8.a-adimmerMu-ul-lil ù-nê-la ma-maO father Bêl, the power of the land!
8.a-adimmerMu-ul-lil ù-nê-la ma-ma
O father Bêl, the power of the land!
ù-nê-laequals nounù-nê=emûḳu, “power” and phonetic complementla.
ù: IGI-DIBBU might be confounded with ḤUL. It is rather carelessly written here.ù, we have seen inline 1, may mean “lord” in the sense of being “elderly”.ùmight mean “mountain”; if so it would be in the sense of being an “ancient mountain”.ùhere, however, must be an abstract prefix (MSL. p. XVII).ù, for example, is used as such a prefix withtu,ù-tubeing equal to “offspring” (Br. 9470).
nê: PIRIḲḲU in passing from the old Babylonian form which we have in our text meets with much change. The form in our text comes near to being that of the oldest known. Even in Ḥammurabi it begins to take the form of the Assyrian PIRIḲḲU (see CḤ. XLIV. 24. Plate LXXXI). PIRIḲḲU with the valuegirwhich is EK for the ESneris the common sign for “foot” (Br. 9192). With the meaning of “power” it generally has the valuenê(Br. 9184).
la: LALÛ here is essentially the same as the old linear picture which may readily be found in old Sumerian script, given also by Delitzsch (see AL. p. 122, No. 31).lameans “fulness” like the Assyrianlalû, but its use in our text is entirely phonetic. We should rather expectrahere. Note that inline 10, we haverawhere we should expectla, and inline 12, we haveda-ma-al-lawhere thelais regular, just asrais regular inkur-kur-raofline 3.
ma-ma: MAMÛ in its original form is an old hieroglyph representing the earth, so that “earth” or “the land” is a common meaning formaand equal to the Assyrianmâtuwhich probably comes from Sumerianma, “land”, andda, “strong” = DADDU (seeline 1for further comment).
9.ama nà-a gù ne-sig gan-nu kiThe bull of the pasture, the bull that encompassest the productive land.
9.ama nà-a gù ne-sig gan-nu ki
The bull of the pasture, the bull that encompassest the productive land.
ama, which inline 7was rendered by “lord”, must mean here “bull”, as the wordnà-alimits us to this meaning.nà-ameans“pasture”.nà-acould be taken as an adjective, descriptive of the attitude of the bull, i. e., that of lying down quietly. We havenà-aagain inline 14.ais simply phonetic here (seeline 3).
nà: the sign for the valuenàhas no sign-name. In almost this form, the sign is easily found in the text of Gudea (see Cylinder B, Col. XVI, line 19, in Déc. 35). The form in our text is very near to the original linear form and differs much from the Assyrian. The ordinary meaning ofnàis given by the Assyrianrabâṣu“lie down”, kindred to the Hebrewrābăṣ.
gù, the value here for GUṬṬU, is commonly rendered in Assyrian byalpu“ox”. The sign represents the bull’s head with horns. Historically the sign has three forms, the old Babylonian linear form, the old Babylonian wedge-form and the Assyrian wedge-form. The old Babylonian linear and wedge-forms are the same, except that wedges occur in the latter where simple straight lines appear in the former. The Assyrian form is composed of two horizontal wedges, one upright wedge and two little corner wedges (AL. p. 128, No. 164). The difference between GUṬṬU and AMMU is significant (see note online 7).
ne-sig:ne-sig-gaequalskamû, “bind” (Br. 4626). The meaning “bind” fits here.
neis not an unusual indeterminate verbal prefix (see MSL. p. XXIX).
sig= PA, probably with the valuesig, may equalkamû(Br. 5575). Hencene-sigis a verb,nebeing the prefix andsigthe stem.
gan-nu: the valueganis indicated by the followingnu.
ganwith complementarynuis represented here by an ancient form of the sign which is very different from the Assyrian form. The meaning here must be expressed bydaḥâdu, “plenty”, kindred toalidu(IV R. 9, 24a).
ki: the KIKÛ of our text is New-Babylonian (see the Cyrus Cylinder, I R. 35, line 4). The early linear form is well represented by the wedge-form of Ḥammurabi (CḤ. Col. I, line 10, plate I). A picture of the earth was probably attempted in the archaic linear form. It should be noted that space is represented conventionally by parallel horizontal lines included in a rectangle, orientated to the four quarters of the heavens.
