Reverse
[17.] dimmer Mu-ul-lil kur-kur-ra ga-šá-an nu-um-ti nin-zu ga-šá-anab-da(-me-en)
O Bêl of the lands, lord of life, lord of wisdom, lord indeed thou art!
dimmer Mu-ul-lil (see [line 2] for note).
kur-kur-ra (see [line 3] for note).
ga-šá-an, like ù-mu-un ([line 1]), equals bêlu, “lord”, and is a phonetic form of gašan which is usually represented by GÊŠPU-GUNÛ (Br. 6989 and MSL. p. 129). ga is only a syllable here (see lines [4] and [12] for further comment). ŠÁ is an old sign; here it is old Babylonian and represents closely the linear form. The sign is much used in Assyrian with the syllabic value šá, especially in the place of NITÛ(ša) which is often a relative pronoun.
nu-um-ti (see on [line 16]).
nin-zu means “lord of wisdom”. nin equals bêlu (Br. 10985; see [line 10]). On zu (see [line 1]).
ab-da should evidently be ab-da-me-en (see [line 16]).
[18.] e-lum nì an-na a-kad za-da šá mu-e-da-mal
O mighty one, dread of heaven, royal one indeed thou art!
e-lum equals kabtu (Br. 5888), and appears to stand for elim which also equals kabtu (Br. 8885). lum is clearly syllabic here, but the sign, old Babylonian here, is indicative of plant-growth, consisting of waving lines.
nì equals puluḥtu, “fear”, here (see on [line 1]).
an-na: an equaling šamê, “heavens”, is a value of ANÛ attested by the phonetic complement na. The sign ANÛ in our text is old Babylonian and is the same as the original ideogram of the star, except that wedges have taken the place of straight lines. In our Hymn to Adad (CT. XV, Tablet 29631) the transition from the Babylonian to the Assyrian ANÛ may be clearly seen all on one page, wedges however are used, not straight lines. There is the original form, there is the Assyrian form, and there are intermediate forms enough to show how the Babylonian star passes into the Assyrian ANÛ. The NANÛ of our text may be found exactly in the Brick of Ur-Gur (CT. XXI, Tablet 90000, plate 8). In Nebuchadrezzar I. (CT. IX, Tablet 92987), the internal horizontals have disappeared, but the sign has not fully reached the Assyrian NANÛ.
a-kad: perhaps this word a-kad is a loan-word from the Assyrian ekdu. It is better to take a as a vocalic abstract prefix and to consider kad as the root. There are three signs that give this value kad (Br. 1364, 1365 and 2700). The sign GADU means kitû, “clothing material” (Br. 2704 and WH. 361; see also MSL. p. 114). The context alone suggests here that some idea of power may be expected in the word a-kad. Perhaps royal power is meant, which could be symbolically represented by a garment, especially a royal robe.
za-da no doubt stands for za-e-da and would be equal to “thou thyself”, “thou indeed” (see [line 16]).
šá in Sumerian may represent the Assyrian lû, “verily”, (Br. 7047). šá, simply as a syllable, occurs above (see [line 17]).
mu-e-da-mal is a verb. mu is an indeterminate verbal prefix. Whether it is first, second or third person may be determined by the context. Here, however, the za-da of the context shows mu to be second person (see on [line 1]). e here is a verbal infix, corroborative in character (see MSL. p. XXIV, also lines [3] and [14]). da is also a verbal infix (see [line 16]). mal equals bašû, “to be”, (Br. 2238).
[19.] dimmer Mu-ul-lil u en(?) dimmer-ri-ne za-da šá mu-e-da-mal
O Bêl, very lord of gods thou indeed art!
u equals bêlu, “lord”, and is a very common ideogram for “lord” (see ù-mu-un, [line 1]). en also equals bêlu, “lord”, but evidently the text is imperfect at this point (see [line 16], on en).
dimmer-ri-ne means “gods”. ri is a phonetic complement; ne is a purely phonetic plural ending used both for nouns and verbs (see SVA. p. 69).
za-da šá mu-e-da-mal (see [line 18]).
[20.] a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil mu-lu gu má-má-me-en mu-lu se má-má-me-en
O father Bêl, who causest vegetation to sprout, who causest grain to grow!
a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil (see on lines [2] and [3]).
mu-lu is a phonetic representation of mulu (Br. 6398). mulu is ES; EK would be gulu (Br. 6395). mu-lu frequently means the Assyrian relative pronoun ša (Br. 6406).
gu: GÛ is a composite sign whose original parts are NI and BE and which means “full of death”. According to the derivation, GÛ then may be read as “destruction” (MSL. p. 156). GÛ has also an Assyrian equivalent gû meaning “plant”, “vegetation” (Br. 11138 and HW. p. 582). The consideration of GÛ as meaning “vegetation” looks only on the perishable side of the object. The sign has few values. Here, it is clearly old Babylonian resembling the linear form.
má-má-me-en here equals aṣû, “go out”, used of plants and trees (Br. 4303). The more generally used word for aṣû is ê (UD.DU) (see on [line 15]).
má: the name of the sign is NISIGÛ (see note on še-ir, [line 1]). The sign is old Babylonian here. me-en (see on [line 16]).
