KAI 050

"Line 1 - The name Ešmunyaton is an incredibly common name in Phoenician texts. It is a theophoric name meaning “Ešmun gives”. Ešmun was the Sidonian god of healing and was worshipped all over the Phoenician world (e.g., Cyprus, Sardinia, and Carthage). At Cyprus he was associated with Melqart (CIS 16) and at Carthage with Aštarte (CIS 245). The name ארשת is possibly a shortened form of ארשתבעל (“the desire of Baˁal”), which is found in Punic inscriptions (KAI II 1964, 67; Benz 1972, 276). The name בשא is unknown, but probably Egyptian (Benz 1972, 293). KAI 50 has אדת for the first word. There is no evidence of a third letter on the papyrus. There is a tear, but it is low enough that the top of the ת, which is a long letter would be seen. Moreover, the second letter curves to the right like a lamed. It is not a perfect lamed (which could support Aimé-Giron’s claim that this line was written hastily), but it is very unlikely to be a dalet because no other dalet in the letter looks like this. Line 2 - Translating the word ושלמ presents considerable difficulty and has resulted in a variety of opinions. Donner and Röllig write that the waw possibly introduces a question (“are you well?”) as in colloquial Hebrew and that the waw corresponds to the enclitic -ma (KAI II 1964, 67-68). The waw acting as a type of interrogative seems unlikely and does not follow the standard greeting formulae in Aramaic letters. The word שלמ typically occurs by itself in greetings. When it is to be understood as an interrogative (e.g., Kuntillet ˁAjrud; Horvat ˁUza Edomite O.), there is an interrogative he prefixed to שלמ. Lindenberger (2003, 138) gives one possible example of an unmarked interrogative (Tell el-Mazār Ammonite O.), but it does not have to be translated that way. Dupont-Sommer 1949, 54 likewise argues for an interrogative meaning. He called the waw a “waw expressing feeling” and said it is particularly common in questions. However, to support this position, he gives two words: ואיו and ומי. Neither of these can support this meaning because the base words are interrogatives themselves. Aimé-Giron 1940, 439 understands the waw as causal (“because you are well”), but this is unlikely as well because the waw does not usually function that way and is atypical for Aramaic, Hebrew, and Ugaritic letters. As ושלמ is a rare occurrence at the beginning of correspondences, it is best to see the waw as a clause-linking marker that introduces the content of the direct speech following אמר and marks the transition into the greeting formula. Line 3 - Baˁal-Ṣaphon is common in both Phoenician and Ugaritic texts. Ṣaphon means “north,” but refers to a particular mountain north of Ugarit where Baˁal resided (see DULAT 777). As the Phoenicians began in the Levant and then expanded westward they likely took their god with them. Moreover, by the New Kingdom period, many Levantine gods had been incorporated into Egypt’s pantheon (including Baˁal), so he would have been well-known by both the Egyptians and the Phoenicians by the Persian period. The toponym TḤPNḤS comes from the Egyptian t3 hwt p3 nhsj “the house of the Nubian,” (KAI II 1964, 68). This place name has not been attested in Egyptian texts, but see Jer 43:7ff.; 44:1; Ezek 30:18; and others. Albright in Alfred Bertholet’s festschrift (1950, 13) proposed the translation of the Egyptian as “the fortress of Penaḥse (=Phinehas)” which is named after an 11th century Theban general whom several places are named after. According to HALOT, Zimmerli (1983, 738) is to be preferred that this place is to be identified with the Hellenistic Δάφναι because of the LXX’s Ταφνας, which located at modern Tell Defenneh (ancient Daphne - northeastern Nile Delta near Suez Canal). Rainey (2006, 268) agrees with this and identifies this site with the location of Baˁal-Ṣaphon in Ex 14:2, 9. There are two ways to parse the word אפקנ. The first, which follows Pardee 1982, 166-167 and KAI II, 67-68, takes the nun on אפקנ as a cohortative marker, which would read “I hope to obtain the silver which you sent to me.” This is possible. However, Greenfield’s proposal fits better within the context. He proposes that the word should be parsed as a Yiphil perfect 3ms from פוק with a 1cs suffix. He supports this by writing, “The yiphil has become ˀiphil as documented in Friedrich-Röllig § 146 (pp. 67-68). This development is known to have taken place already in Punic (KAI 89,4) and there is no reason that it was not already to be found at the end of the sixth century… This use of the yiphil of pwq would match the use of its equivalent mṭˀ in Aramaic,” (Greenfield 1984, 243-244). Aimé-Giron translates it this way as well, though without Greenfield’s reasoning: “M’est parvenu (?) L’argent que tu m’as envoyé,” (Aimé-Giron 1940, 439). Line 4 - KAI 50 has a waw as the first letter of this line, connecting the previous word in line three. However, it looks very clearly like nun. In the word צפנ in line two, just above this word, the nun looks identical. A perfect example of a waw is in the middle of line one with ושלמ. The waws in this letter have two vertical lines at the top that form two horns. There is another example in line three with ומלאת where the waw has two vertical lines on the top. For the words את כפר, KAI 50 has combined them into one word and notes that there are three possibilities for the word: אתכפ/כ/בר. The letter bet is not an option because the tail of this letter goes diagonally to the left, whereas the tail of bets go straight down and then curve diagonally to the left (e.g., בשא in line one and ברכ in line four). The letter cannot be a kaf because the tail of the kaf extends very low past the line and has a horned top (e.g., ולכל in line two and ברכ in line four). Pe is not perfect either which has a really thin tail and can extend past the line (but not always). Tentatively, pe seems to be the most likely because the tails go straight and diagonally to the left like this letter (e.g., צפנ in line two). Seeing this as one word like KAI 50 or Aimé-Giron is also unlikely. It should instead be two words. The first is the direct object marker את and the second is כפר with the meaning of “compensation, settlement” (see DNWSI, 531). The word ברפר is difficult. The editions do not agree on how to transcribe the letters. KAI 50 reads ברב/כר, Aimé-Giron (1940, 442) reads ברכ/בה, Delekat (1971, 406) reads ברבר, Pardee (1982, 166) reads ברבכר, and Holmstedt et al., (2026, 262) read ערבני. Looking at the letter shapes, they read ברפר. The bet is clear. It has a tail that goes straight down and then curves diagonally to the left. Dalets and reshs look similar in this text, but resh seems more likely. The third letter is a pe because it has a tail that goes diagonally to the left right from the head of the letter. This letter combination could be a transliteration of the Egyptian r-pr meaning “temple, chapel” (see Faulkner, 146). This translation can work because the letter is in Egypt, it talks about payments, and the temple was the economic center." (Wheaton).