“On page 180.–El gisr is literally ‘bridge.’ The bridge was also looked upon as a gate, as leading from one shore to the other.
“On page 229.–Sacred prostitution. Compare Babylonia kadishtu (literally, holy person), Hebrew kādusha, ‘harlot.’
“On page 233 (note).–The Babylonian patânu, ‘to hold the sacrificial meal,’ ‘to eat,’ naptanu, ‘meal,’ is connected with Hebrew miphtan. I am inclined to believe also that the Babylonian ʿgish-da=pitnu, really means ‘threshold;’ also that gish-sa, ush-sa, a bridal gift, is originally ‘threshold.’
“On page 234.–The ‘serpent’ of the boundary stone was originally the Milky Way. The other symbols are animals of the Zodiac.
“On page 235 (note 3).–Compare, also, Hommel, Babylonische Ursprung der Ægypt. Kultur (fight of Merodach with the serpent=fight of Rê ‘with ʿApep’).
“On page 238.–Nekhushtân, the name the serpent of Moses, is derived from נחשת, ‘vulva,’ or, at all events, is related to this word.”
[1]. See Trumbull’s Blood Covenant, passim.
[2]. See Trumbull’s Blood Covenant, pp. 191 f., 370; also Frazer’s Golden Bough, I., 183–185.
[3]. These facts I have obtained at different times in personal conversations with intelligent natives of Syria and of Egypt. It will be seen, later, how they are verified in the record of similar customs elsewhere.