Obverse
[1.] ù-mu-un na-àm-zu-ka na-àm ..... še-ir-ma-al nì-[te-na]
O lord of wisdom, ........... supreme by thyself!
ù-mu-un means “being lord”, ù equalling “lord” and mu-un equalling “being”. ù-mu-un is a phonetic representation of umun = bêlu, (Br. 9475). umun is sometimes ideographically represented by the sign GIGURÛ, the corner wedge (Br. 8659), which signifies “depress”, “overpower”, “be powerful”, “rule”. umun may be shortened either to u, mun or un, giving to GIGURÛ three values for “lord”, u, un and umun. umun, which is ES, has an EK value, ugun. In [line 17], we shall meet with another word for “lord”; viz., ga-šá-an.
ù: the sign IGI-DIBBU alone means “lord”. It has a well-known Assyrian equivalent, labâru, “be old”, (Br. 9464). Brummer explains the sign correctly as follows: IGI-DIBBU is a compound sign and equals ŠI, “eye”, plus LU, “take away”, hence the meaning “take away the eye”, “become old”, “elderly”, “lord”, (SVA. 2-7).
mu-un contracted to mun is cognate with me-en which equals bašû, “to be”, as in za-e-me-en (Br. 10404). We shall meet the form mu-un as a verbal prefix.
mu here is simply a dialectic form of me (MSL., p. 240). mu as a Sumerian value is attested by the sign-name MU. We shall meet with MU in the name Mu-ul-lil, also as a suffix and in other ways. The MU of our text is old Babylonian. It is the MU of Ur-Gur and Gudea (see brick of Ur-Gur, No. 90009, CT. XXI, and Gudea’s Cylinder A, Col. XVIII, line 27, in Déc. 36).
un is plainly cognate with en which is so commonly represented by the sign ÊNU. The sign UN we shall meet again with the value kalama. The UN of our text is a very ancient sign (see Cone of Eannatum, Col. I, CT. XXI, Tablet 30062).
na-àm-zu-ka consists of noun, na-àm-zu and postposition ka.
na-àm-zu is an abstract noun composed of the abstract prefix na-àm and the stem zu.
na-àm equals šîmtu, “fortune”, (Br. 1609 and HW. 654) and is a dialectic form of nam (Br. 2103) which is a common abstract prefix.
na is a Sumerian value of the sign NANÛ. The value is simply syllabic here. The sign originally signified “stone”. Our NA is found both in old Babylonian tablets and in New-Babylonian inscriptions.
àm (ES) also is only syllabic here. The sign has the EK value ag and is used ideographically.
zu: the sign representing zu has only one value, presenting a rather uncommon circumstance in Sumerian. zu means “know”, also “be wise”, and may equal nîmeḳu, “wisdom”, (Br. 136), but the author preferred to say na-àm-zu, “the fortune of wisdom”.
ka, sign-name KÂGU, is a postpositive sign of the genitive. The sign KÂGU (discussed below) is often used in this way, but it has several values and is used to express a large number of ideas, ka as a postposition is a dialectic form of ge(KIT).
še-ir-ma-al is ES for the EK nir-gal, š changing to n and m to g (MSL. p. XI). It is translated into Assyrian by the word etellu. še-ir-ma-al consists then of two parts; stem še-ir and suffix ma-al. Strictly, še-ir is “lord” and še-ir-ma-al is “lordship”.
še-ir: e and i appear generally to be distinct sounds, but they combine, just as the two u’s combine in mu-un, making mun, and as the two a’s combine in na-àm, making nam. Evidently the weaker sound is absorbed by the stronger, hence še-ir becomes šêr, “ruler”, which could be represented by NISIGÙ (JA., 1905, p. 113, also Br. 4306).
