Geniza Lab

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. The goods listed include several garments, some of silk. Values are given in terms of the currency "ḥarf." This term for a currency is known from Yemen from at least the 16th century onward: see R. B. Serjeant, The Portuguese off the South Arabian Coast (London, 1963), pp. 145f. There is some ambiguity as the ḥarf aḥmar or ḥarf dhahab aḥmar was a gold coin, presumed to be a name for the ashrafī and sometimes the sequin, whereas plain "ḥarf" was a name for a copper coin of low value. The goods listed in this account seem more likely to have been sold for gold ḥurūf instead of copper ones. But merits further attention. ASE.