Geniza Lab

Sīrat ʿAntar. In Judaeo-Arabic. Late. 114 folios. There are many additional pages from the same work scattered throughout the Geniza: see joins list.

Literary. Some sort of narration in Judaeo-Arabic with each sentence introduced by ʿabartu ʿalā bāb so-and-so (the עֿ and עבֿ are abbreviations for עברת). On verso there is a Hebrew piyyut.

Popular literature. The tale of Abraham and Nimrod. In Judaeo-Arabic. See FGP for further information.

Popular literature in Arabic script, on the theme of a medical prescription for a lovesick man. Similar to T-S NS 264.27 + T-S NS 224.181 + T-S AS 145.360 + T-S 12.537. Merits further examination. ASE.

Popular love poetry in Arabic script. ...سحر بابل... الظبي الاحور من الكوثر... قد سباني وسبا الاخوان. Some of the same stock images as appear in the much later poetry of Shalom Shabazi.

Popular literature. Small fragment in rhymed Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

Story of Hārūn al-Rashīd. (Information in part from Goitein's index card)

Translation/paraphrase of the book of Job into Judaeo-Arabic. Probably 18th or 19th century.

Two unrelated Arabic-script documents glued together for the sake of reuse. Upper document: Legal document. Parties mentioned include Abū l-Faḍāʾil Nāṣir b. Karam b. Ṣadaqa and Abū Muḥammad Qāsim b. ʿAlī(?). Possibly mentioning a marriage, an adolescent boy, and a house - but needs examination. One witness signature is preserved (with a date that is difficult to read). Lower document: State document. Only the first few words are preserved from ~12 lines. The Judaeo-Arabic text on top of the state document is mixture of love poetry and humorous anecdote. On verso there is the continuation of the same text, but mostly Hebrew poetry.

Popular literature in Judaeo-Arabic. Humorous rhymed prose. Dating: Likely 13th or 14th century.

Popular literature (nawādir) in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 19th century.

Story in Judaeo-Arabic. In part about a trip to Jerusalem and people who erected idols. Someone has identified this as Sefer Yosippon on FGP.

Popular literature in Judaeo-Arabic. A story about a king, a crown, drinking wine, and Hind bt. al-Muhallab. This is followed by a brief book list, starting with Kitāb ʿIlm al-Nafs.

Arabic poem, transcribed into Hebrew script. At least some of the originally Islamic elements were kept ("fa-wa-lladhī anzala furqānahu ʿalā l-nabiyyi l-muṣṭafā l-muntajab"). There are two bifolia here, so 8 pages. The order is somewhat difficult to reconstruct, but it appears to narrate the love between a woman named Jamal(?) and a man named Ghamr(?) and the poetic letters they exchange. Ghamr dies, and she elegizes him, and a man named Qutayba then starts to court her. Al-Ḥajjāj (the king?) appears as well. There are several joins (see T-S Ar.37.15, T-S AS 161.95, and FGP Joins Suggestions). Merits further examination.

The main block of writing is a folktale in Judaeo-Arabic about a very poor man ("who worked for two dirhams each day") who came home one day penniless. "The cat came and sat before him, he had nothing to feed it." There is a proverb of some sort on the facing page. In huge Arabic letters overlying the folktale is someone's signature: al-ʿabd al-mamlūk . . . Abū Yūsuf al-[...].

Literary narrative in Arabic script. 1001 nights? Mentions a baker and a salesman, then the narrator stumbles on a hidden treasure with a magical sapphire, then winds up at the king's palace.

Popular literature in Judaeo-Arabic. A tale of a king. The handwriting may be known.

Recto: Possibly the end of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, with a closing line in Arabic. There is also more text at 90 degrees. Verso: Poetic retelling of the story of Moses in Judaeo-Arabic.

The story of Esther in Judaeo-Arabic.

Rendering of the book Esther into Judaeo-Arabic. Late.