Hismaic
Hismaic is a variety of the Ancient North Arabian script and the language most commonly expressed in it. The Hismaic script may have been used to write Safaitic dialects of Old Arabic, but the language of most inscriptions differs from Safaitic in a few important respects, meriting its classification as a separate dialect or language. Hismaic inscriptions are attested in the of Northwest Arabia, dating to the centuries around and immediately following the start of the Common Era. One striking feature of the script is that it lacks a definite article.
The Hismaic script is named after Hisma Desert, where it was mainly used, along with the surrounding areas up to central Jordan. It was discovered by F.V. Winnett who named it Thamudic E, and later G. King's work, it was renamed to "Hismaic".
Characteristics
Phonology
Hismaic has undergone the merger of Proto-Semitic s¹ + s³, the same as all Arabic varieties and Dadanitic. There are clear instances of d being used for /ḏ/ in the variant spellings of the divine name Ḏū l-S2arā as ds2r or ds2ry – as against classical ḏs2r or ḏs2ry, although these are probably Aramaicisms, under Nabataean influence.The spelling ʿbdmk for ʿbdmlk suggests an interchange of n for l, similar to that found in Nabataean where the name of the kings named Malichos occurs as both mlkw and mnkw and the compound as both ʿbdmlkw and ʿbdmnkw.