Delmephialmas and Sircorcor: Gasparo Balbi,Dalma, Julfar and a problem of transliteration

Gasparo Balbi, the state jeweller of the VenetianRepublic, visited Arabia in c. 1580 (1). His interest inthe area lay in the pearls that came from the oysterbeds of which the most extensive are those in thewaters around al-Bahrayn, those off the Qatarpeninsula and especially those in the western watersof Abu Dhabi.

Either taking his information first-hand from alocal individual or using a navigator’s list, Balbirecorded place-names along the coast of modernQatar, the United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate ofOman. Although he provides only a list and makesno commentary on the places he mentions, Balbi’swork is very important inasmuch as he is one of thefirst to refer to many of these places using the namesby which they are known today.

There are difficulties in understanding Balbi’stransliterations, and this is a problem shared withother European texts recording places along the Gulfcoast. To a large extent this is the consequence of thehaphazard manner of transliteration in an age when

there was no standard and broadly accepted methodof transcribing Arabic into other scripts. Thus, theattempts by Balbi as an Italian to transcribe Arabicdiffer in result but are identical in difficulties ofprocess to contemporary Portuguese attempts totranscribe Gulf place names. In both instances, thesounds of the Arabic are relayed phonetically inItalian or in Portuguese terms: the result is aninconsistency of toponym record and sometimes, theresulting transcriptions seem impenetrable (2).

The difficulty is not only one of the language ofthe source recording the Arabic terms — whetherPortuguese, Italian, Dutch, French or English. Thereis also the difficulty of the dialect of the Arabic formsused by the local sources upon whom these Euro-pean writers relied and the clarity of enunciation.Beyond even this is the possible change of pronun-ciation within the Arabic between the sixteenthcentury and the present: pronunciation of Gulfplace-names has been amended in modern times toaccommodate European pronunciations, e.g. Dubayy

Gasparo Balbi, the state jeweller of the Venetian Republic, visited the easternArabian coast in c. 1580 and recorded many of the places in the modernUnited Arab Emirates for the first time, giving them the names by which weknow them today, albeit in sixteenth-century Italian transliteration. Whilesome places are readily recognizable, Balbi’s terms Delmephialmas andSircorcor present problems. It is suggested that Delmephialmas is the islandof Dalma off the coast of Abu Dhabi but with an additional phrase as a suffix,giving a meaning approximating to Dalma, fı-ha ma’, i.e. ‘‘Dalma, there iswater there’’. The absence of any reference to so major a port as Julfar inmodern Ra’s al-Khaima by Balbi is remarkable. It is suggested that Balbi’sterm Sircorcor is an eliding of al-Sirr as a synonym for Julfar combined inerror with Khawr al-Khuwayr to the north of Julfar.

Keywords: archaeology, geography, United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi,Ra’s al-Khaimah

Geoffrey KingSchool of Oriental and Afri-can Studies, University ofLondon

e-mail: grd_king@yahoo.co.uk

Arab. arch. epig. 2006: 17: 248–252 (2006)

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and Dubai; Z.ahran and Dhahran. Finally, there is thesheer incomprehension of Europeans recording thelocal names. In an extreme case, cited by Sir RichardBurton, a European traveller along the Euphratesasking a local Arab a place-name was told, ‘‘ma adri’’(‘‘I don’t know’’): as a result ma adri is said to havebeen entered briefly as a Euphrates toponym on apublished map (3). All of these considerationsshould be borne in mind in understanding thedifficulties of Balbi’s transliterations discussed here.