še: the sign is old Babylonian here. Its most common Assyrian equivalent is šê’u, “grain” (see [line 1]). If we gave Û-UM the broader meaning of “production”, at the same time reading GÛ as “destruction”, we would have the fine antithetical parallelism: “O father Bêl, who bringest forth destruction and who bringest forth production.” Such a reading would give quite correctly the course of thought, for Bêl is god of the atmosphere, lord of the clouds, and commander of the rain-storms which are either sources of growth on earth or of ruin. On the other hand, the translation which I have adopted seems perhaps preferable.
[21.] dimmer Mu-ul-lil me-lam-zu gúr-ra ha-mu-ni-ib-( )-ne-ne
O Bêl, before the great glory may they be (in fear?)!
me-lam-zu: from the combination of ME and LAM we get the Assyrian melammu, “glory”. me: MIMÛ with the value išib means ellu, “bright” (see [line 16] for further comment). lam: one of the values of IZÛ, seems to equal išâtu, “flame”, but the usual value of IZÛ for išâtu is bil (see [line 6], de), me-lam literally means “bright flame”. zu, besides being an ideogram for idû, “know”, is the usual pronominal suffix of the second person singular (see on zu, [line 1]), as in this passage.
gúr-ra gives a good sense, though the signs resemble KU and RA giving šù-ra, a double postposition. The text however is defective. gúr-ra equals kabtu (Br. 10183), making the phrase read “before thy great glory”. gúr: KIL also has the value gurun equal to ebnu, “fruit” (Br. 10179). ra (see on [line 3]).
ḥa: KÙA is the usual Sumerian sign used with a verb, to give a precative sense as here. The sign here is old Babylonian and resembles the pictorial form which is clearly that of “a fish” (see on [line 22]). The original pictorial figure is one of the few to be found in which curved lines predominate.
mu-ni-ib-( )-ne-ne: strangely enough the verb seems to be omitted in the sentence of this line. Perhaps the omission is due to scribal error. mu is a verbal prefix of the third person here (see on [line 18]). ni-ib is a verbal infix (see MSL. p. XXXIII). The infixes are generally personally indeterminate. They incorporate, between the verbal prefixes that represent the subject and the verb, the object in pronominal form, whether it be direct or indirect. ni-ib really equals “before it”. The translation disregards ni-ib for the sake of smoothness. ni (see on [line 13]). ib stands to ni as postposition to pronoun. The sign for ib is old Babylonian; it is really composite and signifies “side”. ne-ne is a personal pronoun of the third person (see ASK. p. 139). ne is syllabic here (see de, [line 6], about its ideographic value; also lam, [line 21]).
[22.] ḥu-e an-na ḥa-e ṭú-ra šà-nì ma-ni-ib-si
The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea are filled with fear of thee!
ḥu-e equals iṣṣuru, “bird”. ḥu: simple ḥu is used elsewhere for iṣṣûru. The sign MUŠÊNNU here is old Babylonian. The archaic form is supposed to be the picture of a bird in flight. mušên, another value of MUŠÊNNU, also means “bird”. e is not a necessary part of the word, being here only a vowel of prolongation probably indicating the definite article (see lines [3] and [14]).
an-na (see on [line 18]).
ḥa-e equals nûnu, “fish”. ḥa alone equals nûnu (see on [line 21]). e serves the same purpose as in ḥu-e.
ṭú-ra equals apsû, “sea”. ṭú alone equals apsû (Br. 10217). ra may be taken as a sign of the genitive (see on [line 3]).
šà-nì equals “in the midst of fear”. šà: ŠÂGU, with the value šà, equal to libbu or kirbu, is one of the few Sumerian prepositions. It precedes its object as a noun in the construct state, nì (see on [line 18]).
ma-ni-ib-si consists of prefix, infix and verb. ma is not a very common verbal prefix. It is indeterminate, but the sense requires the third person (see MSL. p. XXIV). ni-ib is second person here (see on [line 21]). si: the most common meaning of si is malû, “fill”. The sign is Babylonian and can be found either in the Code of Ḥammurabi or the Cyrus Cylinder.