še is perhaps a Semitic value coming from šê’u, “grain”. The original sign is a picture of a head of grain like wheat or oats. The name of the sign is Û-UM. The sign occurs in [line 20] as an ideogram.
ir is also Semitic value of the sign GAḲ-GUNÙ. We shall meet the sign used as a verb equal to kamû, “bind”.
ma-al, phonetically written for mal, is an ending which adds to šêr the idea of “having”; hence še-ir-ma-al means “having rule”.
ma: we shall find MAMÛ used mostly as a noun, but it may occur as a verbal prefix or as a phonetic complement.
al: the sign has only one value, al, whose use is principally syllabic. The sign-name is ALLU.
nì-te-na: nì-te is the main word with na as a suffix.
nì-te: nì and te stand related to each other as object and cognate verb, meaning “fear a fear”. The affinity of nì and te is shown by the fact that the sign for nì, called IMMU, may have the value tu (see Br. 8355), then the object and verb would be tu-te, “fear a fear” (see Fossey in JA., 1905, p. 128). nì-te may mean “self” just as nì may stand not only for “fear” but for that which causes fear as Rammânu, “the storm-god”, and then by way of erroneous association for ramânu, “self”.
nì: the sign IMMU is one of the principal signs that originally denoted “the quarter of the heavens”. It is used to signify “storm” and many ideas connected with storm.
te: TÊMMÊNU originally meant “orientation”, then “to approach hostilely”; hence nì-te meant “approach of storm”.
na is an indeterminate suffix, but the context shows that it means “thy”, so that nì-te-na means “thyself” (see na above).
[2.] dimmer Mu-ul-lil ù-mu-un na-àm-zu-ka ... še-ir-ma-al nì-te-na
O Bêl, lord of wisdom, ........ supreme by thyself!
dimmer: the sign AN here has the value dimmer. In the great bilingual penitential Psalm, K. 2811 (IV R. plate 10), instead of the single sign AN, we have the spelling dim-me-er (see lines [3], [7] and others). If this were an EK composition, the sign AN might be dingir, di-in-gir, but in the words ù-mu-un and še-ir-ma-al which we have already had, we have evidence that this is an ES composition, hence AN here is to be read dimmer.
Mu-ul-lil: Bêl has only one name in this hymn; namely, Mul-lil. In the two tablets, 29644 and 29623, following this tablet, Bêl is called En-lil (see the colophons). The word Mu-ul-lil divides into two parts, Mu-ul, which contracts into Mul, and lil.
Mu-ul: Mul is ES; En is EK. Both Mul and En mean “lord”, so that either Mul-lil or En-lil means “lord of fulness”. It is probable that mul (wul) is cognate with en (el).
mu (as a value is discussed in [line 1]).
ul: the sign is composed of GÊŠPU and GUṬṬU. The value ul is Semitic. We shall meet below this sign with the value rù meaning “perfect”.
lil: the name of the sign is KÎTU. lil in magic writings means “demon”, i. e., a spirit which may be either good or bad. Originally the sign indicated “structure”, from which idea comes the postpositional use of the sign with the value ge. šâru, “wind”, with the value lil is a secondary meaning of the sign.
ù-mu-un na-àm-zu-ka (occurring in [line 1], was discussed there). The fragments following -ka do not give a sure clue as to what the signs were before the erasure. After dimmer Mu-ul-lil perhaps the whole of the second line was precisely like the first.
še-ir-ma-al nì-te-na (explained in [line 1]).
[3.] a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil ù-mu-un-e kur-kur-ra
O father Bêl, lord of the lands!
a-a is probably for ad-da, ad meaning “protector”. Exactly how a-a comes to be used in the place of ad-da may not be determined with certainty. The explanation may lie in the relation between “water”, “seed” and “father”. a-a also seems to be a softened form of ad-da. a means “seed” or more primarily “water”. The sign is an ideographic picture of dripping water.
dimmer Mu-ul-lil (explained in [line 2]).
ù-mu-un-e divides into the word ù-mu-un and the prolongation vowel e, possibly demonstrative in sense (see e farther on).
