The Dhaid Oasis

Cambridge semitic languages and cultures, pp. 1–26

Abstract

The eastern Arabian peninsula had two primary sources of influence in antiquity: Mesopotamia and South Arabia (Holes 2016, 12; Rohmer et al. 2018, 300). This study presents evidence of linguistic contact with both regions, from primary and secondary data from the northern United Arab Emirates and the adjoining areas of Oman. This chapter is also a first attempt at elucidating the origins of several unique proper names found in the northern U.A.E., using an onomastic database including comprising more than 910,000 proper names in eastern Arabia, including toponyms, family names, and personal names. While most Emirati names are transparently Arabic, a few names have their origins in Akkadian, Aramaic, and Persian. Other names resemble Ancient South Arabian onomastics, corroborating traditional accounts that link certain Emirati tribes with southwestern Arabia. In particular, this paper focuses on the name of the oasis town Dhaid (il-ḏēd), in Sharjah Emirate, and the Bani Kitab (banī kitab) tribe, for whom Dhaid is a historic center.

Authors 1

1. Mark Daniel Shockley corresponding Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University