Today we have an ancient Safaitic war chant, a poem discovered and deciphered by Ahmad Al-Jallad at Marabb al-Shurafā', a mudflat in the Ḥarrah of north-eastern Jordan. The inscription is hard to date but probably comes from around the turn of the first centuries BC and AD.
It seems to me that a Safaitic inscriptional text, especially one this which is thus far unique in its length and register, would have been chanted, given the highly ritualized nature. (Certainly in more recent centuries that seems to have been — and to a degree still is — the traditional Bedouin practice.) So I did that here in reading the original text. I offer my own translation, composed for readability.
Safaitic War Chant
By Ghayyar-El(?)
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
By Ghayyar-El son of Ghawth of the line of Hathay, from when he left his folk
Now let him camp for war
So be his final campment here today
Fame for him is first
So be his final campment here today
He suffers who returns
So be his final campment here today
So be his final campment here today
He made for the marchlands, and alighted in the heath. There he kept watch for his uncle Sakran, exalting him with "Fortune be his".
So keep him safe, Allāt.
The Original:
(Tracing done by Al-Jallad)
𐩡𐩶𐩺𐩧𐩱𐩡𐩨𐩬𐩶𐩻𐩹𐩱𐩡𐩢𐩼𐩺𐩥𐩧𐩢𐩡 𐩣𐩱𐩠𐩡𐩠
𐩰𐩢𐩡𐩡𐩠𐩣𐩢𐩧𐩨
𐩰𐩠𐩺𐩣𐩠𐩬𐩱𐩭𐩧𐩢𐩡𐩡
𐩧𐩱𐩪𐩹𐩫𐩧𐩩
𐩰𐩠𐩺𐩣𐩠𐩬𐩱𐩭𐩧𐩢𐩡𐩡
𐩲𐩬𐩺𐩣𐩬𐩢𐩮𐩰
𐩰𐩠𐩺𐩣𐩠𐩬𐩱𐩭𐩧𐩢𐩡𐩡
𐩢𐩵𐩵𐩥𐩻𐩥𐩺𐩨𐩠𐩧𐩳𐩩𐩥𐩭𐩧𐩮𐩭𐩡𐩠𐩪𐩫𐩧𐩬𐩺𐩧𐩨𐩰𐩠𐩨𐩤𐩡𐩰𐩸𐩠
𐩰𐩠𐩡𐩩𐩪𐩡𐩣
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