ù-mu-un is not elsewhere in this hymn lengthened to ù-mu-un-e, but ù-mu-un occurs nine times.
kur-kur-ra is the plural form of noun, kur, plus postposition ra.
kur-kur: in Sumerian the general way of denoting the plural in nouns is by doubling the root (see ASK. p. 140), whereas the doubled root in a verb means an intensified or causative stem. There are five other cases of doubling the root in the hymn: di-di, [line 7], ma-ma, [line 8], ir-ir, [line 13], má-má, [line 20]; and da-da, [line 23].
kur: the sign KÛRU in the old linear form represented pictorially “mountain tops”. The value kur has three very common Assyrian equivalents, šadû, “mountain”, irṣitu, “earth” and mâtu, “land”, all closely related to each other.
ra is a common postposition signifying “unto”. Perhaps ra sometimes serves merely as a vowel of prolongation, the r at the same time making a double of the final consonant of the preceding word. In such a case ra is called a phonetic complement, while it also helps to determine the value of the sign immediately preceding. To illustrate, the sign KÙRU being followed by RARÛ cannot be read gin nor mad. ra can also be the sign of the genitive (Br. 6367).
[4.] a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil à-mu-un dug-ga zi-da
O father Bêl, lord of righteous command!
a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil ù-mu-un (explained in lines [1], [2] and [3]).
dug-ga: dug is the value of KÂGU to be used here, as is at once suggested by the phonetic complement ga.
dug: a very common meaning of dug is ḳibîtu, “command” (Br. 532).
ga is merely the vowel of prolongation a with the final g of the preceding stem.
zi-da: zi being followed by da gives the impression that it should be read zid with da as a phonetic complement. A final consonant in the first syllable, however, is not always a necessity. The name of the temple of Nabu at Borsippa is not read È-zid-da, but È-zi-da or È-zida.
zi here equals imnu, “right”. It may sometimes equal napištu (see below, [line 25]).
[5.] a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil siba sag gig-ga
O father Bêl, shepherd of the blackheaded!
siba equals rê’û (Br. 5688). The sign is compounded from PA and LU and means “staff-bearer”, since PA signifies “staff” and LU means “hold”, “seize”. The use of the sign is confined almost entirely to the idea of shepherd of animals and then figuratively to that of governor of men.
sag: the sign with the value sag, called SANGU or SAGGU, is the common sign to represent “head” which is expressed in Assyrian either by rêšu or ḳaḳḳadu (see Br. 3522 and 3513). The sign occurs in many compounds.
gig-ga: gig is the value of MI suggested by the phonetic complement ga.
gig: the sign is composed of the corner wedge U and the sign TATTAB and means “darkness”. The sign really signifies “entering into depression”. gi perhaps is a dialectism for mi.
ga = phonetic complement, sag gig-ga means a race of men, evidently here the Babylonians, the people in particular over whom Bêl exercised rule. The term is certainly not one of depreciation. It merely shows that the Babylonians were swarthy. On the other hand, “blackheaded” may be intended to mean the human race inhabiting the earth in contradistinction to the bright celestial beings (see CDAL. 878). Cyrus, in his Broken Cylinder, seems to use the phrase as meaning the Babylonians. His words are: nišê ṣal-mat ḳaḳḳadi šá ú-šá-ak-ši-du ḳa-ta-a-šu. “The blackheaded people whom he caused his hands to conquer” (V R. 35, 13).
