Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/54

 Febetjabt, 187-5.] SKETCH OF SABiEAJT GRAMMAR. 41 2), ' On the day of Yta'cl the just, and of his son the saviour, kings of Ma' in.' The Sabamn tests are never elated according to the year of a king. There are two different ways of fixing dates. The first and more recent relates to a previous time which had, in consequence of some memorable event, be- come the commencement of a new era. Hither- to only two inscriptions bearing traces of an era are known ; namely, the third inscription of Halevy's collection, occurring also in Fr under the same number, and the inscription of Hisn G'hurab. The first bears the phrase tti crwo corn traDi—refin, ' 573 Hayw.' The opinion of Fresnel that the word rn means ' may von live,' and was merely added that the phrase should not terminate with the word crwo ' hun- dred,' which resembles the word no * to die,' is too fantastic to be tenable; the only thing certain is that m, written also cm, is a very fre- quent Sabaean name, and appears here to be that of the engraver. The beginning of this era may be approximatively fixed about 115 years before Christ. This date results from the in- scription of Hisn G'hurab, which is of the year •540 (cranrt crwo fen th-vi), and is the work of a prince escaped from the Ethiopians after their victory over the last Hemyarite king (see Z. d. D. M. 0. XXVI. p. 436, the translation by Levy of this inscription). As, however, this last^mentioned event, according to the best chronologies, took place A.D. 525, it is clear that the era in question ennnot be of later origin than 113 years before Christ. At that time the Sabasan empire was still in its power. A century afterwards the rumour of the great riches accumulated by the Sabasans had spread i as far as Rome, and made such an impression as to tempt the cupidity of Angus i The Saba?ans, like the Assyrio-Babylonians, in- stead of fixing dates by an era of long duration, gener&By preferred to determine them by the use of eponyms ; the years were accordingly named after certain celebrated personages, pro- bably kings and governors. It may be seen that in order to designate years the Sabamns the same system as for indicating remark- able days. Onr historical knowledge is so im- perfect that these kinds of dates are closed letters to us ; but it is possible that when the great ruins in Yemen are excavated, eponymic 'ablets, like those of the Assyrians, may be dis- covered. For the present this way of dating may be elucidated by quoting the following ten passages from the texts : — 1. CTErn p i-cnco p nrar tym (Os. i. 9-11), 'In the year of A'nimikarib, son of Samhikarib, son of Hatfarm .' 2. dhsg p anrasn p romao rpfu (Os. x. 4, 5), 'In the year of Samhikarib, son of Tobba'kerib, MB of Fadhm .' 3. ftn -03 -jtantr p "arm rym (0$. XHi. 12, 18), ' In the year of Waddadel, son of Yaqahmalik Kebir Khalil (or the great, the well-beloved).* 4. rain p raran p i-anco rpfa (Os. xiv. 5, 6), ' In the year of Samhikarib, son of Tobba'kerib, son of Hadhmat.' 3. Mao -pa nrp warn p ... (Os. xxxn. 3) ' ... son of Wahbol Yahat, king of Saba.' f>. t3hw p V=u rpfa (Os. XXVI. 9-10), 'In the year of NabthaeL son of A'mamir." 7. nrrSs p rows p aro...*rrn (Hal. 48, 12, 13) 'Of the year of...Karib, son of Nishaknrayb, son of Fadhm .' 8. nmri p -rtta rpfrn (Hal 51, 10, 11), ■ Of the year of Ba'ttar, son of Hadhmat.' 9. "rtn to p ms©3 rpfn (Hal. 51, 19, 20), 'Of the year of Nishakarib, son of Kabir Khalil.' 10. ^tttod p mcr« p ^rra rpfb (Ah. I. 5-7), 'In the year of Samhia'li, son of Elasharh, son of Samhia'li,' These dates are real eponyms, which do not necessarily refer to the reigning king; as is clearly proved from the inscription of Abyan, which was engraved daring the reign of mo san ko, Tobba' Shorahbil, and is nevertheless dated from the year of Samhia'li II. Part ides. By particles are meant the words serving to determine the mutual relation of the members of a phrase, and also that of whole phrases. Some particles are nouns which have lost their original signification, by a process analogous to that which produced the names of the numerals ; but others show the original nouns in a more or less mutilated form, suggesting the formation of the pronouns. The disbelief of Haldvy in the existence of pronominal n the Semitic languages has already been mentioned, and he is still le^ i to admit an independent original for the monoliteral pre- positions, e.g. *>, '3, '2, and the copulative i, as has already been explained in the chapter on pronouns.