Personal Names in the Aramaic Inscriptions of Hatra

The following summarizing tools (Table 4 and Chart 1) can help to visualize the subdivision of the 376 personal names attested in the Aramaic inscriptions of Hatra in accordance with their linguistic affiliation. They are a revised version of the chart published in Marcato (2016, 347). To the 368 personal names examined on that occasion, fresh evidence has been added, particularly, 8 Aram. names (brkmrʾ, brnšry, hdyrt, zkyʾ, kwny, sbʾ, šlmʾ, šrrmry), 2 Arab names (ʿydly, qyymt), 2 Iran. names (mhrbndq, myhrʾ), 2 Greek names (dyns, nqndrs), and 3 Unclassified names (bd/rynšw, zbyʾ, šṭb). Conversely, a more careful evaluation has led to the deletion of 4 Aram. names (blḥʾ, gbr, gbrʾ, nbwḥny), 2 Iran. names (mhr, šṭb), 1 Greek name (slwq), and 2 Unclassified names (ḥwšyʾ, šdrm). These emendations led to the total of 376 names attested in the present corpus. The criteria for this grouping of Hatran names are the same as stated in Marcato (2016, 348) and are here quoted in full:

The criteria for this grouping of Hatran names are the same as stated in Marcato (2016, 348) and are here quoted in full: -The number of attestations of a name is not considered: only the occurrence of the name in the corpus is recorded.
-Hypocoristic forms that display varying endings are considered separately, although they derive from the same word or divine name. For example, Adda (ʾdʾ) and Adday (ʾdy) are catalogued under different entries, even though they both are hypocoristica built upon the theonym Adda.
-Names written with the use of matres lectionis (<ʾ>, <w>, <y>) are catalogued under separate entries too. Sometimes, the use of the mater lectionis may simply point at a more accurate writing of the same name, with a more precise indication of its vocalisation. However, since the same consonantal structure can receive many different vocalisations, a mater lectionis may also identify a completely different name. Moreover, the frequent absence of relevant prosopographical data makes it rather difficult to establish whether a writing with or without a mater lectionis refers to the same individual.
The principal linguistic phenomena that can be highlighted by the examination of personal names consider orthographic, phonological, morphological, and syntactical traits.

Marcato
Personal Names in the Aramaic Inscriptions of Hatra

Sibilants in Arab Names
For an overview of Saf. [s 1 ] and [s 2 ], cf. recently Al-Jallad (2015, 44-5, 2017. The correspondence among Aram. and ANA sibilants is not always predictable: 2 Aram. <s> = Saf. <s 1 >: ḥrys (Arabic ḥarasa-Aram. ḥrš), skyrʾ (Arabic sakira-Aram. škr), nbwsmʿ (Arabic samiʿa-Aram. šmʿ). 3 Aside from testifying to the correspondence between Aram. <s> and ANA <s 1 >, these names provide evidence for the use of Arabic (or ANA) verbs, even though in all cases an Aram. cognate with <š> is attested. This points to the Arab origin of these names and probably toward the linguistic background of the writers as well, who had knowledge of the Aram. script but whose native language was an ANA language or dialect.

Morphological Features (in Semitic Names)
3.3.1 Nouns

Noun Patterns
The majority of Hatran one-word names derive from triconsonantal roots; the sole biconsonantal ones are ʾbʾ and perhaps ʾdʾ (cf. entry
Imperfect forms with a y-prefix are to be considered Aram. rather than Arabic (as proposed by Beyer 1998, 138). This is an OA and OffA feature still found in Palm. and Old Syr. (Healey 2009, 51), whereas the usual Hatran Aram. prefix for the 3rd m.s. imperfect is l- (Beyer 1998, 137-8). Its presence is probably due to the conservative character of onomastics, in which it nonetheless coexists with l-prefix forms (lwṭb and nšrlṭb). Conversely, the name ymlyk/ymlk may have an Arab origin, since it has perfect parallels in Nab. and Saf. Hatran names structured as verbal sentences are characterized by the presence of a theonym as subject, which can be rightly hypothesized also for hypoc. forms. Verbs are consistently attested in the 3rd m.s. person: their occurrence also with female theonyms is common practice in Hatran onomastics (Beyer 1998, 140).