[6.] a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil i-de gaba nì-te-na
O father Bêl, the only all-seeing one!
i-de, phonetic representation of ide, which in the EK dialect is represented by the sign IGÛ with the value igi which in Assyrian means înu, “eye” (Br. 4004, 4003 and 9273). ide is ES for the EK igi. We have the sign IGÛ in the colophon where it occurs with ÂU, “water”, a-ide meaning “water of the eye”.
i is represented by GIṬṬÛ (“five”). The value i, however, is, of course, entirely syllabic here. Notice that there is a slight difference between the Babylonian GIṬṬÛ and the Assyrian GIṬṬÛ. In Assyrian, GIṬṬÛ consists of two wedges followed by three. In Babylonian it consists of three followed by two, and in the linear form the sign consists of three horizontal lines followed by two (see AL. p. 125, No. 105).
de represented by IZÛ and having the value bil means “fire”. The sign in its hieroglyphic form is probably a picture of building a fire by the friction of an instrument against a piece of wood. Hence the sign is properly composed of AM and GIŠ, AM representing something having a head and GIŠ meaning “wood”. The sign in our text is old Babylonian and may be found in Gudea (Cylinder B, Col. IV, line 13, in Déc. Plate 34). Possibly i-de could be explained as if i were an abstract prefix and de as referring to the light of the eye, hence i-de means “eye”.
gaba is the common word for irtu, “breast” (Br. 4477). The sign GABBU is a double MU-sign meaning “fulness”. From this idea of “fulness” we easily derive the idea of “open” (Br. 4490). So that ide gaba means “open eyed”. The two MU’s appear entirely separate in the Babylonian form of the sign as they do not in the Assyrian form (see TC. p. 18). Our GABBU is not so old as the GABBU of the Stèleo des Vauturs, but is like Gudea’s GABBU (see Cylinder A, Cob XXI, line 25, in Déc. Plate 34). i-de gaba is about equal to “omniscient”.
nì-te-na may be rendered as in [line 1], “thyself,” or perhaps we could say “only”.
[7.] a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil ama erim-na di-di
O father Bêl, the lord that executest judgment on thy enemies!
ama: the meaning for AMMU with the value ama is rîmu, “bull”. AMMU may mean “lord”, bêlu (Br. 4543). In the sign AMMU we have the hieroglyphs for the bull’s head and the mountain combined. In the oldest Babylonian form, of course, lines are used instead of wedges. In Assyrian the sign has been reduced to two horizontal wedges placed before the sign DÛGU. AMMU represents “the bull of the mountains”. In [line 9] we shall have the sign GUṬṬU which represents “the bull not of the mountains”, i. e. “the domestic bull” or “the ox”. The sign is the same in form as AMMU, except that the little inside wedges representing the mountains are wanting.
erim-na: erim is taken to be the right value rather than laḥ, because of the following na which serves as a phonetic complement, m and n being closely related because of their similar indeterminate nasal qualities.
erim affords a meaning that seems to suit the context. erim must be equal to the Assyrian ṣâbu which must like the Hebrew ṣābā have in it the idea of “service”. Such expressions as the following bring out the idea of “service”. erim-bal-ku-a, “slave employed at the water wheel” (OBTR. Plate 91, Obv.). erim-bal-gub-ba, “slave who carries a hatchet” (OBTR. Plate 17, Obv.). A common meaning for erim is “warrior”, but the warrior as a soldier rather a general. Then from the idea “soldier of the enemy”, we come to the idea “enemy”, which seems to be the meaning here.
na, while serving phonetically, is also here a pronominal suffix.
di-di can equal kašâdu (Br. 9529 and 9563). The judgment implied by di-di, accordingly, may be that executed on an enemy. di-di is more than pronouncing sentence. It is inflicting the punishment.
di may be a value borrowed from the Assyrian dânu, “to judge”, but this is uncertain, as such an occurrence implies Semitic influence which could not have amounted to much if this hymn was written at a very early period.
[8.] a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil ù-nê-la ma-ma
O father Bêl, the power of the land!
ù-nê-la equals noun ù-nê = emûḳu, “power” and phonetic complement la.
