Sinai inscription 349 (S. 349)
This is another inscription on the rock face at the entrance to Mine L. The text begins at the top, with a clear ox-head, followed by a snake and a cross, giving the word 'NT, 'unutu, 'equipment', as in the the garden equipment inscription on the wall inside Mine L (357).
[1] This (Dh) is the equipment ('NT) of (Sh) [2] the chief of the prefects (RB NSsBN) ... [3] apparatus (`RK) ....
Notice the K, which is an upraised hand, pictorial not a stick-figure. In the remaining lines, too many of the letters have been obscured. The apparatus would be for the mining and metalworking, presumably.
The new letter was Tt, and it is the Egyptian sign for 'goodness' and 'beauty', and with the Semitic word t.ab ('good') it yields the sound Tt.
For a discussion of all the proto-alphabetic letters and their relation to Egyptian hieroglyphs, go to Alphabet and Hieroglyphs.
For more details about the inscriptions examined here, refer to:
Brian E. Colless, The proto-alphabetic inscriptions of Sinai, Abr-Nahrain/Ancient Near Eastern Studies 28 (1990) 1-52 (available from Peeters website).
Source: http://cryptcracker.blogspot.com.es/2007/11/ancient-metal-melting-sinai-inscription.html
The top right hand corner, we see the outline of an ox-head. This is the letter א Aleph. Next, going RTL, we have what might have been the letter נ Nun, which is a picture of a seed/snake (only the bottom right hand part survives). The transcription of it in Late Hebrew is provided below (from top to bottom, RTL):
Line 1: ...[א[נ
Line 2: ...רבנקבמ
Line 3: [ערכמל[ד
Line 4: ...אחֿי...
Line 5: Missing
Line 6: ...ש...
Line 7: ...ת]ש]
The first two letters of Line 1 may be the pronoun you [א[נת, either ʔanta "you (masc.)" or ʔanti "you (fem.)." Line 2 can be written as רב נקב, which translated would be "great curse" (if נקב be taken as a noun derivative of נקב "to curse," a secondary root of קבב). The remaining letter, מ Mem, is obviously the beginning of the next phrase/word, but whatever it was is unknown. Line 3 most likely starts with the word ערך, which most likely means "row" (from ערך "to set in order"). The Mem most likely is the preposition "from." לד may be the place name Ludd (Hebrew לוד Lūwḏ), in north-eastern Africa (Lydia). The next line, Line 4, is damaged, and only 3 letters can be supplied. The word consists of Aleph, خ Khaa and Yod. Since it is inconclusive, I'll leave out a hypothetical interpretation. Line 5 is damaged to the point of textlessness. Line 6 only has a Shin, and Line 7 begins with a damaged Taw, and the second letter is Shin. The last word could be the number 9, either ordinal or cardinal.
If we take the above hypothesis, the translation is thus:
Line 1: Y[ou]...
Line 2: Great curse m...
Line 3: Row from Lu[dd] (Lydia)...
Line 4: ...ʔḫy (?)...
Line 5: [Lost]
Line 6: ...š...
Line 7: 9(th) (?)...
This sounds like a battle. We may not know for certain, but it's fun trying to decipher these inscriptions.
Source: http://ancient-hebrew.proboards.com/thread/3430/sinai-349#ixzz4H77q9Nk6
[1] This (Dh) is the equipment ('NT) of (Sh) [2] the chief of the prefects (RB NSsBN) ... [3] apparatus (`RK) ....
Notice the K, which is an upraised hand, pictorial not a stick-figure. In the remaining lines, too many of the letters have been obscured. The apparatus would be for the mining and metalworking, presumably.
The new letter was Tt, and it is the Egyptian sign for 'goodness' and 'beauty', and with the Semitic word t.ab ('good') it yields the sound Tt.
For a discussion of all the proto-alphabetic letters and their relation to Egyptian hieroglyphs, go to Alphabet and Hieroglyphs.
For more details about the inscriptions examined here, refer to:
Brian E. Colless, The proto-alphabetic inscriptions of Sinai, Abr-Nahrain/Ancient Near Eastern Studies 28 (1990) 1-52 (available from Peeters website).
Source: http://cryptcracker.blogspot.com.es/2007/11/ancient-metal-melting-sinai-inscription.html
The top right hand corner, we see the outline of an ox-head. This is the letter א Aleph. Next, going RTL, we have what might have been the letter נ Nun, which is a picture of a seed/snake (only the bottom right hand part survives). The transcription of it in Late Hebrew is provided below (from top to bottom, RTL):
Line 1: ...[א[נ
Line 2: ...רבנקבמ
Line 3: [ערכמל[ד
Line 4: ...אחֿי...
Line 5: Missing
Line 6: ...ש...
Line 7: ...ת]ש]
The first two letters of Line 1 may be the pronoun you [א[נת, either ʔanta "you (masc.)" or ʔanti "you (fem.)." Line 2 can be written as רב נקב, which translated would be "great curse" (if נקב be taken as a noun derivative of נקב "to curse," a secondary root of קבב). The remaining letter, מ Mem, is obviously the beginning of the next phrase/word, but whatever it was is unknown. Line 3 most likely starts with the word ערך, which most likely means "row" (from ערך "to set in order"). The Mem most likely is the preposition "from." לד may be the place name Ludd (Hebrew לוד Lūwḏ), in north-eastern Africa (Lydia). The next line, Line 4, is damaged, and only 3 letters can be supplied. The word consists of Aleph, خ Khaa and Yod. Since it is inconclusive, I'll leave out a hypothetical interpretation. Line 5 is damaged to the point of textlessness. Line 6 only has a Shin, and Line 7 begins with a damaged Taw, and the second letter is Shin. The last word could be the number 9, either ordinal or cardinal.
If we take the above hypothesis, the translation is thus:
Line 1: Y[ou]...
Line 2: Great curse m...
Line 3: Row from Lu[dd] (Lydia)...
Line 4: ...ʔḫy (?)...
Line 5: [Lost]
Line 6: ...š...
Line 7: 9(th) (?)...
This sounds like a battle. We may not know for certain, but it's fun trying to decipher these inscriptions.
Source: http://ancient-hebrew.proboards.com/thread/3430/sinai-349#ixzz4H77q9Nk6