Hypocoristic Suffixes to One-and Two-Word Names
Hypocoristica are attested for one-and two-word names. The following lists include all attestations on the basis of their suffix.
The use of suffixes to create a shortened form of a personal name follows rather unpredictable criteria and a variety of hypoc. with -ʾ, -w, -wy, -y, -yʾ, and -yw are attested (cf. the overview in Beyer 1984, 445). Among these, it seems worthy to discuss briefly -ʾ and -w. Suffixed -ʾ is attached to Aram. and Arab names. As to the first type, it may stand for a shortened form or a determinate state. The determination by means of a suffixed -ʾ, however, may have been applied also to Arab names, implying thus that at Hatra they were adapted to the dominant linguistic situation (Abbadi 1983, 179). As remarked more recently with reference to the Saf. name gṯmʾ attested at Dura Europos (Macdonald 2005, 120), Aramaized Saf. personal names are comparatively well attested (cf. the list in WH, 19) and frequently paralleled by names built upon the same root and displaying a prefixed article h-(e. g. ʿbdʾ and hʿbd). A similar situation can be observed for Hatran names, among which hypocoristica with suffixed -ʾ are attested together with hypocoristica bearing the suffix -w, traditionally considered proof of the Arab origin of the name (e.g. ʾšʾ and ʾšw; blgʾ and blgw). The corpus thus displays a parallel situation to that attested for Safaitic names, which may be evidence of the coexistence of Arab hypocoristica and their Aramaized equivalents at Hatra as well. However, tracing a clear separation and determining the reasons for the development of these different Arab hypocoristica is rather complicated, since suffixed -w occurs also on originally Aram. forms (ydyʿw, yhybw, perhaps ʾpḥw). The suffix -w is generally understood as an Arabic nominative case ending when it is attached to theonyms or nouns (for Nab. onomastics cf. Diem 1973Diem , 234-7, 1981342-4); conversely, when it occurs on verbal forms it is interpreted with certainty as a hypocoristic. A suffixed -w is attested also in Palmyrene onomastics and could be part of a shared Arab onomastic heritage that preserved traces of case endings. We are unable to state whether the language spoken by the Arab population gravitating round Hatra maintained case endings; since personal names tend to preserve archaic features, one could also suppose that such hypocoristica with -w testify to a more ancient linguistic phase. In this regard, Mascitelli (2006, 236) points at some methodological shortcomings in the work of Diem (1973): firstly, the assumption that Nab. was an Arabic dialect in which case endings were not employed anymore, so that suffixes attached to personal names would have been just frozen forms; moreover, the use of a rather outdated and comparatively restricted onomastic corpus, i.e., the names listed in Cantineau 1932. Mascitelli (2006 proposes that suffixed -w in Nab. onomastics may depend on a euphonic shift [ā] > [ō]; a -y suffixed to two-word names built as genitive constructions, instead, could be a frozen genitive ending, deriving from an Arabic background and still preserved in Aram.

General Remarks
The taxonomic study of Semitic personal names based on their semantic value has proved to be a highly promising source of sociolinguistic information since the publication of two classic analyses of Semitic anthroponymy, Noth (1928), which treated Jewish names, and Stamm (1939), which covered the Akkadian evidence. These reference works constituted the basis for a number of studies published in the subsequent decades, which aimed at going beyond the traditional linguistic and structural evaluation of anthroponyms and focused instead on the social and religious implications of the choice and usage of names. A comparative discussion is presented, for example, in the volume Altorientalische und semitische Onomastik (Streck-Weninger 2002), in which nine papers discuss Sumerian, Hittite, Egyptian, Akkadian, Hebrew, Ancient South-Arabian, and Arabic personal names. As to Akkadian names, a major overview is Edzard (1998-2001, part A. on Sumerian names and B. dedicated to Akkadian names). Amongst more recent contributions, Baker (2002) focuses on the practices of name-giving in the 1st millennium BC; Hackl (2013) analyses the factors inherent in the choice of female slave names in Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid cuneiform texts, referring to Noth's (1928) and Stamm's (1939) semantic categories; Porten (2016) deals with the occurrences of Akkadian onomastics in Aramaic texts mainly from Achaemenid Egypt, comparing them with the semantics of Hebrew names.
Similar examinations of Aramaic names have been carried out on specific corpora or case-studies. Silverman (1981) analyses ʻservant names'