10.dimmerMu-ul-lil nin ḳar-ra ki damal-raO Bêl, the bountiful lord of the broad land!
10.dimmerMu-ul-lil nin ḳar-ra ki damal-ra
O Bêl, the bountiful lord of the broad land!
dimmerMu-ul-lil(seeline 2for notes).
ninin the sense ofbêlu, “lord”, gives a good context.
ḳar-raequals nounḳarand postpositionra;ḳar= “plenty” (see MSL. 123). The text however may bedam-ḳar-ra.
Note thatramay be taken as a postposition of the genitive as well as phonetic complement (see online 3).
ki(see online 9).
damal-raequals adjective plus postposition.
damal, ES for the EKdagal, with the meaning ofrapšu, “extensive” (Br. 5452). The sign name is AMÛ. The sign is composed of two signs one within the other, PISANNU, “house”, the outer sign, and ANÛ, “high”, the inner sign, hence the meaning “large space”, “extensive”.
11.ù-mu-un mu-ud-na dú sag-ma-al kiThe lord of creation, the creator, the true head of the land!
11.ù-mu-un mu-ud-na dú sag-ma-al ki
The lord of creation, the creator, the true head of the land!
ù-mu-un(seeline 1for note).
mu-ud-namay equal “creator” or “begetter”, just asmuḥ-naequals the Assyriana-lid(IV R. 9, 32a).mu-udis a phonetic representation of the wordmud, whose sign is MUŠÊN-DUGÛ, ḤU plus ḤI (Br. 2273). The wordmudis equal to the Assyrianbanû(Br. 2274).
dú: here we must let the sense govern us in deciding on a form which may be read either as KAK or NI. KAK with the valueduequal tobanû(Br. 5248) gives a meaning that fits smoothly with what precedes and follows. In their original forms KAK, NI and IR are similar yet entirely distinct signs. In the archaic linear form, KAK is a triangle with one of the angles pointing to the right. NI is a triangle with one of the angles pointing to the right and one upright line passing through the triangle. IR also is a triangle with one of the angles pointing to the right and two upright lines passing through the triangle.
sag-ma-alequals nounsag, plus suffixma-al. It could stand forsag-gajust assag-malcan stand forsag-ga(Br. 3595).sagequals “head” (as inline 5).ma-al: ifma-alis taken a suffix (as inline 1), it stands for the sign PISANNU meaningšakânu, “establish”, orbašû, “exist”, and is ES for the EK gal.
ki(seeline 9).
12.ù-mu-un zal laḥ-na ga nunuz-ám da-ma-al-laThe lord whose shining oil is milk for an extensive progeny!
12.ù-mu-un zal laḥ-na ga nunuz-ám da-ma-al-la
The lord whose shining oil is milk for an extensive progeny!
ù-mu-un(seeline 1for note).
zal: NI means “oil”. The Babylonian KAK, NI and IR should be distinguished from the Assyrian. In Assyrian the horizontal wedges are parallel and do not come to an angle at the right.
laḥ-na:zal laḥ-nameans “his shining oil”, and the thought appears to be that Bêl causes food to be produced to sustain successive generations. His oil is milk for many generations.zal-laḥis somewhat like the expression “finest oil” found in Assyrian inscriptions.
laḥ: the signs ḤISSU and ṢÂBU find their nearest approach to each other in the valuelaḥ. Both signs have this value with the meaning “brightness”.
nahere is a suffix of the third person; sometimes it is second person (seeline 1).
ga: our sign here is the old Babylonian GÛ which with its common valuegameansšizbu, “milk”. The archaic linear form represents the teat of the breast.gaoccurs often as a phonetic complement (seeline 4).
nunuz-ámmeans “is multitudinous”.nunuz: NUNUZ in this form is, as Delitzsch observes (HW. p. 525b), New-Babylonian. In Assyrian it is composed of ṢAB and ḤI and in New-Babylonian of ṢAB and ŠE. Here it is equal to the Assyrianlîpu, German “Nachkomme”.
