The Journal of Juristic Papyrology Vol. XXIV. 1994, pp. 11-12 R o g e r S. B a g n a l l A d a m Ł a j t a r COLLECTION FROEHNER 81 O N C E A G A I N In JJP 2 3 , 1993, p p . 1 0 1 - 1 0 3 , A d a m Ł a j t a r h a s s u g g e s t e d that in t h e N u b i a n e p i t a p h in G r e e k Collection Froehner 81 1 the n a m e of the d e c e a s e d p e r s o n m e n t i o n e d t w i c e in t h e i n s c r i p t i o n , in 11. 6 - 7 a n d 1 8 - 1 9 , w i t h t h e s a m e d i s p o s i t i o n of letters, s h o u l d be r e a d Π α π α σ ι ^ ε | θηγ( ) Τ ο σ σ ι ζ / e in-stead of πάπα Σίν^\θη Τ ο σ σ ι ι / e a c c e p t e d by p r e v i o u s e d i t o r s . Ł a j t a r did not o f f e r a r e s o l u t i o n f o r t h e a b b r e v i a t e d w o r d θηγ( ) . H e o b s e r v e d t h a t b e c a u s e of the p r e s e n c e of theta, w h i c h in O l d N u b i a n a p p e a r s o n l y in l o a n - w o r d s , the a b b r e v i a t e d w o r d is a G r e e k o n e , and t h o u g h t it d e n o t e d the f u n c t i o n of P a p a s i n e . R . S . B a g n a l l n o w s u g g e s t s r e a d i n g in both p l a c e s Υ[απα.σΜζ \ θηγ(άτηρ) Ύοσσινε a n d w e p r o p o s e this r e a d i n g f o r c o n s i d e r a t i o n . P a p a s i n e ( n ) m a y b e e i t h e r a m a l e o r a f e m a l e n a m e . E x c e p t in o u r in-s c r i p t i o n t h e n a m e a p p e a r in-s in-six t i m e in-s in O l d N u b i a n d o c u m e n t in-s f r o m Q a in-s r I b r i m .2 In 37.5, 3 8 . 3 and 4 0 . 3 it b e l o n g s to a m a n , a n d in all t h r e e c a s e s it is the s a m e p e r s o n w h o is r e f e r r e d to, P a p s i n e n N a s m e n t i o n e d in the p r o t o -c o l s of s a l e s of l a n d j u s t a f t e r the k i n g a n d k i n g ' s m o t h e r . In t w o -c a s e s t h e n a m e in q u e s t i o n is b o r n e by ( d i f f e r e n t ? ) w o m e n . D o c u m e n t 3 1 . 1 4 m e n -t i o n s a m o n g w i -t n e s s e s of -t h e r e l e a s e f r o m -t h e p u r c h a s e " P a p o n - O u a -t a , h i s
1 This epitaph, dated to the year 960 of the era of the Martyrs (A.D. 1243) is the lat-est dated Nubian epitaph known to us. For complete bibliography, see Ł A J T A R , loc.cit.
- G . M . B R O W N E , Old Nubian Texts from Qasr Ibrim III ( E g y p t Exploration Society.
Texts from Excavations 12), London 1991. All documents in question come from the very end of the 12th century.
12
R.S. BAGNALL-A. ŁAJTAR
wife Papasinen" and in document 37.16, Ennaeil, who sells the land, states
he had bought it from "Papapsinen daughter of Magosi". In one case,
44.7, the sex of the person referred to is impossible to ascertain from the
ambigous expression: "Kapopi, daughter of Papasine(n) being from her
c h i l d r e n " .
That Papasine from our inscription was a woman may be concluded also
from the text itself. In the request for rest for the soul of the deceased
per-son it uses twice ανατταυσον την ψυχην την δ( ) which was corrected by all
previous editors to ανά-παυσον την ψυχην τον Ηοϋλον) in order to adopt it
with πάπα. Now, however, it becomes clear that the stone is correct and that
we should read ανατταυσον την ψυχην την δ(οΰλην)^.
ό ôeίνα υιό? (θυγάτηρ) του beïvos is the only mean of filiation in
docu-ments from Nubia; cf. A. Łajtar, Aegyptus 72, 1992, p. 118. θηγ(άτηρ) for
θυγ(άτηρ) is a simple phonetic transcription of the word in question. In
Mediaeval Greek the vowels η and υ were pronounced as <i> and frequently
interchanged in writing; cf. F.Th. Gignac, A Grammar of the Greek Papyri
of the Roman and Byzantine Periods I, Phonology, pp. 262-261, and
parti-cularly p. 263, where the forms θηκατίραν (for θυγατέρα) in P. Fouad 82,
12 and θηγατρί in SPP III 127, I are cited. The interchange of υ and η is
well attested in Nubian epitaphs; cf. M.G. Tibiletti Bruno, 'Di alcune
carat-teristiche epigrafi funerarie cristiane delia Nubia' [in:] Istituto Lombardo di
Scienze e Lettere. Rend. Lett. 97, 1963, p. 518, who cites following
exam-ples: Ύήβη (for Τύβί), όζηνη (for οδύνη), ζύσξται, σύσί,ται (for ζήσεται),
άμάρτυμα, άμαρτύσα (for αμάρτημα, αμαρτήσει), ίκοιμύθισζν (for
ίκοιμή-θησβν).
To our knowledge, the name Ύοσσινί has not been attested yet. One
cannot be sure whether it was the name of Papasine's father or that of her
mother.
[New York] Roger S. BAGNALL
[Warszawa - Köln*] Adam ŁAJTAR
3 In Nubian epitaphs, in the request for rest for the soul of the deceased person an ac-cusative τον δ(οΰλο^) instead of genitive always appears after ανατταυσον την ψυχην.
Scholarship of the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur zu Mainz, Sti-pendienprogramm für jüngere polnische Geistes- und Gesellschaftswissenschaftler.