[23.] a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil-li da-da maḥ mu-e-gin sag-e-zi si-ba-e e-nab
O father Bêl, in great strength thou goest, the head of life, the shepherd of the stars!
a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil-li (see on [line 2]). li is merely phonetic complement. We might give it an ideographic value and connect it with da-da and render “abundant in strength”. The common meaning of LILÛ is rašû, “abound”. With the value gub, however, it means ellu, “bright”. The sign is old Babylonian, yet quite different from the archaic linear form.
da-da means “strength” (see on [line 16]).
maḥ has three common Assyrian equivalents, ma’adu, “many”, rabû, “great” and ṣîru, “high”. maḥ here equals rabû. There is still another Assyrian equivalent, maḥḥu which must be a loanword in Semitic.
mu-e-gin as prefix, infix and verb means “he indeed goes”. mu-e (see on [line 18]). gin is a value of the sign ARAGUBBÛ (see ê, [line 15]).
sag-e-zi equals “head” ([line 5]) plus vowel of prolongation ([line 3]) and “of life” ([line 4]). ZÎTU equals napištu as well as imnu and kînu.
si-ba-e divides into siba and e. si-ba is the same as siba ([line 5]), only here the word is given syllabically rather than ideographically. e is a vowel prolongation (as in [line 3]).
e-nab is naturally treated as though e were a vocalic prefix and nab the root. e as an abstract prefix, no doubt, is possible (MSL. p. XVII). nab: instead of NABBU, perhaps the sign is ANA-ÊŠŠÊKU with the last component omitted; then the value should be mul, equal to kakkabâni, “stars”, and the clause reads: “shepherd of the stars”. e may equal mû “water” (see [line 14]), and nab may equal šamû, “heaven”; then we have the reading: “shepherd of the water of heaven”.
[24.] ù-mu-un ka na-àm-gá iz-ba eri ga mu-e-gin gín si-ti šù-me-a
O lord, the mouth of production thou openest, as a prolific city thou goest, the reed of the fulness of life thou art!
ù-mu-un ([line 1]).
ka: KÂGU here is a noun with the value ka equal to pû, “mouth”, (Br. 538). The sign originally represented the head, and its first meaning was gu equal to ḳibû. The sign is old Babylonian (see on lines [1] and [4]).
na-àm-gá is a noun. na-àm is an abstract prefix ([line 1]). gá equals šakânu, “cause to be”, (Br. 5421). The sign is PISANNU. We have had the sign phonetically represented by ma-al ([line 11]) used as a suffix. Here gá is not a suffix, but the root.
iz-ba is a verb. iz is an indeterminate prefix, shown by the context to be of the second person. ba equals pitû, “open”. The sign is old Babylonian. The archaic form of the sign signified “divide”.
eri (see on [line 13]).
ga (see [line 12]). ga can be used as an adjective meaning “prolific”, one of the derived ideas of ga as “milk”.
mu-e-gin (see [line 23]).
gín equals ḳanû, “reed”. The sign is sometimes followed by the phonetic complement na. The sign is old Babylonian.
si equals “fulness” (see on [line 22]).
ti-šù means “unto life”. ti (see [line 16]); the sign here, however, really resembles BALA which primarily means “breaking into”. Then we have the derived meaning palû, “weapon”, then “insignia of royal authority”, and consequently “rule”, “government”. If we read bal instead of ti, then Bêl is “a full reed unto royalty”, which makes little sense. šù (see [line 15]).
me-a is the same as me-en (see on [line 16]). a is phonetic (see on [line 9]).
[25.] a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil sag zi sag nê-la šú ti ba-ni-ib-ag
O father Bêl, the head of life, the head of strength, the power of life thou makest thyself!
a-a dimmer Mu-ul-lil (see lines [2] and [3]). sag (see [line 5]).
zi equals napištu like ti (see [line 16], also [23]). nê-la (see on [line 8]).
šú equals ḳâtu, “hand”. The sign also has a value kád which is evidently derived from the Semitic ḳâtu.
ti (see on [line 24]). If we read the sign as TIL, then Bêl is “the power of life”. If we read BALA, then Bêl is “the power of royalty”, signifying perhaps that royal authority is vested in Bêl.
ba-ni-ib-ag is a verb, ba is an indeterminate verbal prefix, but is much used for the second person (MSL. p. XXVI). ni-ib (see on [line 21]). ag equals epêšu, “make”. The sign is old Babylonian.
[26.] šú-gil niš-ĭa mu-bi im
Altogether there are twenty-five lines in the tablet.
šú-gil equals napḥaru, “what is collected”, “totality”, “entirety”. šú is a prefix to the causative stem (see on [line 25]). gil equals paḥâru, “collect”.
nišĭa: the signs for the numerals twenty and five are the same as in Assyrian, niš is the Sumerian numeral for “twenty”. ĭa is the Sumerian numeral for “five”.
mu-bi im: mu-bi equals “his name”, each line of the Hymn being considered a name of Bêl. In our translation we may read “its lines”. im, the same sign as nì ([line 1]). im is sometimes equal to ṭîṭu, “clay”, or duppu, “tablet”.
[27.] êr(A.ŠI) lim(b)-ma
Hymn of praise.
êr is a value derived from two signs, A and ŠI, taken together. The most common meaning of the value is bikîtu, “lamentation”, or “song” (see i-de, [line 6]).
lim-ma: the phonetic complement ma indicates that the preceding value should end with m. Dr. Lau regards this as the sign lib(m) = kûru, “woe”, (Br. 7271); hence êr-lim-ma would mean a penitential psalm.