Geniza Lab

Enigmatic table with entries in Arabic. Needs further examination.

Probably a medical prescription or a recipe in Arabic, mentioning hiera picra (a cathartic powder made of aloes and canella bark), chebulic myrobalan (iḥlīj Kābulī), lavender (isṭarkhūdus), sugar, and ghārīqūn (agaric).

Letter from Ṣedaqa al-Yahūdī to Umm al-Khayr bt. Nūr al-Dīn al-Ḥakīm b. [...], possibly in Bilbays (the address is damaged). In Arabic script. Dating: No earlier than 1415 CE, since it refers to the currency 'nuṣf' (half-silver). The sender tells the addressee to deliver the 'qumāsh' immediatelly, or if she hasn't done anything, the 20 half-silver pieces.

Letter in Arabic dated 1737 CE (Ramadan 1149 Hijri). There is a seal on verso. Merits further examination.

Writing exercises in Arabic, helpfully giving the date: September 1821 CE (Dhu l-Hijja 1237H)

Late accounts in Arabic.

Arabic literary fragment.

Recto: A passage from an Arabic treatise on love and lovers (ʿishq, ʿāshiq, maʿshūq). Verso: Scattered Arabic text, possibly list or accounts. Needs further examination.

Recto: The last page of the Annals of Eutychius of Alexandria (Saʿīd b. Baṭrīq al-Mutaṭabbib, d. 940), the Melkite Patriarch of Alexandria, discussing events in Jerusalem and Constantinople in the years before his death. See the Beirut 1905 edition: https://books.google.com/books?id=b6MIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PT336&lpg=PT336. Verso: A cross followed by cryptic symbols, and underneath the Arabic alphabet written left-to-right and partially in mirror image.

Probably a receipt for a rent payment by Yashūʿ (?) al-Yahūdī for his store (? ḥānūt) in ḥārat al-yahūd, mentioning the date Dec 1832/Jan 1833 CE (Sha'ban 1248 Hijri).

Late accounts in Arabic.

Recto: Legal document in Arabic script. Late Mamluk or early Ottoman (paleographic dating). Acknowledgement of debt in the name of Muḥammad b. Qāsim b. ʿAlī known as al-Ḥamawi, the mudawlib (perhaps the technical assistant, or the one who maintains the balance and other equipment) in the ṣarf (the money-changing house; the mint would probably be al-ḍarb), and the teacher Khiḍr b. [...] al-Yahūdī al-Rabbānī known as Ibn ʿAbduh. Verso (and margin of recto): Drafts for piyyutim in Hebrew. (ASE and MR)

Fragment (lower left corner) of a family letter in Arabic script ("your mother sends you her regards").

Recto: Bifolio, mainly containing an Arabic literary text, probably a fable, beginning with "yā qawm ismaʿū maqālatī" and continuing with the promised proverbs, followed by pen trials. Verso: draft of a letter beginning with a basmala and common honorifics surrounded by pen trials of the same line and other words on the entire bifolio.

Business letter or official correspondence in Arabic script. Dating: 11th or 12th century (paleographic dating). Written in a chancery hand with very large space between the lines; two lines preserved. Folded into a tight square; folds have gone both ways to judge by the ink that has bled in mirror form; the mirror-writing could yield another word or two from a third line (more dates; something else that is difficult to determine). The document concerns dates (tamr) and dye (ṣibāgh); they will be (sent?) with the people designated to take care of them (ṣuḥbat al-mandūbīn ʿalayhimā). Verso is blank except for a few Hebrew letters. (MR. ASE.)

Fatimid tax receipt dated 528H (1133–34). Five different hands: at top, 2 requests for registration, 2 confirmations of registration; lower part is receipt itself. (MR)

Fragment of an Arabic letter or petition.

Letter from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad al-[...] to Abū l-Fakhr b. Ibrāhīm al-Amshāṭī (probably Abū l-Fakhr Seʿadya b. Avraham, active 1140–72), in Fustat, the square of the perfumers (al-ʿAṭṭārīn). In Arabic script. All that is preserved is the beginning of recto and the address on verso. On the addressee, see Goitein and Friedman, India Book III, pp. 40–45.

Verso (original use): Fragment of a petition in Arabic script. Dating: Probably Fatimid-era. The beginnings of 4 lines are preserved. Moderately wide line spacing. Includes the beginning of a taqbīl (al-mamlūk yuqabbil al-arḍ) and a request clause (wa-yasal...).

Recto (secondary use): Order from ʿĀzim al-Bayyāʿ (the grocer) to hand over 1/2 wayba of rice to the bearer of the note. Headed by a basmala. Underneath there is a taṣliya and above that (in a different hand) an ʿalāma (al-ḥamdu lillāh waḥdah). The layout is somewhat reminiscent of state receipts, which is not necessarily surprising as everyday receipts and documents had similar layouts. YU, MR, ASE.