Starting from al-Qatıf, now in Saudi Arabia, thelist of Gulf toponyms recorded by Balbi continues inan easterly direction as far as the Sultanate of Oman.The places recorded by Balbi are interpreted by B.J.Slot as follows:

Latif [Catif: Qatıf]Lasen [Al-Hasa?]Barechator [Bahr¼ Qatar, Sea of Qatar]Zesirasilbar [jazirat fi l bahr: islands in sea, this

seems to be an introductory caption for the follow-ing ten names]

Alul [¼ Halul island]Seran [¼ Shera’uh]Dsive [Diyinah islandP]Daas (¼ Das island]Emorgorcenon [¼ Qarnain?]Anzevi [¼ Arzanah]Zercho [¼ Zirkuh]Delmephialmas [¼ Dalma]Sirbeniast [¼ Sir Banu Yas island]Aldane [¼ Dhanna]Festebruatich [Feshte Breetich: seabed of coral and

sandstone: this seems to be an introductory captionfor the list of names to follow]

Cherizan [¼ Qirqishan? In this case it would bethe oldest indication of Abu Dhabi: Qirqishan isname of the lagoon on the southwestern part of AbuDhabi island]

Dibei [¼ Dubai]Sarba [¼ Sharjah: the Portuguese phonetic way of

writing the name is Sarha]Agiman [¼ Ajman]Ras Emegovien [¼ Umm al-Qaiwain]Rasagiar [¼ Ras al Ajer]Daioin [¼ Dihan]Rasaelchime [¼ Ras al-Khaima]Sircorcor [¼ Khor al- Khawir]Casab [¼ Khasab]Conzar [¼ Kumzar]

Mesendenderadi [¼ Musandam]Lima [¼ Lıma]Debe [¼ Dıbba]Chorf [¼ Khawr Fakkan]Chelb [¼ Kalba]Sarar [¼ Suhar]Suet [¼ Suadi]Mestar [not identified]Baragiat [¼ Barqa?]Tevii [¼ Tiwi]Golat [¼ Qal’at]Fur-Gatile [Sur?]Sam [from here on I could not identify the names]GamedaBachaIaduBalbi’s transliteration of Arabic presents numer-

ous problems, but Slot’s attempts to correlate Balbi’sidentifications with places known today are convin-cing. However, in the case of Delmephialmas andSircorcor, some additional comment is possible,beyond Slot’s interpretations.

Firstly, as far as Delmephialmas is concerned, Slot isclearly right in identifying the name in Balbi’s list asthe large island of Dalma in the western region ofAbu Dhabi. Yet while it is clear, as Slot has recog-nised, that Dalma is intended by Balbi’s Delmephial-mas, one cannot but wonder at the meaning of thesuffix -phialmas that follows the word Delme.

Secondly, the absence of the important town ofJulfar from Balbi’s list is mystifying, given that, inthe late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, itwas by far the most significant place on this coast. Ipropose, that concealed in the place-name Sircorcor,is a reference to Julfar, under its synonym, al-Sirr.

DelmephialmasI am indebted to Peter Hellyer for suggesting asolution to our understanding of the term -phialmascontained in Balbi’s Delmephialmas. As Hellyer pro-poses, it seems that Balbi’s Delmephialmas disguises atransliteration of the Arabic Dalma, fı ma’ or Dalma,fı-ha ma’ or some such phrase, meaning ‘‘Dalma,there is water there’’. It is the sort of expression thatone can imagine Balbi’s local Arab informant using,describing the site’s most outstanding characteristic.

On the south side of the island of Dalma is a townof the same name as the island and which has been

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settled since the Late Stone Age, through into laterIslamic times. The Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeologi-cal Survey (ADIAS) team were told by people livingon the island in 1992 that there were as many as 200sweet water wells around Dalma town in the pre-modern period.

These wells made Dalma, with regard to water, thebest-endowed place between al-Bahrayn and Ra’sal-Khaima. We were informed that Dalma’s wellsused to supply places as far away as Abu Dhabi cityuntil modern times, the water cargoes being towed inwooden casks dragged behind boats or carried onboard the vessels. I noted such a cask made of teakstill lying among old boats on the north side ofMarawah island in western Abu Dhabi in 1996.

Given the existence of so many wells there, it ishardly surprising that Balbi’s informant should havestressed the importance of Dalma for its watersupplies, using words like Dalma, fı ma’ or Dalma,fı-ha ma’ or some such Arabic phrase, masked byBalbi in transliteration as Delmephialmas.

