SINAITIC INSCRIPTIONS. - Inscriptions discovered in 1905 by Flinders Petrie at Serâbît al-Hâdim (Sinai), in the turquoise mines near the temple of Hathor. Further discoveries, made by the expeditions of Harvard University (1927, 1930, 1935) and by a Finnish mission (1929), bring to approximately 25 the number of inscriptions usable for decipherment, to which must be added several others in poorer condition.
The interpretation of the S. i. is particularly difficult. It is virtually certain that the script employed in them is alphabetic and that it expresses a north-western Semitic language.
Along these lines, a decisive step in decipherment was taken in 1915 by A. Gardiner, who identified the frequently recurring expression l'It and interpreted it as “to Ba'alat,” the Semitic name of the des Hathor. Further studies were undertaken (K. Sethe, R. Butin, H. Grimme), and further progress was subsequently made (A. E. Cowley, M. Sprengling), until in 1948 W. F. Albright published extensive translation specimens.
As for the date of the S. i., according to some (Gardiner, Butin) it should be placed around 1880 B.C.; according to others (Flinders Petrie, Albright), around 1500. The authors of the S. i. were probably Semitic captives or slaves working in the mines.