ù: IGI-DIBBU might be confounded with ḤUL. It is rather carelessly written here. ù, we have seen in [line 1], may mean “lord” in the sense of being “elderly”. ù might mean “mountain”; if so it would be in the sense of being an “ancient mountain”. ù here, however, must be an abstract prefix (MSL. p. XVII). ù, for example, is used as such a prefix with tu, ù-tu being equal to “offspring” (Br. 9470).
nê: PIRIḲḲU in passing from the old Babylonian form which we have in our text meets with much change. The form in our text comes near to being that of the oldest known. Even in Ḥammurabi it begins to take the form of the Assyrian PIRIḲḲU (see CḤ. XLIV. 24. Plate LXXXI). PIRIḲḲU with the value gir which is EK for the ES ner is the common sign for “foot” (Br. 9192). With the meaning of “power” it generally has the value nê (Br. 9184).
la: LALÛ here is essentially the same as the old linear picture which may readily be found in old Sumerian script, given also by Delitzsch (see AL. p. 122, No. 31). la means “fulness” like the Assyrian lalû, but its use in our text is entirely phonetic. We should rather expect ra here. Note that in [line 10], we have ra where we should expect la, and in [line 12], we have da-ma-al-la where the la is regular, just as ra is regular in kur-kur-ra of [line 3].
ma-ma: MAMÛ in its original form is an old hieroglyph representing the earth, so that “earth” or “the land” is a common meaning for ma and equal to the Assyrian mâtu which probably comes from Sumerian ma, “land”, and da, “strong” = DADDU (see [line 1] for further comment).
[9.] ama nà-a gù ne-sig gan-nu ki
The bull of the pasture, the bull that encompassest the productive land.
ama, which in [line 7] was rendered by “lord”, must mean here “bull”, as the word nà-a limits us to this meaning. nà-a means “pasture”. nà-a could be taken as an adjective, descriptive of the attitude of the bull, i. e., that of lying down quietly. We have nà-a again in [line 14]. a is simply phonetic here (see [line 3]).
nà: the sign for the value nà has no sign-name. In almost this form, the sign is easily found in the text of Gudea (see Cylinder B, Col. XVI, line 19, in Déc. 35). The form in our text is very near to the original linear form and differs much from the Assyrian. The ordinary meaning of nà is given by the Assyrian rabâṣu “lie down”, kindred to the Hebrew rābăṣ.
gù, the value here for GUṬṬU, is commonly rendered in Assyrian by alpu “ox”. The sign represents the bull’s head with horns. Historically the sign has three forms, the old Babylonian linear form, the old Babylonian wedge-form and the Assyrian wedge-form. The old Babylonian linear and wedge-forms are the same, except that wedges occur in the latter where simple straight lines appear in the former. The Assyrian form is composed of two horizontal wedges, one upright wedge and two little corner wedges (AL. p. 128, No. 164). The difference between GUṬṬU and AMMU is significant (see note on [line 7]).
ne-sig: ne-sig-ga equals kamû, “bind” (Br. 4626). The meaning “bind” fits here.
ne is not an unusual indeterminate verbal prefix (see MSL. p. XXIX).
sig = PA, probably with the value sig, may equal kamû (Br. 5575). Hence ne-sig is a verb, ne being the prefix and sig the stem.
gan-nu: the value gan is indicated by the following nu.
gan with complementary nu is represented here by an ancient form of the sign which is very different from the Assyrian form. The meaning here must be expressed by daḥâdu, “plenty”, kindred to alidu (IV R. 9, 24a).
ki: the KIKÛ of our text is New-Babylonian (see the Cyrus Cylinder, I R. 35, line 4). The early linear form is well represented by the wedge-form of Ḥammurabi (CḤ. Col. I, line 10, plate I). A picture of the earth was probably attempted in the archaic linear form. It should be noted that space is represented conventionally by parallel horizontal lines included in a rectangle, orientated to the four quarters of the heavens.
[10.] dimmer Mu-ul-lil nin ḳar-ra ki damal-ra
O Bêl, the bountiful lord of the broad land!
dimmer Mu-ul-lil (see [line 2] for notes).
nin in the sense of bêlu, “lord”, gives a good context.
