| 1. | (ku(sarikku)) | = | aries. |
| 2. | (te(mennu)) | = | taurus. |
| 3. | (mašu) | = | gemini. |
| 4. | (pulukku) | = | cancer. |
| 5. | (arū) | = | leo. |
| 6. | (serû) | = | virgo. |
| 7. | (zibanîtu) | = | libra. |
| 8. | (aqrabu) | = | scorpio. |
| 9. | (pa) | = | arcitenens. |
| 10. | (enzu) | = | caper. |
| 11. | (gu) | = | amphora [aquarius]. |
| 12. | (zib) | = | pisces. |
[22] Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, v Band, 4 Heft, Oct. 1890, p. 351.
Also in Epping and Strassmaier’s work, Astronomisches aus Babylon, under the heading Die Zeichen des Thierkreises, pp. 170, 171, and Namen der Sterne, pp. 174, 175, the twelve abbreviations met with in the tablets are discussed at some length.
From a study of the list here given and of the passages referred to, we learn that it has been found possible to suggest for some of the abbreviations suitable terminations, and in the completed words thus obtained, the familiar constellations of the Zodiac, as we know them, are easily to be recognized.
As regards other of the abbreviations, and amongst them that of
(Gu) for the eleventh sign (Amphora or Aquarius), no termination has been suggested; and of it Strassmaier thus writes:[23] p. 171:—“Gu ist sonst fast ausschliesslich nur als Silbenzeichen gu bekannt”; and Jensen, discussing Epping and Strassmaier’s constellation list, writes thus of the abbreviation Gu for the eleventh constellation:[24] “Ob Gu einen ‘Wassereimer,’ ‘Schöpfeimer,’ bezeichnen kann, weiss ich nicht. Die bisher veröffentlichten Texte geben keinen Aufschluss darüber.”
[23] Astronomisches aus Babylon.
[24] Kosmologie der Babylonier, p. 314.
As a probable completion for the abbreviation Gu, the following suggestion is here put forward:—