David Meadows points us here to a line drawing of the bilingual Aramaic/Greek tombstone inscription that Peter Thonemann identified as the source for the Greek inscription:
Compare the third-to-last line with the inscription on one of the codices:
Of interest to those looking at the paleo-Hebrew-looking script on the other codices is the unique shape and orientation of some of the letters. The two letters most out of place (see here for more discussion) are the yod and the lamed/nun. They are backwards and the curl on the descending stroke is uncharacteristic:
Compare now to the Madaba inscription’s shin (Steve Caruso has let me know the inscription is Nabataean):
Now compare the lamed/nun on the codices (which is also backwards if it’s a lamed), to the nun on the Madaba inscription:
It seems the “paleo-Hebrew” script from the codices may have also been lifted from the tombstone inscription on display in Jordan. There are other letters that clearly share a relationship as well, which I will discuss a bit later. I am hoping to have a photograph of the Madaba inscription itself up shortly. Stay tuned.
Daniel O. McClellan 
April 8th, 2011 at 10:33 am
[…] Dan McClellan takes it a step further and compares the script from that inscription to those Elkington recently has passed around and the inscription from the Madaba tombstone and he has determined that they are indeed by the same hand (and clearly, they are). Here are some of his comparisons along with those from the Chinese blog: […]
April 8th, 2011 at 4:40 pm
Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Dan. 🙂
If this is indeed the source, they were certainly copied poorly.
However, I think I see more similarity with the the actual shins in that inscription to the third one you’ve identified as “lamed” on the plates.
Gimmie a few hours to chew on this and I might be able to line some things up.
Peace,
-Steve
April 8th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
Also (to put what I said in better context) I noticed that what you’ve labeled as the Madaba inscription’s yods are actually its shins (on the first line there’s NP$ ‘soul/self’ and on the 5th line L$NT TLT(?) = “to the third year(?)”).
I’ll have to either dredge up a copy of “Nouvelles inscriptions nabatéennes” or take the time to chew through the script. Since I’m currently nursing a sinus headache, it shall have to wait.
Peace,
-Steve
April 8th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
Ah, thanks for the correction. That explains why the vertical stroke extends upward beyond the upper horizontal stroke. I’m not that familiar with this script, but this would explain why I saw no shins on the Madaba inscription. I will correct my post.
April 8th, 2011 at 5:50 pm
Hehe no problem it’s an honest mistake as Nabatean script is an odd, odd thing. The yods on this inscription are actually what look like the 2nd and 4th characters of the third line.
I’ve gone ahead and posted a “Nabatean Script Watch” on The Aramaic Blog in case any more pictures of these plates surface that bear any similarities.
In my next post I’ll actually be going over some more observations about the characters I’ve made, but I need to get a bunch of images made. Might need to wait until tomorrow.
Peace,
-Steve
April 8th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
I noticed another letter that is very similar to one appearing on the codices. The qof from the inscription bears quite striking resemblance to the third letter from the end on the text shown here (it’s way too small, but I don’t have a good photo of this plate):
April 8th, 2011 at 8:02 pm
Aye, it’d either be a qof or a tsade, but it’s sandwiched between what look like more Paleo-Hebrew-looking letters (that don’t occur in Nabatean) which would make it read MNQ( or MNC(, which would come from the root NQ( which is gibberish or NC( which is a Western root (that I can find attested in JPA/Galilean and CPA) that means “to stick in.” Inconclusive, but curious.
Peace,
-Steve
April 11th, 2011 at 6:19 am
[…] […]
April 13th, 2011 at 11:25 pm
[…] Other interesting links https://danielomcclellan.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/the-lead-codices-and-the-inscription-from-madaba/ […]
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:02 pm
[…] note, as I have, and Dan McClellan has, and Steve Caruso has, that the script on this coin is identical in many instances to the […]