ám: A.AN, equallingám, is a well recognized verbal suffix used like the verb “to be”; for instance,dingir-ra ámmeans “is a god” andgal-la ámmeans “is great” (see SVA. p. 56).
da-ma-al-lais composed of the adjectiveda-ma-aland the phonetic complementla.da-ma-alis the phonetic representation in ES of the sign AMÛ meaningrapšu(seeline 10).
13.ù-mu-un silim-ma-a-ni eri ir-irThe lord whose decrees bind together the city.
13.ù-mu-un silim-ma-a-ni eri ir-ir
The lord whose decrees bind together the city.
silim-ma-a-nimeans “his decree”. Thus,silim-ma-aequals noun, plus phonetic complement, plus vowel prolongation.silim: we have had the sign SARARÛ (inline 7), where it was given the valuedi; here, however, the phonetic complement suggests the choice of the valuesilim, from which we derive the meaning “decree”, although “salutation” is a more primary meaning expressed by the Semitic valuesilim(fromšulmu). The sign is apparently New-Babylonian.
niis one of the common nominal suffixes of the third person. Note that Bêl is addressed in the third person in this line, but we shall find him addressed in the second person again inline 16.
eriis ES for the EKuru. This value is substantiated by the name of the city of Eridu =Eri-ṭu, (see MSL. p. 105). The name of the sign isALU. Our sign is old Babylonian and is not very different from the hieroglyphic form which is supposed to represent a city (see AL. p. 121, No. 21). It differs considerably from the New-Babylonian ALU which is much like the Assyrian.
ir-iris an intensive form of the verb and therefore may be causative. Bêl is supposed to have aided kings especially in capturing cities.irmay mean “bind”, expressed bykamû, butkamûis not so often represented by IR as by DIBBU or LALLU.kamûmay be represented by PA (seeline 9). Althoughiris said to be a Semitic value, it is used in this hymn syllabically and is the only value of the sign preserved (seeline 1and alsodùinline 11for further comment).
14.dù nà-a-ni à àm-e gal-laWhose powerful dwelling-place (is the seat of) a great command,
14.dù nà-a-ni à àm-e gal-la
Whose powerful dwelling-place (is the seat of) a great command,
dù: the sign giving this value has two origins, one of which is represented by the valuedul, meaning “cover” (Br. 9582). The other is represented by the valuedùand means “dwelling-place”, rendered in Assyrian byšubtu(Br. 9588).dùreally means “prescribed space”.
nà-a-nimeans “his lying-down place”.nà-adefines with more particularity the nature of the dwelling as “a lying-down place”, “a permanent place of rest”. Here we havedù nà-a; above we haveama nà-a(line 9).
à: IDU and DADDU come from the same ideogram which is the picture of the hand and the forearm, the fingers pointing to the left. The valueidis supposed to be of Semitic derivation, from the root appearing in Assyrian asidu, “hand”. The sign IDU also means “side”, “wing”, “horn”, “power”. Hence I render “powerful” here, making it qualifydù nà-a-ni. The sign in our text is old Babylonian; yet it seems to be a form that is approaching the Assyrian form. TA is also related to ID and DA and is used as DA sometimes is, as a postposition.
