T-S 13J27.7
Business letter in Arabic script from Nahray b. Nissim (per Aodeh), perhaps from Fustat, to ʿArūs b. Yosef, probably in Alexandria, since he is asked about prices in Alexandria in line 21. It seems wishful thinking to read the signature as "Nahray." In any case, the writer conveys his sorrow ever since ʿArūs departed, a sorrow particularly keen whenever he visits ʿArūs's home. He writes that Abū Khiḍr Shardāna (a name of Persian origin that also appears in T-S 13J20.18) will soon be in ʿArūs's location. He sends a message for Zayn al-Tujjār regarding the sale of "the quarter [dinar?]" (al-rubʿ), and he asks ʿArūs to sell for him the garments (fūṭ) and to fetch the writer's gold from the home of the Rosh Kalla. He sends a message for [Mūsā] b. Abī l-Ḥayy to sell on his behalf licorice (ʿaraq sūs) and coriander (? kuzbara but prefixed with a dāl). He asks for the price of Alexandria hellebore (kharbaq) and other prices. He reports that he has a dinar and a third and a quarter with Barakāt b. Saʿāda, and ʿArūs is to convey it to the writer's nephew. Verso is much more faded. People mentioned include a certain Abū Naṣr al-Baghdādī; the writer's brother-in-law Abū Isḥaq, who seems to have done something that requires forgiveness (al-bārī yarḥamahu): Khalaf b. ʿAzrūn; Abū ʿImrān (=Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy?) who will be traveling with the writer; he sends regards to all the Tripolitans (in Libya); and he asks ʿArūs to forward a note to acertain Ibrāhīm. Information largely from Aodeh's edition. ASE.
Editor: Ed. Ṣabīḥ ʿAodeh, "Eleventh Century Arabic Letters of Jewish Merchants from the Cairo Geniza" (in Hebrew) (1992). Rev. Alan Elbaum, 07/2020.
