns enough not to have to ask ('uncover his face'). Dating: 12th or 13th century. Written in an unusual format on a bifolio. There may be drafts of multiple letters here. The main one is addressed to a woman; there is a section at the bottom of the left column of verso addressed to a mother. The correct sequencing of the columns is not clear. Mentions people including Nuṣayr b. Dāʾūd, Abū Munajjā, Abū l-Faḍl, al-ʿAjamī, Naʿīm, and Sitt Nadd. Among the interesting lines are "I am not a man of travel. I am here in Sammanūd, and to me it is like Aleppo and Baghdad." And several lines of what might be poetry bemoaning the pains of lovesickness and separation, alluding to how "I have become as yellow as a toothpick" (cf. Shelomo b. Eliyyahu in ENA 4020.49 (PGPID 2414)). (Information in part from CUDL and from Goitein's index cards.)