àm-e, composed of prefixàmand steme.àm: we have had the sign used phonetically (line 1). Here it is undoubtedly an abstract prefix (MSL. p. XVII), qualifying the followinge. The sign is old Babylonian, readily found in old Babylonian inscriptions. It is a composite sign. The enclosure contains the sign IZÛ which is also composite. IZÛ however, as explained above (line 6), means “fire”. Soàmis primarily the “fire of love”, hence the usual meaning “love”.
e: it is clear thatecan equalḳabû, “speak” (Br. 5843 and HW. 578a). Henceàm-emust mean “speech”. The sign is old Babylonian, as may be seen, for instance, by examining Ḥammurabi. It is called ÊGÛ. The New-Babylonian form comes nearer to the old Babylonian than the Assyrian does. This fact goes to show that the Assyrian signs are as a rule farther away from the archaic forms than the New-Babylonian signs are. The sign ÂU represented “water”, but the sign ÊGÛ represented the “waterditch”, “canal”. Howecomes to meanḳabûmay perhaps be explained by its relation to the valueiof KÂGU which equalsamâtu, “word”.
gal-la:gal, “great”, is often followed by the phonetic complementla.
15.kurdimmerBabbar-ê-ta kurdimmerBabbar-šu-šùFrom the land of the rising sun to the land of the setting sun!
15.kurdimmerBabbar-ê-ta kurdimmerBabbar-šu-šù
From the land of the rising sun to the land of the setting sun!
kur(see online 3).
dimmerBabbar-ê-taequals ideogram for “the sun”, plus verbê= “coming out”, plus postposition “from”.dimmerBabbaris the ordinary ideogram foriluŠamašused of “the sun”, as well as of “the godŠamaš”.Babbaris a value of ḤISSU which means “to be white”.
ê: = two signs, UD and DU, equivalent to this value, meaningaṣû, “come out”, or “go out”. The sign UD is a picture of the sun, and represents the rising sun; hence = “come forth”.
tais a postposition meaning in this case “from”, but often “in, into”. TA in our text is old Babylonian and much like the linear form in early tablets. Nearly the same form can be found in Ḥammurabi also. But on the whole, the old Babylonian, the Assyrian and the New-Babylonian all differ from each other much. TA has a close relation to DA and ID (see online 14).
dimmerBabbar-šu-šùequals ideogram for “the sun”, plusšu= “going in”, plus postposition “to”.
šuequalserêbu, “enter in”. Ideographically, ŠU means “bent over”, or “depressed”.
šùis a value of KU, as a postposition, meaning “unto”. The sign is of rectangular form and has many values, consequently many meanings starting with the idea “enclosure”. The governing force ofšùhere reaches back overkurin the middle of the line, just as the governing force oftagoes back overkurat the beginning of the line.
The beautiful expression of this line occurs more than once in Sumerian and Babylonian literature. As early as Lugalziggisi it appears in royal writings. Lugalziggisi speaks of his kingdom as extending “from the rising sun to the setting sun”.Babbar-ê-ta(UD.UD.DU.TA)Babbar-šu-šù(UD.ŠU.KU) (OBI. No. 87, Col. II, 12 and 13). And Esarhaddon in Cylinder A says that “From the rising sun to the setting sun he marched without a rival”.ul-tu ṣi-itiluŠam-ši a-di e-ribiluŠam-ši it-tal-lak-u-ma ma-ḥi-ra la i-šu-u(I R. 45, Col. I, 7 and 8).
16.kur-ra ù-mu-un nu-um-ti za-e ù-mu-un ab-da-me-enO mountain, the lord of life, thou the lord indeed art!
16.kur-ra ù-mu-un nu-um-ti za-e ù-mu-un ab-da-me-en
O mountain, the lord of life, thou the lord indeed art!
kur-ra(see online 3).
