Dictionary of the North-West Semitic Inscriptions, part 1-2.

• Author: Rendsburg, Gary A.

By J. HOFTUZER and K. JONGELING. With appendices by R. C. Steiner, A. Mosak Moshavi, and B. Porten. Handbuch der Orientalistik, pt. 1: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten, vol. 21. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1995. Pp. lxxi + 585; [vii] + 681 ("586-1266"). HFl 600, $343.

Since its publication in 1965, the Dictionnaire des inscriptions semitiques de l'ouest, by C.-F. Jean and J. Hoftijzer (henceforth: DISO), has been an indispensable reference tool for researchers in the Northwest Semitic languages. However, due to the continuing discovery of new inscriptions, DISO was out-of-date within a decade or so of its appearance. Accordingly, the need for a new dictionary has been felt for some time.

Semitists therefore will welcome the appearance of Dictionary of the North-West Semitic Inscriptions (henceforth: DNWSI) and will wish to congratulate J. Hoftijzer and K. Jongeling for presenting to the scholarly world this work of major importance.

Scholars familiar with DISO will find the same system at work in DNWSI. Epigraphic material from all the Northwest Semitic languages and dialects datable to 300 C.E. or earlier is included: Old Canaanite [i.e., Amarna glosses], Phoenician, Punic, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Hebrew, Deir Alla, Samalian, Old Aramaic, Official Aramaic, Nabatean, Palmyrene, Hatra, Jewish Aramaic. The exceptions are Ugaritic, Syriac, as well as the Hebrew and Aramaic literary material from Qumran and related sites. (I emphasize literary here because epistles from Murabba at and Nahal Hever are included.)

Each lexical entry begins with a list of occurrences, divided according to the above list of languages and dialects. Each new subdivision is clearly marked in bold type, thus, for example, Ph, Pun, Hebr, OldAr, OffAr, etc. The list of attestations appears to be exhaustive in most instances. In a few cases, e.g., under the preposition [Greek Text Omitted], the authors wisely state "passim" (p. 137). In other instances, where a single corpus of texts attests to a particular word numerous times, e.g., [Greek Text Omitted] "witness" in the Elephantine texts (p. 1113), the authors list only a handful of such occurrences. However, DNWSI has no special siglum to inform the user when an entry is exhaustive or when additional attestations have been omitted.

Both the entry headwords and the actual attestations are given in transliteration. The headwords appear in bold type, the actual attestations in italic type. Here I must register a strong complaint...