Page 135 - Arabian Studies (I)

THE YEMENITE SETTLEMENT OF
TH ACBAT

HISTORICAL, NUMISMATIC AND

EPIGRAPHIC NOTES
by G. R. SMITH

The Name of the Settlement
Whatever the academic conjecture which surrounds the name of this
village near Tacizz, the local inhabitants insist that it should be
pronounced Thacbat or Thacabat. It is often difficult, if not
impossible, to detect whether one is hearing the ‘a’ vowel after the
cayn or not. Apart from this overriding evidence for the correct
vocalisation of the name, one is immediately struck on entering the
village by the noisily running ghayl or perennial flow of water which
comes down Jabal Sabir. The basic idea of the root thcb in Arabic is
one of pouring or flowing, particularly used of water, but also of
blood and with this general meaning of the radicals it would seem
more appropriate to associate the name of this Yemenite village.
Suggesting that it is called after the rats, the lizards or the serpents,
or a species of mountain tree, appears less attractive to one who has
been fortunate enough to visit the village.1

Geographical Location and Description of the Present-Day Village

Thacbat is situated only three kilometres to the east of Tacizz2 in
the south of the Yemen Arab Republic. Niebuhr, the Danish traveller
who visited the area in the eighteenth century, states that the
village - which he spells Thobad - is half a league east south-east of
Tacizz.3 In present times the journey from Tacizz is on a good dirt
road which leads to the medieval walls, only partially standing, at the
foot of a steep rise. From here one must go on foot, up the stony
footpath into the village.
One is immediately aware of the ghayl, lined with green trees and

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