ù-mu-un(see online 1).
nu-um-tioccurs also in the next line and no doubt equalsbalâṭu, “life”.
nu-umseems to be an abstracting prefix of the nature ofnamas innam-ti-la=balâṭu(Br. 1697).nu-um-ti, however, may be a phonetic representation ofnim, also writtennumwhich meanselîtu, “height” (Br. 1982 and 9011). According to this view,nu-um-timight mean “the acme of life”, just asnam-tiequals “the fortune of life”; hence “life in general”. Or it might be suggested thatnumis really fornam, asais known to differentiate sometimes intou;gafor instance becomesgu(MSL. p. X).
tiequalsbalâṭu, “life”, and has its fuller form intin, also equal tobalâṭu“live”.
za-eequalsatta, “thou” (Br. 11762, also ASK. p. 139).
ab-da-me-enequals “thou thyself art”. The form consists of verbal prefix, infix and verb, as follows:ab, being an indeterminate prefix, may therefore be used of the second person (MSL. p. XXV). ÊŠU is an old Babylonian sign pictorially representing “enclosed space”, hence the meaning of “enclosure”. It means, with the valueéš, “house”, and, with the valueab, “sea”.dais likeà(ID) (line 14), ideographically represented by the picture of the hand and forearm (line 4). It means “side”, also “strength”. It is sometimes a reflexive verbal infix (MSL. p. XXIV).me-enequalsbašû(Br. 10404).mealso equalsbašû(Br. 10361) and the longerme-aequalsbašû(Br. 10459).en, therefore, is not an essential part of the word which means “be”.me-enhas no connection withma-e, the personal pronoun of the first person.men, in fact, can be used of the second person and even of the third as well. The defining pronounza-ehere compels us to takeme-enin the second person.
17.dimmerMu-ul-lil kur-kur-ra ga-šá-an nu-um-ti nin-zu ga-šá-anab-da(-me-en)O Bêl of the lands, lord of life, lord of wisdom, lord indeed thou art!
17.dimmerMu-ul-lil kur-kur-ra ga-šá-an nu-um-ti nin-zu ga-šá-anab-da(-me-en)
O Bêl of the lands, lord of life, lord of wisdom, lord indeed thou art!
dimmerMu-ul-lil(seeline 2for note).
kur-kur-ra(seeline 3for note).
ga-šá-an, likeù-mu-un(line 1), equalsbêlu, “lord”, and is a phonetic form ofgašanwhich is usually represented by GÊŠPU-GUNÛ (Br. 6989 and MSL. p. 129).gais only a syllable here (see lines4and12for further comment). ŠÁ is an old sign; here it is old Babylonian and represents closely the linear form. The sign is much used in Assyrian with the syllabic valuešá, especially in the place of NITÛ(ša) which is often a relative pronoun.
nu-um-ti(see online 16).
nin-zumeans “lord of wisdom”.ninequalsbêlu(Br. 10985; seeline 10). Onzu(seeline 1).
ab-dashould evidently beab-da-me-en(seeline 16).
18.e-lum nì an-na a-kad za-da šá mu-e-da-malO mighty one, dread of heaven, royal one indeed thou art!
18.e-lum nì an-na a-kad za-da šá mu-e-da-mal
O mighty one, dread of heaven, royal one indeed thou art!
e-lumequalskabtu(Br. 5888), and appears to stand forelimwhich also equalskabtu(Br. 8885).lumis clearly syllabic here, but the sign, old Babylonian here, is indicative of plant-growth, consisting of waving lines.
nìequalspuluḥtu, “fear”, here (see online 1).
an-na:anequalingšamê, “heavens”, is a value of ANÛ attested by the phonetic complementna. The sign ANÛ in our text is old Babylonian and is the same as the original ideogram of the star, except that wedges have taken the place of straight lines. In our Hymn to Adad (CT. XV, Tablet 29631) the transition from the Babylonian to the Assyrian ANÛ may be clearly seen all on one page, wedges however are used, not straight lines. There is the original form, there is the Assyrian form, and there are intermediate forms enough to show how the Babylonian star passes into the Assyrian ANÛ. The NANÛ of our text may be found exactly in the Brick of Ur-Gur (CT. XXI, Tablet 90000, plate 8). In Nebuchadrezzar I. (CT. IX, Tablet 92987), the internal horizontals have disappeared, but the sign has not fully reached the Assyrian NANÛ.
