What do the Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol inscriptions say?
Four answers, none aheadNone is ahead yet. See what would settle it.
Where it stands
Four answers have been proposed. None is ahead on the evidence yet. Four are still possible. Of the one narrower question under it, none is answered yet.
Why it matters
The letters can be sounded because they descend into Phoenician, but the Sinai texts are short, weathered, undivided into words and written in several directions, so every full reading rests on choices that the next reader makes differently[1][2]. Only b'lt, the phrase "to the Lady", and a few names and nouns are agreed; Albright's, Puech's and Wilson-Wright's readings of the same stones do not match[3][4][5].
Answers 4
Next steps 4
1
Extend the corpus list (DAT0DEDVG40T7X0) with a sign-by-sign transliteration of every inscription from Sass 1988 and Hamilton 2006, marking uncertain and damaged signs, so readings can be compared on one table.
~20 h
—not judged
2
Transliterate every inscription sign by sign into the corpus list from Sass 1988 and Hamilton 2006.
~20 h
—not judged
3
Collate the published full readings (Albright 1966, Wilson-Wright 2016, Puech 2024, Darnell et al. 2005) inscription by inscription, and score where they agree on sign identity, direction and word division.
~12 h
—not judged
4
Compare sign counts on each rock panel between the 1917 Gardiner-Peet plates (DAT0DEDVGPGMXDV), Butin's copies and the British Museum photographs, to list which signs have been lost or are disputed since discovery.
~8 h
—not judged
Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes
History
- Alan H. Gardiner: the recurring sign group reads b'lt, "Lady", by acrophonic values, and sits on a sphinx whose Egyptian text is a…For: Short Northwest Semitic votive texts and names, partly readable
- Alan H. Gardiner: every secure word in the corpus (b'lt, l "to", 'l "god", rb "chief") is Northwest Semitic, and the descendant script…Against: None of these.
- William Foxwell Albright: full readings of the same Sinai and Wadi el-Hol texts by Albright, Wilson-Wright and Puech disagree with one another…For: Unreadable beyond a few words with present evidence
- John Coleman Darnell et al.: every secure word in the corpus (b'lt, l "to", 'l "god", rb "chief") is Northwest Semitic, and the descendant script…Against: None of these.
- Gordon J. Hamilton: the recurring sign group reads b'lt, "Lady", by acrophonic values, and sits on a sphinx whose Egyptian text is a…For: Short Northwest Semitic votive texts and names, partly readable
- Aren M. Wilson-Wright: full readings of the same Sinai and Wadi el-Hol texts by Albright, Wilson-Wright and Puech disagree with one another…For: Unreadable beyond a few words with present evidence
- Aren M. Wilson-Wright: the Hebrew readings require sign values the descendant scripts do not support and a Hebrew distinct from Canaanite…Against: Hebrew texts naming biblical figures (Petrovich)
- Daniel Vainstub et al.: the descendant Canaanite script wrote ordinary Northwest Semitic sentences, as the seventeen-letter wish against lice…For: Short Northwest Semitic votive texts and names, partly readable
- Daniel Vainstub et al.: every secure word in the corpus (b'lt, l "to", 'l "god", rb "chief") is Northwest Semitic, and the descendant script…Against: None of these.
- British Museum: the recurring sign group reads b'lt, "Lady", by acrophonic values, and sits on a sphinx whose Egyptian text is a…For: Short Northwest Semitic votive texts and names, partly readable
- Émile Puech: full readings of the same Sinai and Wadi el-Hol texts by Albright, Wilson-Wright and Puech disagree with one another…For: Unreadable beyond a few words with present evidence
- Ben J. J. Haring: full readings of the same Sinai and Wadi el-Hol texts by Albright, Wilson-Wright and Puech disagree with one another…For: Unreadable beyond a few words with present evidence
- Session 1: raised the question, proposed four answers and worked on one of its sub-questions