SircorcorSlot identifies Sircorcor as Khor al-Khawir [Khawral-Khuwayr]. Khawr al-Khuwayr is a creek that islocated immediately beyond the small town ofal-Rams in northern Ra’s al-Khaima territory. It liesbetween the mainland and the large sandbar ofJazırat al-Hulayla. This khawr is accessible from theopen sea from al-Rams and it provides a safeanchorage, with the Jazırat al-Hulayla sandbargiving protection from strong winds for vesselsanchoring there.

While Slot’s identification of Khawr al-Khuwayras being included in Balbi’s Sircorcor is undoubtedlycorrect, Slot does not explain the element of Sir inthe name Sircorcor. I suggest that the term Sir is infact a reference to al-Sirr, and in effect, indicates thetown of Julfar, whose absence from Balbi’s list ofplace-names of southeastern Arabia is so curious.

The failure of Balbi to list Julfar is remarkableinasmuch as in c. 1580, when Balbi visited southeastArabia, Julfar was the main town of the area and theregional centre of population. It was prosperouswith a flourishing international trade, judging by thearchaeological material excavated at later IslamicJulfar’s main districts, al-Mataf, al-Nudud andal-Macarid.

In Julfar’s heyday, from the fourteenth centurydown to its decline by the eighteenth century, itshouses were well ordered and densely packed (4).This is demonstrated by the results of the interna-tional excavations at Julfar that took place between1988 and 1994 which exposed numerous post-four-teenth-century buildings, some apparently in acarefully laid-out plan. Its size is also reflected in alocal poem that records that Julfar’s houses were sonumerous and close to each other that goats couldleap from roof to roof for the length of Julfar, adistance of about 1 km. Before its decline by theeighteenth century, Julfar was far larger than anyother town of the lower Gulf on the Arabian side.Thus, Balbi’s failure to record such an importantplace in his list of southeast Arabian places issurprising, to put it mildly.

My suggestion is that the Sir (i.e. al-Sirr) elementincluded in Balbi’s Sircorcor in fact referred to Julfar.The term al-Sirr was used from early Islamic times toindicate the hinterland of Julfar, but sometimesal-Sirr was also used to indicate the town of Julfaritself. When Julfar was eventually supplanted byRa’s al-Khaima the term al-Sirr attached itself to Ra’sal-Khaima instead, although it continued to indicatethe hinterland as well.

When described as a region, al-Sirr at its greatestextent seems to have stretched from the borders ofMusandam in the north as far as modern Sharjah inthe west. In later times, al-Sirr coincided with thearea ruled by the Al Qasimı, the family of shaykhs ofRa’s al-Khaima and Sharjah who are first recordedas prominent in the seventeenth century. As toJulfar, it is first mentioned in the seventh centuryand then it is repeatedly mentioned by Arab geog-raphers and historians, including al-Maqdisı,al-Idrısı and Sirhan b. Sacıd.

In early times, al-Sirr and Julfar were treated inthe Arabic sources as distinct and separate places.Thus, Sirhan, referring to the invasion of cUman bythe cAbbasid governor of al-Bahrayn, Muhammad b.Nur, in 280/893 treated Julfar as a different placefrom al-Sirr (5). Sirhan says the following:

‘‘Mohammed-bin Nur meanwhile advanced withhis forces and took Julfar, whence he proceededto Towwam [al-Tuwwam, i.e. Al Ain in modernAbu Dhabi], which he reached, after someencounters had taken place in the sandy wastes,

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on Wednesday, six days before the end of themonth of el-Moharram, A.H. 280 (893 CE); andconquered el-Sirr and neighbouring districts. Hethen advanced on Nezwa…..’’

Sirhan’s reference to Muhammad b. Nur’s exped-ition seems to treat Julfar as a specific town, but themeaning of his reference to al-Sirr is less clear andcould indicate either a separate town or a broaderdistrict.

