a-a (see [Hymn to Bêl, line 3]).
dimmer Šis-ki is the most common Sumerian name of the god Sin, and means “brother of the land”. Sin was probably looked upon as “the helper of earth”. dimmer (see [Hymn to Bêl, line 2]). Šis equals aḥu, “brother”, (Br. 6437). ŠIŠ sometimes has the value uru, especially when it means naṣâru, “keep”. The ŠIŠ of our hymn is New-Babylonian but is not essentially different from the ŠIŠ of Gudea. ki (see [Hymn to Bêl, line 9]).
ù-mu-un-e (see [Hymn to Bêl, line 3]).
Šis-unu-ki-ma means “of the brother’s dwelling place”. Šis means “brother”. unu equals šubtu, “dwelling”, (Br. 4792). ma, perhaps, can be taken as a sign of the genitive, being dialectic for ga, which is for ge, one of the values of KIT (see MSL. pp. XI and XVI). Perhaps we ought to read this word Uru-um-ki-ma, taking the other value of ŠIŠ and also reading um instead of unu. In texts of OBI. it would appear that UNU is closely related to UM as well as to AB.
[3.] a-a dimmer Šis-ki ù-mu-un-e È(BIT)-ner-nu-gál(IG)
O father Nannar, lord of E-gišširgal!
a-a dimmer Šis-ki ù-mu-un-e (see [line 2]).
È-ner-nu-gál is not the usual spelling. The more common form is È-giš-šir-gal. Our È(BIT)-ner(NER)-nu(NU)-gál(IG) which also occurs in Ḥammurabi (for example, in CḤ. Col. II, line 21, Plate II) is dialectic for È(BIT)-giš(IZ)-šir(ŠIR)-gal(GAL). È(BIT)-giš(IZ)-šir(ŠIR)-gal(GAL) is the spelling found in the Ašurbânipal Hymn. In the inscription of the Clay Cylinder of Nabonidus found at Ur (Col. I, line 30), the spelling is È(BIT)-giš(IZ)-šir(ŠIR)-gal(GAL), but the margin has the spelling È(BIT)-giš(IZ)-nu(NU)-gál(IG). È equals bîtu, “house”, (Br. 6238). ner evidently stands for kiš. These two values, ner and kiš, were represented by the same sign in old Babylonian; namely, PIRIḲḲU. From the sign PIRIḲḲU, there developed in Assyrian another sign, whose chief value is kiš with the meaning kiššatu. The sign here then should have the value kiš, or in old Babylonian giš, which is also one of the values of GISSU, a determinative before the name of a light. nu is for šir which equals nûru, “light”. IṢ.ŠIR is a common ideogram for “light”. The interchange of NU and SIRU is not so easy to explain. The fact that NU instead of SIRU occurs in the name of the temple in the time of Ḥammurabi would go to show that the spelling of the word with NU is more primitive than the spelling with SIRU. Perhaps NU has a value šir. Brünnow recognizes the fact that NU in the name of the temple sometimes takes the place of SIRU (see Br. 2005 and 1657). There is a difference between IḲU and GALLU. IḲU equals bašû, while GALLU equals rabû. The gal (ES mal) of IḲU must be different from the gal of GALLU.
[4.] a-a dimmer Šis-ki ù-mu-un dimmer Áš-suḥ-ud
O father Nannar, lord of Namraṣit!