ḳar-ra equals noun ḳar and postposition ra; ḳar = “plenty” (see MSL. 123). The text however may be dam-ḳar-ra.
Note that ra may be taken as a postposition of the genitive as well as phonetic complement (see on [line 3]).
ki (see on [line 9]).
damal-ra equals adjective plus postposition.
damal, ES for the EK dagal, with the meaning of rapšu, “extensive” (Br. 5452). The sign name is AMÛ. The sign is composed of two signs one within the other, PISANNU, “house”, the outer sign, and ANÛ, “high”, the inner sign, hence the meaning “large space”, “extensive”.
[11.] ù-mu-un mu-ud-na dú sag-ma-al ki
The lord of creation, the creator, the true head of the land!
ù-mu-un (see [line 1] for note).
mu-ud-na may equal “creator” or “begetter”, just as muḥ-na equals the Assyrian a-lid (IV R. 9, 32a). mu-ud is a phonetic representation of the word mud, whose sign is MUŠÊN-DUGÛ, ḤU plus ḤI (Br. 2273). The word mud is equal to the Assyrian banû (Br. 2274).
dú: here we must let the sense govern us in deciding on a form which may be read either as KAK or NI. KAK with the value du equal to banû (Br. 5248) gives a meaning that fits smoothly with what precedes and follows. In their original forms KAK, NI and IR are similar yet entirely distinct signs. In the archaic linear form, KAK is a triangle with one of the angles pointing to the right. NI is a triangle with one of the angles pointing to the right and one upright line passing through the triangle. IR also is a triangle with one of the angles pointing to the right and two upright lines passing through the triangle.
sag-ma-al equals noun sag, plus suffix ma-al. It could stand for sag-ga just as sag-mal can stand for sag-ga (Br. 3595). sag equals “head” (as in [line 5]). ma-al: if ma-al is taken a suffix (as in [line 1]), it stands for the sign PISANNU meaning šakânu, “establish”, or bašû, “exist”, and is ES for the EK gal.
ki (see [line 9]).
[12.] ù-mu-un zal laḥ-na ga nunuz-ám da-ma-al-la
The lord whose shining oil is milk for an extensive progeny!
ù-mu-un (see [line 1] for note).
zal: NI means “oil”. The Babylonian KAK, NI and IR should be distinguished from the Assyrian. In Assyrian the horizontal wedges are parallel and do not come to an angle at the right.
laḥ-na: zal laḥ-na means “his shining oil”, and the thought appears to be that Bêl causes food to be produced to sustain successive generations. His oil is milk for many generations. zal-laḥ is somewhat like the expression “finest oil” found in Assyrian inscriptions.
laḥ: the signs ḤISSU and ṢÂBU find their nearest approach to each other in the value laḥ. Both signs have this value with the meaning “brightness”.
na here is a suffix of the third person; sometimes it is second person (see [line 1]).
ga: our sign here is the old Babylonian GÛ which with its common value ga means šizbu, “milk”. The archaic linear form represents the teat of the breast. ga occurs often as a phonetic complement (see [line 4]).
nunuz-ám means “is multitudinous”. nunuz: NUNUZ in this form is, as Delitzsch observes (HW. p. 525b), New-Babylonian. In Assyrian it is composed of ṢAB and ḤI and in New-Babylonian of ṢAB and ŠE. Here it is equal to the Assyrian lîpu, German “Nachkomme”.
ám: A.AN, equalling ám, is a well recognized verbal suffix used like the verb “to be”; for instance, dingir-ra ám means “is a god” and gal-la ám means “is great” (see SVA. p. 56).
da-ma-al-la is composed of the adjective da-ma-al and the phonetic complement la. da-ma-al is the phonetic representation in ES of the sign AMÛ meaning rapšu (see [line 10]).