Al-Maqdisı, writing in c. 375–378/985–988, treatsal-Sirr and Julfar as two distinct places. He recordsthe following:

‘‘And belonging to Suhar [on the Batina ofcUman] are Nizwa, al-Sirr, Dank, Hafıt, Daba[Diba], Salut, Jullafar [Julfar], Samad, Lasya, Milh[or Lasya Milh as one place]’’

In another entry, he records the following (6):

‘‘As to cUman, and its qasabas, there is Suhar andits towns are al-Sirr, Dank, Hafıt, Daba [Dibba],Salut, Jullafar [Julfar], Samad, Lasya, Milh [orLasya Milh]’’.

It is unclear from either of al-Maqdisı’s listings ofplaces where al-Sirr was located, as his sequence ofnames is erratic. However, it is obvious enough thatal-Sirr was separate from Julfar.

In later texts, there is a shift of meaning and al-Sirrbecomes synonymous with Julfar, as well as retain-ing its meaning as indicating a wider area. Referringto events in 1633 when the rule of the Portugueseand the Hurmuzıs finally ended at Julfar, Sirhanrefers to al-Sirr in such a manner as to imply that itwas the same place as the town of Julfar itself (7).The following account from Sirhan recording thePortuguese defeat of 1633 shows Julfar and al-Sirr asbeing one and the same place:

‘‘The [cUmanı] Imam [Nasir b. Murshid al-Yacru-bı] next prepared a force, the command of whichhe gave to ‘Ali-bin Ahmed, assisted by his cousinsof the Al-Ya’rub, and ordered him to proceed tothe town of Julfar, which is el-Sirr [al-Sirr]’’.

The text is explicit: the town of Julfar by 1633 wasidentical with al-Sirr and the broader regional name

of al-Sirr had attached itself to Julfar, as the maintown of the district of al-Sirr.

Likewise, writing in 1763, the Dutch VOC (8)Resident at Kharg island, Tiddo van Kniphausen,referred to Zur (i.e. al-Sirr) indicating it as a townrather than a broader area. By this late date, heprobably meant Ra’s al-Khaima rather than Julfar,which had declined before the middle of the eigh-teenth century when it had been supplanted by Ra’sal-Khaima (9).

When Carsten Niebuhr visited the Gulf on hisreturn from Yemen in 1766 he stayed at the VOCtrading posts where he gathered his informationfrom Dutch merchants. He refers to the shaykh ofal-Sirr, by whom he probably meant the shaykh ofRa’s al-Khaima and its hinterland, rather than thedeclining Julfar (10).

From these various sources, it appears that al-Sirrin earlier Islamic times was treated as a distinct placeor area, separate from the town of Julfar. However,by later Islamic times, al-Sirr not only signified abroad area but it had also become synonymous firstwith the town of Julfar and subsequently, with itssuccessor, the town of Ra’s al-Khaima.

I therefore suggest that the term Sir within Balbi’sSircorcor is indeed al-Sirr and while it may signifythe old usage whereby al-Sirr was a region, it is morelikely that in c. 1580 it was a synonym for the townof Julfar itself. Either way, I conclude that Balbi’sSircorcor was in fact two places, i.e. al-Sirr andKhawr al-Khuwayr.

I propose that Balbi had indeed heard of Julfarfrom his local informant but under the name of Sir. Itseems likely that Balbi misunderstood his informantand in transliterating his informant’s words heerroneously elided Sir (al-Sirr/Julfar, i.e. al-Mataf)with Corcor, Khawr al-Khuwayr, recording them inerror as a single word in his transliteration.

Initially, I had considered that Balbi had meant‘‘al-Sirr of Khawr al-Khuwayr’’ but this seems veryunlikely. In no other source is al-Sirr associated withKhawr al-Khuwayr. If Sircorcor indeed signified‘‘al-Sirr of Khawr al-Khuwayr’’ then it seems verycurious that a khawr, however convenient as a safeanchorage, should be recorded, whereas the greattown of Julfar should be excluded from Balbi’s list ofplaces.

