Geniza Lab

Last line of a document in Arabic script. The empty space below has one column of Arabic script at 90 degrees to the main text, then four columns of symbols (Coptic numerals?). On verso there is Hebrew literary text.

A few words in Arabic script mentioning Bū l-Faraj al-Jābī and ʿindahu and some Greek/Coptic numerals.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Coptic numerals.

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. The ghulām of the Rayyis is mentioned at least twice.

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. In fact, one page is entirely filled with numerals.

Accounts. In Arabic script and Coptic numerals(?).

Accounts and sundry jottings in Arabic script and Coptic numerals, all in the margins of a literary text in Arabic script.

List of contributors to the poor. Coptic numerals.

Letter in the hand of Berakhot b. Shemuel. Possibly addressed to Avraham Maimonides. In Judaeo-Arabic. The letter is an extremely polite reminder to give the writer some money, perhaps as reimbursement or as a wage from the public funds. "When I observed some delay on the part of the master, which is not his custom. . . . I attributed it to his honor's (al-ḥaḍra) preoccupation with the illness of the master (al-mawlā) and the distraction of his mind and his distance from his country. . . ." It is not entirely clear whether the ḥaḍra and the mawlā are different people or not. "The proof, by God, will be from Sunday onward, and tomorrow is Friday, and I have not received anything except for 2 1/4 raṭls of [bread?]. What I received from the jāmikiyya only lasted through the end of the day today, Thursday, the 2nd of Dhū l-Qaʿda." Someone titled ʿAlam al-Dīn gave the writer 9 1/2 (dirhams?). The writer emphasizes the urgency of his request, "for I am among the dead/perishing." He appends an account of expenses for the week, again referring to the jāmikiyya. The expenses include many foodstuffs as well as the fee for the bathhouse and the launderer. The transcription below includes only the words, not the Coptic numerals given for each item. ASE.

List of contributors containing Coptic numerals. (Information from Goitein's typed texts)

Account in Judaeo-Arabic and Coptic numerals. Mainly lists foods and materia medica: emblic, barberry, olibanum, hazelnut, coriander, קטונה (legumes?), saffron, a syrup of נופר(?), and banana leaf.

Lines of Coptic numerals, some rows crossed out.

Accounts. In Judaeo-Arabic. Headed "al-maqbūḍ" and listing names and numbers (Coptic numerals).

List, in Judaeo-Persian, mentioning Yiṣḥaq parnas, a social welfare official. Has Coptic numerals, e.g. no. 5, and perhaps the Hebrew tq (= 500?). Handwriting, too, suggests this is a late list (16th century?), and unlike the alms lists, donor lists, and accounts from the classical period.Similar lists occur in ENA NS 77.54, ENA NS 77.51, and ENA NS 77.388. NB: This description corresponds to a different, unidentified shelfmark.

List of weeks (shin = shabbat) of the year, by weekly readings from the Torah, with a number in Coptic numerals for each, representing revenues, out of which charity and other communal expenses (especially salaries) were paid. This is the lower right corner of the page.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script and Coptic numerals.

Accounts in Coptic numerals.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Recto: Order of payment issued by Abū Zikrī Kohen, advising the elder Munajjā to give out two ūqiyyas of lemon and one ūqiyya (of lemon) extra. On verso there are Coptic numerals, perhaps accounts. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a perfumer, submitting an account to the addressee. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably late 12th or early 13th century. Numbers are given in Greek/Coptic numerals. Mentions people such as al-Melammed and al-Shaykh al-Makīn. Mentions goods such as bamboo chalk (ṭabāshīr) and vessels (qawārīr and zanābīr). The first sum named is nearly 2000 (dirhams?); the final sum at the bottom of the page is torn away. (Information in part from CUDL)