[13.] ù-mu-un silim-ma-a-ni eri ir-ir
The lord whose decrees bind together the city.
silim-ma-a-ni means “his decree”. Thus, silim-ma-a equals noun, plus phonetic complement, plus vowel prolongation. silim: we have had the sign SARARÛ (in [line 7]), where it was given the value di; here, however, the phonetic complement suggests the choice of the value silim, from which we derive the meaning “decree”, although “salutation” is a more primary meaning expressed by the Semitic value silim (from šulmu). The sign is apparently New-Babylonian.
ni is one of the common nominal suffixes of the third person. Note that Bêl is addressed in the third person in this line, but we shall find him addressed in the second person again in [line 16].
eri is ES for the EK uru. This value is substantiated by the name of the city of Eridu = Eri-ṭu, (see MSL. p. 105). The name of the sign is ALU. Our sign is old Babylonian and is not very different from the hieroglyphic form which is supposed to represent a city (see AL. p. 121, No. 21). It differs considerably from the New-Babylonian ALU which is much like the Assyrian.
ir-ir is an intensive form of the verb and therefore may be causative. Bêl is supposed to have aided kings especially in capturing cities. ir may mean “bind”, expressed by kamû, but kamû is not so often represented by IR as by DIBBU or LALLU. kamû may be represented by PA (see [line 9]). Although ir is said to be a Semitic value, it is used in this hymn syllabically and is the only value of the sign preserved (see [line 1] and also dù in [line 11] for further comment).
[14.] dù nà-a-ni à àm-e gal-la
Whose powerful dwelling-place (is the seat of) a great command,
dù: the sign giving this value has two origins, one of which is represented by the value dul, meaning “cover” (Br. 9582). The other is represented by the value dù and means “dwelling-place”, rendered in Assyrian by šubtu (Br. 9588). dù really means “prescribed space”.
nà-a-ni means “his lying-down place”. nà-a defines with more particularity the nature of the dwelling as “a lying-down place”, “a permanent place of rest”. Here we have dù nà-a; above we have ama nà-a ([line 9]).
à: IDU and DADDU come from the same ideogram which is the picture of the hand and the forearm, the fingers pointing to the left. The value id is supposed to be of Semitic derivation, from the root appearing in Assyrian as idu, “hand”. The sign IDU also means “side”, “wing”, “horn”, “power”. Hence I render “powerful” here, making it qualify dù nà-a-ni. The sign in our text is old Babylonian; yet it seems to be a form that is approaching the Assyrian form. TA is also related to ID and DA and is used as DA sometimes is, as a postposition.
àm-e, composed of prefix àm and stem e. àm: we have had the sign used phonetically ([line 1]). Here it is undoubtedly an abstract prefix (MSL. p. XVII), qualifying the following e. The sign is old Babylonian, readily found in old Babylonian inscriptions. It is a composite sign. The enclosure contains the sign IZÛ which is also composite. IZÛ however, as explained above ([line 6]), means “fire”. So àm is primarily the “fire of love”, hence the usual meaning “love”.
e: it is clear that e can equal ḳabû, “speak” (Br. 5843 and HW. 578a). Hence àm-e must mean “speech”. The sign is old Babylonian, as may be seen, for instance, by examining Ḥammurabi. It is called ÊGÛ. The New-Babylonian form comes nearer to the old Babylonian than the Assyrian does. This fact goes to show that the Assyrian signs are as a rule farther away from the archaic forms than the New-Babylonian signs are. The sign ÂU represented “water”, but the sign ÊGÛ represented the “waterditch”, “canal”. How e comes to mean ḳabû may perhaps be explained by its relation to the value i of KÂGU which equals amâtu, “word”.
gal-la: gal, “great”, is often followed by the phonetic complement la.
