[140] The expression used is tigri ili ‘a divine tigru’—which I take to be the Babylonian term for dwarf. See Jastrow, Religion II 913 note 7.
[141] Elsewhere we find the anomaly of a child born with a beard or with hair on the chin referred to. See Jastrow, Religion II 929.
[142] The talking infant (see also Jastrow, Religion II 929 note 6) occurs frequently as a prodigy in Roman literature. See Lycosthenes, Prodigiorum ac Ostentorum Chronicon 113. 228 etc.
[143] See further Jastrow, Religion II 928—infants born with one tooth, with two teeth or a number of teeth. The omen is also found in Roman literature, Livy, Historia XLI, 21; Pliny, Hist. Nat. VII, 15. King Richard the Third is among the historical personages said to have been born with teeth and which was regarded as an evil omen. (See Henry V, 3d Part. Act V, 6. 53 and 75.)
[144] Nergal, the god of pestilence, is meant. The text adds as a note ‘Such a being is called a divine tigru’. See note 1 above.
[145] Cun. Texts XXVI Pl. 4 with various duplicates and ‘extract’ tablets. See Jastrow, Religion II 907, note 1.
[146] An unidentified animal.
[147] In another list of birth-omens a woman giving birth to a serpent is interpreted that ‘the king will increase in power’ (Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 43, 9).
[148] Alluttu—described elsewhere (Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 46, 9), as a fish with a thick head—probably, therefore, a dolphin.
[149] Such a malformation with the feet united and ending in the rudiments of toes that resemble fish’s tail is still called a ‘Sirenformation’ in modern nomenclature. See Guinard, Précis de Teratologie 366 with illustrations fig. 178 and 179. See also Lycosthenes l. c. 142 and 316, also Hirst and Piersol, Human Monstrosities 88 and Pl. VII (sireno-melus).