a-kad: perhaps this worda-kadis a loan-word from the Assyrianekdu. It is better to takeaas a vocalic abstract prefix and to considerkadas the root. There are three signs that give this valuekad(Br. 1364, 1365 and 2700). The sign GADU meanskitû, “clothing material” (Br. 2704 and WH. 361; see also MSL. p. 114). The context alone suggests here that some idea of power may be expected in the worda-kad. Perhaps royal power is meant, which could be symbolically represented by a garment, especially a royal robe.
za-dano doubt stands forza-e-daand would be equal to “thou thyself”, “thou indeed” (seeline 16).
šáin Sumerian may represent the Assyrianlû, “verily”, (Br. 7047).šá, simply as a syllable, occurs above (seeline 17).
mu-e-da-malis a verb.muis an indeterminate verbal prefix. Whether it is first, second or third person may be determined by the context. Here, however, theza-daof the context showsmuto be second person (see online 1).ehere is a verbal infix, corroborative in character (see MSL. p. XXIV, also lines3and14).dais also a verbal infix (seeline 16).malequalsbašû, “to be”, (Br. 2238).
19.dimmerMu-ul-lil u en(?)dimmer-ri-ne za-da šá mu-e-da-malO Bêl, very lord of gods thou indeed art!
19.dimmerMu-ul-lil u en(?)dimmer-ri-ne za-da šá mu-e-da-mal
O Bêl, very lord of gods thou indeed art!
uequalsbêlu, “lord”, and is a very common ideogram for “lord” (seeù-mu-un,line 1).enalso equalsbêlu, “lord”, but evidently the text is imperfect at this point (seeline 16, onen).
dimmer-ri-nemeans “gods”.riis a phonetic complement;neis a purely phonetic plural ending used both for nouns and verbs (see SVA. p. 69).
za-da šá mu-e-da-mal(seeline 18).
20.a-adimmerMu-ul-lil mu-lu gu má-má-me-en mu-lu se má-má-me-enO father Bêl, who causest vegetation to sprout, who causest grain to grow!
20.a-adimmerMu-ul-lil mu-lu gu má-má-me-en mu-lu se má-má-me-en
O father Bêl, who causest vegetation to sprout, who causest grain to grow!
a-adimmerMu-ul-lil(see on lines2and3).
mu-luis a phonetic representation ofmulu(Br. 6398).muluis ES; EK would begulu(Br. 6395).mu-lufrequently means the Assyrian relative pronounša(Br. 6406).
gu: GÛ is a composite sign whose original parts are NI and BE and which means “full of death”. According to the derivation, GÛ then may be read as “destruction” (MSL. p. 156). GÛ has also an Assyrian equivalentgûmeaning “plant”, “vegetation” (Br. 11138 and HW. p. 582). The consideration of GÛ as meaning “vegetation” looks only on the perishable side of the object. The sign has few values. Here, it is clearly old Babylonian resembling the linear form.
má-má-me-enhere equalsaṣû, “go out”, used of plants and trees (Br. 4303). The more generally used word foraṣûisê(UD.DU) (see online 15).
má: the name of the sign is NISIGÛ (see note onše-ir,line 1). The sign is old Babylonian here.me-en(see online 16).
še: the sign is old Babylonian here. Its most common Assyrian equivalent isšê’u, “grain” (seeline 1). If we gave Û-UM the broader meaning of “production”, at the same time reading GÛ as “destruction”, we would have the fine antithetical parallelism: “O father Bêl, who bringest forth destruction and who bringest forth production.” Such a reading would give quite correctly the course of thought, for Bêl is god of the atmosphere, lord of the clouds, and commander of the rain-storms which are either sources of growth on earth or of ruin. On the other hand, the translation which I have adopted seems perhaps preferable.