Marcato
Personal Names in the Aramaic Inscriptions of Hatra in Aramaic and other Semitic languages; Negev (1991,, which should be consulted alongside the remarks in Macdonald (1999), attempts a socio-historical evaluation of the Nabataeans drawing upon the lexicon and semantics of their personal names; Yon (2013b) discusses anthroponyms built upon animal names in Palmyrene Aramaic and contemporary corpora from Syria and Mesopotamia.
After Noth (1928), several other important investigations were conducted on Jewish names: among the most recent ones, cf. Silverman (1985, especially 246-74 for the semantic analysis and caution as to Stamm's Ersatznamen, see below), Fowler (1988) on theophoric names, and for a re-examination of the whole corpus, cf. Rechenmacher (2012,. The studies cursorily mentioned above have expanded the scheme introduced by Noth (1928) with abundant ramifications. Regarding Hatran anthroponymy, the comparatively high presence of names that cannot receive a univocal interpretation makes it advisable not to outline an excessively detailed taxonomy. Further research and the publication of new texts will surely contribute to a better definition of these issues.
The basic principles of such a semantic taxonomy can be summed up as follows, considering two-word and one-word names separately. The Hatran corpus does not testify to three-word names, typical of Akkadian anthroponymy.
From a linguistic point of view, as seen above, theophoric two-word names can be built as genitive constructions, nominal or verbal sentences. Semantically, the following categories have been identified: -Confessional or credal names (Bekenntnisnamen), which state a quality or an attribute of a deity. They are subdivided into self-confessional (Selbstbekenntnisnamen) and general confessional names (allgemeine Bekenntnisnamen). The first ones comprise, for example, the very common ʻservant names' built upon ʿbd (Silverman 1981) and aim at asserting and strengthening the relationship between the name-bearer, and by consequence the name-giver, and the deity. Such a close relationship with a deity can be also stated by means of the possessive ʻmy'. General confessional names do not imply any specific relationship and attribute to the deity a quality that is perceived as paramount. Linguistically, they appear most frequently as genitive constructions and nominal sentences. -Confidence names (Vertrauensnamen) highlight trust and faith in the deity by the name-bearer in a more personal tone than confessional names, encompassing a broad semantic scope (help, protection, favour, light, etc. from the deity). These names are almost invariably genitive constructions and nominal sentences as well. -Thanksgiving names (Danknamen) express gratitude to the deity for an intervention of some kind and include, amongst others, a profusion of names built upon roots such as ʻto give', ʻto donate', ʻto create'.
They are, to a large extent, sentences with a perfect form; otherwise, genitive constructions which correspond to, or can be turned into, a verbal sentence of the type mentioned above. A subgrouping of these names, intended by Stamm (1939, 278-306) as substitute names (Ersatznamen), greets the substitution of a deceased member of the family by means of a new-born child, or expresses a familiar relationship with the deity, probably as thanksgiving for the birth of a long-desired child (Silverman 1985, 257;Rechenmacher 2012, 141-2). Cf. Silverman's (1985, 257 n. 23) caution toward Stamm's (1965) later excessively inclusive approach with regard to this semantic subcategory. -Petition names (Wunschnamen) address the deity for a prayer or request, usually expressed with an imperfect (Aramaic) or an imperative verb (Akkadian).
One-word names are often hypocoristica of theophoric names; animal, plant, profession, and constellation names, as well as designations of physical and behavioural characteristics. In certain cases, defects, endearment names, diminutives, and lallatives are attested. These names correspond to Noth's (1928, 221-32) Profane Namen and to Stamm's (1939, 242-57) Zärtlichkeitsnamen ʻendearment names'. Sometimes these categories overlap: for example, the Arab names whybʾ and zbydw are both hypocoristica of thanksgiving names and diminutives. They are listed under "Thanksgiving names" due to the more discrete nature of this category. Drawing upon studies on Classical Arabic anthroponyms (Wild 1982; Muth 2008), one-word Arab names, which display a substantial spectrum of semantic values, can be considered as proper names (ism, ʿalam, ism al-ʿalam) or nicknames (laqab). Within such a large range, the comparatively high incidence of names referring to unpleasant characteristics should be interpreted in light of their apotropaic value against the evil eye or, more generally, against any harm that the child may incur in his life (Wild 1982, 155;156;Muth 2008, 719).
The following schematic taxonomy is based upon the linguistic affiliation of Hatran Semitic names: Aramaic, Arab, Akkadian, and Semitic Unclassified names are taken into account. As to the last group, Aramaic or Arab names are inserted into the scheme only if their meaning (or one of their possible meanings) can be ascertained with a reasonable degree of certainty. Iranian and Greek names, together with names for which a Semitic etymology cannot be currently determined, are excluded.

Marcato
Personal Names in the Aramaic Inscriptions of Hatra

Akkadian Names and Aramaic Names of Akkadian Origin
Confessional names -General confessional: nbwdyn.

Arab
Hypocoristica 49 ʻBraying', technically not an animal name but nonetheless pertaining to this semantic sphere.