Reverse
[22.] .............
[23.] ...... la a im[-si]
....... with water is filled
a equals mû, “water” (Br. 11347). “Water” is a primary meaning of the sign ÂU, which at first consisted of two short perpendicular lines representing “falling water” (see [Hymn to Bêl, line 3]).
im-si consists of indeterminate verbal prefix im and verbal root si. im (Br. p. 545). si ([Hymn to Bêl, line 22]).
[24.] ........ gi a im-si
..... with water is filled.
a im-si (see [line 23]).
[25.] ìd ...... e a im-si dimmer [Šis-ki-kam]
The river .... is filled with water by Nannar.
ìd equals nâru, “river”. Sometimes ìd is shortened to i (Br. 11647). The value ìd comes from the union of two signs A “water” and ṬÚ (Br. 10217). Moreover, ṬÚ with the value ṭú equals apsû, “sea”. The ṬÚ sign, explained more minutely, consists of ḤAL “run” inside of KIL “enclosure”. So ḤAL + KIL = running, “flowing within an enclosure”, hence = “sea”. While ìd means primarily “water of the sea”, it is much used also as a determinative before names of rivers. We have the name of the Euphrates in the next line. Perhaps the name of the Tigris was given in some one of the lines. The common Sumerian ideogram for the name of the Tigris is ḥal-ḥal, an intensified form of ḥal, which means “running” or “rushing”. The Tigris is thus very appropriately called “the rushing river”. The Babylonian Diglat in the hands of the Persians took the form Tigra.
[26.] azag-gi ìd ud-kib-nun-na-ge a im-si [dimmer Šis-ki-kam]
The bright Euphrates is filled with water by Nannar.
azag-gi equals ellu, “shining” (Br. 9901). azag (see [line 19]). gi is a phonetic complement, chosen no doubt with a view to vowel harmony as regards the following ìd (?). GI as an ideogram means “reed” (see [Hymn to Bêl, line 24], gín).
ìd ud-kib-nun-na-ge means the river of Sippar. For ìd, see on [line 25]. ud-kib-nun consists of ud “sun” + kib “flourish, generate”, and nun “great”. The sign KIB suggests the idea “double” and hence, of course, “generate, beget” (MSL. p. 203). Nun, of course, = rabû “great” (Br. 2628), while na must be the phonetic complement and ge the nota genitivi as used in the next Hymn. The form ud-kib-nun then seems to mean “the great (nun) generative force (kib) of the sun” (ud); a name applied to Sippar had been from time immemorial the seat of the worship of the sun-god Šamaš (RBA., pp. 69, 117). Ìd-ud-kib-nun-na-ge then simply means “the river (ìd) of (ge) Sippar”, viz., the Euphrates, which was usually termed in Sumerian Bura-nunu “the great stream” (MSL. p. 7, C).
a im-si (see on [line 23]).
[27.] ìd nu e-bi láḥ-e a im-si dimmer Šis-ki-kam
The empty river is filled with water by Nannar.
ìd (see on [line 25]).
nu, regular Sumerian negative adverb, equal to the Assyrian la.
e-bi equals noun e and suffix bi. e equals mû, “water” (Br. 5844). We have also had e equal to ḳabû, “speech” ([Hymn to Bêl, line 14]). bi is a suffix of the third person singular (see Br. 5135). bi gets its demonstrative nature from the conception “speak” which seems to be the primary one in the old Babylonian linear hieroglyph.
láḥ-e consists of root láḥ and vocalic prolongation e. láḥ equals misû “wash” (Br. 6167). It is used of washing the hands and feet. It gets the idea “wash” from the idea “servant” who does the washing, but it may have meant “servant” before it meant “wash”. It often has the phonetic complement ḥa or ḥi. Literally the clause read: “the river whose water washes not”.
a im-si (see on [line 23]).
dimmer Šis-ki-kam equals god-name dimmer Šis-ki plus kam = KAMMU without doubt (see CT. XV, Colophon of Tablet 29623, plate 12). kam is a well recognized determinative used after ordinal numerals. It no doubt occupies this position as a genitive particle, but, as a genitive sign, it may be used after words other than numerals; and, in fact, is so used in Gudea. It is evidently a lengthened form of the postposition ka; being ka plus am (see SVA. p. 60).
[28.] sug maḥ sug ban-da a im-si dimmer Šis-ki-kam
The great marsh, the little marsh is filled with water by Nannar.
The sign looks like MÀ but perhaps the copyist made a mistake. maḥ (see [Hymn to Bêl, line 23]).
sug equals ṣuṣû, “marsh”. The sign is the enclosure-sign KIL with the “water” sign ÂU within the “enclosure” sign.
ban-da: the signs are DUMU and DADDU. DUMU has several values, the chief of which are dumu, tur and ban. dumu equals mâru, “son”. We have met the value dumu or its dialectic equivalent ṭumu, represented by ṬU and MU (see on [line 5]). tur equals ṣiḥru, “small”, and is naturally followed by the phonetic complement ra. lan-da also equals ṣiḥru “little” (Br. 4133).
a im-si (see on [line 23]).
dimmer Šis-ki-kam (see [line 27]).
[29.] êr lim-ma dimmer En-zu
Penitential Psalm to Sin.
êr-lim-ma (see [Hymn to Bêl, line 27]).
dimmer En-zu “lord of wisdom” is the other name by which Sin is known in Sumerian. We have had one name above; viz., dimmer Šis-ki. dimmer En-zu is no doubt in genitive relation to the preceding part of the line, although the nota genitivi is lacking. In another hymn to Bêl (CT. XV, Tablet 29644, plate 12), the genitive relation is signified by the postposition kam. The words are: êr-lim-ma dingir En-lil-lá-kam.