21.dimmerMu-ul-lil me-lam-zu gúr-ra ha-mu-ni-ib-( )-ne-neO Bêl, before the great glory may they be (in fear?)!
21.dimmerMu-ul-lil me-lam-zu gúr-ra ha-mu-ni-ib-( )-ne-ne
O Bêl, before the great glory may they be (in fear?)!
me-lam-zu: from the combination of ME and LAM we get the Assyrianmelammu, “glory”.me: MIMÛ with the valueišibmeansellu, “bright” (seeline 16for further comment).lam: one of the values of IZÛ, seems to equališâtu, “flame”, but the usual value of IZÛ forišâtuisbil(seeline 6,de),me-lamliterally means “bright flame”.zu, besides being an ideogram foridû, “know”, is the usual pronominal suffix of the second person singular (see onzu,line 1), as in this passage.
gúr-ragives a good sense, though the signs resemble KU and RA givingšù-ra, a double postposition. The text however is defective.gúr-raequalskabtu(Br. 10183), making the phrase read “before thy great glory”.gúr: KIL also has the valuegurunequal toebnu, “fruit” (Br. 10179).ra(see online 3).
ḥa: KÙA is the usual Sumerian sign used with a verb, to give a precative sense as here. The sign here is old Babylonian and resembles the pictorial form which is clearly that of “a fish” (see online 22). The original pictorial figure is one of the few to be found in which curved lines predominate.
mu-ni-ib-( )-ne-ne: strangely enough the verb seems to be omitted in the sentence of this line. Perhaps the omission is due to scribal error.muis a verbal prefix of the third person here (see online 18).ni-ibis a verbal infix (see MSL. p. XXXIII). The infixes are generally personally indeterminate. They incorporate, between the verbal prefixes that represent the subject and the verb, the object in pronominal form, whether it be direct or indirect.ni-ibreally equals “before it”. The translation disregardsni-ibfor the sake of smoothness.ni(see online 13).ibstands tonias postposition to pronoun. The sign foribis old Babylonian; it is really composite and signifies “side”.ne-neis a personal pronoun of the third person (see ASK. p. 139).neis syllabic here (seede,line 6, about its ideographic value; alsolam,line 21).
22.ḥu-e an-na ḥa-e ṭú-ra šà-nì ma-ni-ib-siThe birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea are filled with fear of thee!
22.ḥu-e an-na ḥa-e ṭú-ra šà-nì ma-ni-ib-si
The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea are filled with fear of thee!
ḥu-eequalsiṣṣuru, “bird”.ḥu: simpleḥuis used elsewhere foriṣṣûru. The sign MUŠÊNNU here is old Babylonian. The archaic form is supposed to be the picture of a bird in flight.mušên, another value of MUŠÊNNU, also means “bird”.eis not a necessary part of the word, being here only a vowel of prolongation probably indicating the definite article (see lines3and14).
an-na(see online 18).
ḥa-eequalsnûnu, “fish”.ḥaalone equalsnûnu(see online 21).eserves the same purpose as inḥu-e.
ṭú-raequalsapsû, “sea”.ṭúalone equalsapsû(Br. 10217).ramay be taken as a sign of the genitive (see online 3).
šà-nìequals “in the midst of fear”.šà: ŠÂGU, with thevaluešà, equal tolibbuorkirbu, is one of the few Sumerian prepositions. It precedes its object as a noun in the construct state,nì(see online 18).
ma-ni-ib-siconsists of prefix, infix and verb.mais not a very common verbal prefix. It is indeterminate, but the sense requires the third person (see MSL. p. XXIV).ni-ibis second person here (see online 21).si: the most common meaning ofsiismalû, “fill”. The sign is Babylonian and can be found either in the Code of Ḥammurabi or the Cyrus Cylinder.