[15.] kur dimmer Babbar-ê-ta kur dimmer Babbar-šu-šù
From the land of the rising sun to the land of the setting sun!
kur (see on [line 3]).
dimmer Babbar-ê-ta equals ideogram for “the sun”, plus verb ê = “coming out”, plus postposition “from”. dimmer Babbar is the ordinary ideogram for ilu Šamaš used of “the sun”, as well as of “the god Šamaš”. Babbar is a value of ḤISSU which means “to be white”.
ê: = two signs, UD and DU, equivalent to this value, meaning aṣû, “come out”, or “go out”. The sign UD is a picture of the sun, and represents the rising sun; hence = “come forth”.
ta is a postposition meaning in this case “from”, but often “in, into”. TA in our text is old Babylonian and much like the linear form in early tablets. Nearly the same form can be found in Ḥammurabi also. But on the whole, the old Babylonian, the Assyrian and the New-Babylonian all differ from each other much. TA has a close relation to DA and ID (see on [line 14]).
dimmer Babbar-šu-šù equals ideogram for “the sun”, plus šu = “going in”, plus postposition “to”.
šu equals erêbu, “enter in”. Ideographically, ŠU means “bent over”, or “depressed”.
šù is a value of KU, as a postposition, meaning “unto”. The sign is of rectangular form and has many values, consequently many meanings starting with the idea “enclosure”. The governing force of šù here reaches back over kur in the middle of the line, just as the governing force of ta goes back over kur at the beginning of the line.
The beautiful expression of this line occurs more than once in Sumerian and Babylonian literature. As early as Lugalziggisi it appears in royal writings. Lugalziggisi speaks of his kingdom as extending “from the rising sun to the setting sun”. Babbar-ê-ta (UD.UD.DU.TA) Babbar-šu-šù (UD.ŠU.KU) (OBI. No. 87, Col. II, 12 and 13). And Esarhaddon in Cylinder A says that “From the rising sun to the setting sun he marched without a rival”. ul-tu ṣi-it ilu Šam-ši a-di e-rib ilu Šam-ši it-tal-lak-u-ma ma-ḥi-ra la i-šu-u (I R. 45, Col. I, 7 and 8).
[16.] kur-ra ù-mu-un nu-um-ti za-e ù-mu-un ab-da-me-en
O mountain, the lord of life, thou the lord indeed art!
kur-ra (see on [line 3]).
ù-mu-un (see on [line 1]).
nu-um-ti occurs also in the next line and no doubt equals balâṭu, “life”.
nu-um seems to be an abstracting prefix of the nature of nam as in nam-ti-la = balâṭu (Br. 1697). nu-um-ti, however, may be a phonetic representation of nim, also written num which means elîtu, “height” (Br. 1982 and 9011). According to this view, nu-um-ti might mean “the acme of life”, just as nam-ti equals “the fortune of life”; hence “life in general”. Or it might be suggested that num is really for nam, as a is known to differentiate sometimes into u; ga for instance becomes gu (MSL. p. X).
ti equals balâṭu, “life”, and has its fuller form in tin, also equal to balâṭu “live”.
za-e equals atta, “thou” (Br. 11762, also ASK. p. 139).
ab-da-me-en equals “thou thyself art”. The form consists of verbal prefix, infix and verb, as follows: ab, being an indeterminate prefix, may therefore be used of the second person (MSL. p. XXV). ÊŠU is an old Babylonian sign pictorially representing “enclosed space”, hence the meaning of “enclosure”. It means, with the value éš, “house”, and, with the value ab, “sea”. da is like à(ID) ([line 14]), ideographically represented by the picture of the hand and forearm ([line 4]). It means “side”, also “strength”. It is sometimes a reflexive verbal infix (MSL. p. XXIV). me-en equals bašû (Br. 10404). me also equals bašû (Br. 10361) and the longer me-a equals bašû (Br. 10459). en, therefore, is not an essential part of the word which means “be”. me-en has no connection with ma-e, the personal pronoun of the first person. men, in fact, can be used of the second person and even of the third as well. The defining pronoun za-e here compels us to take me-en in the second person.