Nor does it seem likely that the term Sircorcorcould indicate that Khawr al-Khuwayr was the port

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of al-Sirr, i.e. Julfar/al-Mataf. The main settlement oflater Islamic Julfar at al-Mataf is c. 10 km south ofKhawr al-Khuwayr and there were convenientanchorages at al-Mataf itself, making it unnecessaryto rely on the distant anchorage at Khawr al-Khuw-ayr. The main one of these Julfar anchorages was anavigable inner harbour in a creek immediatelybehind the al-Mataf settlement. Because of the speedof the geomorphological change of the landscapearound Julfar, this creek has now completely siltedup, but it was clearly once a secure harbouroverlooked by the southern walls of al-Mataf.

The landscape between Julfar, al-Rams and Khawral-Khuwayr has been disrupted in modern times bylandfilling, masking the complex natural landscapeof creeks and sabkha. Nevertheless, we understandenough of the geomorphology of the land north ofJulfar/al-Mataf to assume that it would not havebeen easy to use Khawr al-Khuwayr as Julfar’s port,given the nature of the ancient landscape. Thus,distance and topography both argue against Khawral-Khuwayr being the harbour of Julfar/al-Mataf, i.e.al-Sirr.

It is also clear from Balbi’s list that Sir or Sircorcorwas distinct from his Rasaelchime [¼Ra’s al-Khaima],

which he lists as a separate place. It follows,therefore, that Balbi’s list of coastal places in south-eastern Arabia should be amended to read asfollows:

Rasaelchime [¼ Ra’s al-Khaima].Sir [Julfar]Corcor [¼ Khawr al- Khuwayr]Casab [¼ Khasab]Conzar [¼ Kumzar]

Such an explanation would account for Balbi’scurious silence on the toponym Julfar, whereas heis accurate in every other respect regarding localplace names as Slot has demonstrated. In short, theeliding of Sir and Corcor is merely an error ofcomprehension of the words of a local Arab inform-ant on the part of Balbi. Reinforcing this view is themanner in which he transliterates other names,especially Barechator, an eliding into one word ofthe Arabic Bahr Qatar, the Sea of Qatar, andZesirasilbar, i.e. jazırat fı’l-bahr or juzr fı’l-bahr, i.e.‘‘islands out in the sea’’. Given Balbi’s method oftransliteration, the confusing eliding of Arabic termsinto Delmephialmas and Sircorcor as proposed hereseems to offer plausible interpretations of his terms.

References1. Slot BJ. The Arabs of the Gulf 1602–1784.

Leidschendam, 1993: 37–39; Balbi G.

Viaggi delle Indie Orientali. Venice, 1590;

Pinto O, ed. Viaggi C. Federici e G.

Balbi alle Indie Orientali. Rome: Nuovo

Ramusio, 4: 1962; Purchas S. Pilgrim-ages, vol. 2, London, 1626: 1727–1729.

2. For an account of the problem of

Portuguese transliterations of Gulf

toponyms, see Potts DT. The Gulf

Coast of the United Arab Emirates in

the Homem-Reinels Atlas of 1519. AAE7: 1996: 119–123.

3. Burton RF. Personal Narrative of a Pil-grimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, vol.

1. New York: Dover Publications, 1964:

245, n. 1.

4. King GRD. An Islamic Trading City inthe Arabian Gulf: The port of Julfar, Ra’sal-Khaimah United Arab Emirates.Forthcoming.

5. Sirhan b. Sacid b. Sirhan, translated

and annotated by Ross EC. Annals ofOman. Cambridge and New York:

Oleander Press, 1984: 21–22. He wrote

not long after Sha’ban 1140 H./March,

1728 CE., but using older materials.

6. Al-Maqdisı, Kitab ahsan al-taqasim fımacarifat al-iqlım, ed. de Goeje MJ.

Leiden: Brill, 1967: 70–71.

7. Sirhan, Annals of Oman: 51–52.

8. Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the

Dutch East India Company.

9. Slot, The Arabs of the Gulf: 329; DutchNational Archive, The Hague, ARA

Aanw. 1e Afd. 1889, 23b, fol. 12.

10. Niebuhr C. Travels through Arabia andother Countries in the East. Edinburgh,

1792 and Beirut: Librairie du Liban,

Beirut, no date: 141 (vol. 2).

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