23.a-adimmerMu-ul-lil-li da-da maḥ mu-e-gin sag-e-zi si-ba-e e-nabO father Bêl, in great strength thou goest, the head of life, the shepherd of the stars!
23.a-adimmerMu-ul-lil-li da-da maḥ mu-e-gin sag-e-zi si-ba-e e-nab
O father Bêl, in great strength thou goest, the head of life, the shepherd of the stars!
a-adimmerMu-ul-lil-li(see online 2).liis merely phonetic complement. We might give it an ideographic value and connect it withda-daand render “abundant in strength”. The common meaning of LILÛ israšû, “abound”. With the valuegub, however, it meansellu, “bright”. The sign is old Babylonian, yet quite different from the archaic linear form.
da-dameans “strength” (see online 16).
maḥhas three common Assyrian equivalents,ma’adu, “many”,rabû, “great” andṣîru, “high”.maḥhere equalsrabû. There is still another Assyrian equivalent,maḥḥuwhich must be a loanword in Semitic.
mu-e-ginas prefix, infix and verb means “he indeed goes”.mu-e(see online 18).ginis a value of the sign ARAGUBBÛ (seeê,line 15).
sag-e-ziequals “head” (line 5) plus vowel of prolongation (line 3) and “of life” (line 4). ZÎTU equalsnapištuas well asimnuandkînu.
si-ba-edivides intosibaande.si-bais the same assiba(line 5), only here the word is given syllabically rather than ideographically.eis a vowel prolongation (as inline 3).
e-nabis naturally treated as thoughewere a vocalic prefix andnabthe root.eas an abstract prefix, no doubt, is possible (MSL. p. XVII).nab: instead of NABBU, perhaps the sign is ANA-ÊŠŠÊKU with the last component omitted; then the value should bemul, equal tokakkabâni, “stars”, and the clause reads: “shepherd of the stars”.emay equalmû“water” (seeline 14), andnabmay equalšamû, “heaven”; then we have the reading: “shepherd of the water of heaven”.
24.ù-mu-un ka na-àm-gá iz-ba eri ga mu-e-gin gín si-ti šù-me-aO lord, the mouth of production thou openest, as a prolific city thou goest, the reed of the fulness of life thou art!
24.ù-mu-un ka na-àm-gá iz-ba eri ga mu-e-gin gín si-ti šù-me-a
O lord, the mouth of production thou openest, as a prolific city thou goest, the reed of the fulness of life thou art!
ù-mu-un(line 1).
ka: KÂGU here is a noun with the valuekaequal topû, “mouth”, (Br. 538). The sign originally represented the head, and its first meaning wasguequal toḳibû. The sign is old Babylonian (see on lines1and4).
na-àm-gáis a noun.na-àmis an abstract prefix (line 1).gáequalsšakânu, “cause to be”, (Br. 5421). The sign is PISANNU. We have had the sign phonetically represented byma-al(line 11) used as a suffix. Heregáis not a suffix, but the root.
iz-bais a verb.izis an indeterminate prefix, shown by the context to be of the second person.baequalspitû, “open”. The sign is old Babylonian. The archaic form of the sign signified “divide”.
eri(see online 13).
ga(seeline 12).gacan be used as an adjective meaning “prolific”, one of the derived ideas ofgaas “milk”.
mu-e-gin(seeline 23).
gínequalsḳanû, “reed”. The sign is sometimes followed by the phonetic complementna. The sign is old Babylonian.
siequals “fulness” (see online 22).
ti-šùmeans “unto life”.ti(seeline 16); the sign here, however, really resembles BALA which primarily means “breaking into”. Then we have the derived meaningpalû, “weapon”, then “insignia of royal authority”, and consequently “rule”, “government”. If we readbalinstead ofti, then Bêl is “a full reed unto royalty”, which makes little sense.šù(seeline 15).
me-ais the same asme-en(see online 16).ais phonetic (see online 9).