Mar.6] PROCEEDINGS. [1894.In none of the hitherto known Minaeaninscriptions we met
withsuchlate vocables, and somegrammaticalforms too are sus
piciousof being verylate,e.g.,i_^l^,"Htolf,"twenty"(withouta
followinggenitive)for i j^s. (seemy " Chrestomathie," § 66), and
perhapst/Jyl**wJj, ttJr'WZr'l (3rd plur.imperf.)for ^^JuJjt^or u'n Qjfcaj> (" Chrestomathie," p. 38).
Therefore,on the whole, it appears from these considerations,
thatwe have here to do with a Minrean colony,whichfromvery
remotetimeshad kept itselfon the Egypto-Arabian frontiertill the
Ptolemies,perhapsin the same city Taru (or better Tiru),whichis
metwithin the old Inscription Hal. 535 (comp. my book " Aufsatze
undAbhandlungen,"p. 8 and p. 124) underthe form j*>,""ijf,then
identicalwith^J&iTVO, of our text,line1. It is to be hoped
thatDr. Glaser, whois soon returningfrom his fourth journeyto
Arabia,mayby new discoveriesclearup the difficulties whichare
occasionedby the above publishedneo-Minaeaninscription.
P.S. —Whilereadingthe proof of this article, I received through
the kindness of Prof. Derenbourghis paper, "Une epitaphe mi-
neeenned'Egypte" (JournalAsiatique),1894,to which I only add,
thatin the beginning of the inscription the photograph showsclearly
pE2nafkdn,andnot p pQto.... , as Prof. Derenbourgwould
read. His translation of Yt2 "IJ7 by " to Memphis " seems to me
moreplausiblethan the above given, "tillthe gift"; alsohis ex
planationof 12 as " ship " (Egyptian sail)I would prefer; my other
explanations,however,I maintain.
I understand fromDr. Glaser, at present at Aden, thathe has
copiesof eight hundred new inscriptions(many of them excellent
casts). He has found the Eleazos of the Periplus as IQJ^f |X°1rh
(uTWHN),kingof Hadhramaut, dateda.d. 29 (!).
149