Sumerian Hymns from Cuneiform Texts in the British Museum: Transliteration, Translation and Commentary 9781463212902

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SUMERIAN H Y M N S

Analecta Gorgiana 30 General Editor George Anton Kiraz Analecta Gorgiana is a collection of long essays and short monographs which are consistently cited by modern scholars but previously difficult to find because of their original appearance in obscure publications. Now conveniently published, these essays are not only vital for our understanding of the history of research and ideas, but are also indispensable tools for the continuation and development of on-going research. Carefully selected by a team of scholars based on their relevance to modern scholarship, these essays can now be fully utilized by scholars and proudly owned by libraries.

Sumerian Hymns from Cuneiform Texts in the British Museum

FREDERICK AUGUSTUS VANDERBURGH

GORGIAS PRESS

2007

First Gorgias Press Edition, 2007 The special contents of this edition are copyright Sis-ki-kam The empty river is filled with water by Nannar. Id (see on line 25). nu, regular Sumerian negative abverb, equal to the Assyrian la. e-bi equals noun e and suffix hi. e equals mu, "water" (Br. 5844). We have also had e equal to kabu, "speech" (Hymn to Bel, line 14). ii is a suffix of the third person singualar (see Br. 5135). bi gets its demonstrative nature from the conception "speak" which seems to be the primary one in the old Babylonian linear hieroglyph. Idh-e consists of root la-h and vocalic prolongation e. lah equals misu "wash" (Br. 6167). It is used of washing the hands and feet. It gets the idea "wash" from the idea "servant" who does the washing, but it may have meant "servant" before it meant "wash". It often has the phonetic complement ha or hi. Literally the clause read : "the river whose water washes not". a im-si (see on line 23). dimmer ¿is-ki-!cam equals god-name dimmer tiigjii plus kam — KAMMU without doubt (see CT. XV, Colophon of Tablet 29623, plate 12). kam is a well recognized determinative used after ordinal numerals. It no doubt occupies this position as a genitive particle, but, as a genitive sign, it may be used after words other than numerals; and, in fact, is so used in Gudea. It is evidently a lengthened form of the postposition lea-, being ka plus am (see SVA. p. 60). 28. sug rnah sug ban-da a im-si dimmer &'is-ki-kam The great marsh, the little marsh is filled with water by Nannar. The sign looks like MA but perhaps the copyist made a mistake. mah (see Hymn to Bel, line 23). sug equals susu, "marsh". The sign is the enclosure-sign KIL with the "water" sign AU within the "enclosure" sign. ban-da: the signs are DUMU and DADDU. DUMU has several values, the chief of whieh are dumu, tur and ban. dumu equals mdru, "son". We have met the value dumu or its dialectic equivalent tumu, represented by TU and MU (see on line 5). tur equals sihru, "small", and is naturally followed by the phonetic complement ra. tan-da also equals sihru "little" (Br. 4133). a im-si (see on line 23). dimmer Sis-ki-kdm (see line 27).

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29. &r Urn-ma dimmer Penitential Psalm to Sin. er-lim-ma (see Hymn to Bel, line 27). dimmer En-zu "lord of wisdom" is the other name by which Sin is known in Sumerian. We have had one name above; viz., dimmer ¿ft]SM_ dmimtr ^n-zu i s n Q d o u b t i n g e n i t i v e r e l a t i 0 n to the preceding part of the line, although the nota genitivi is lacking. In another hymn to Bel (CT. XV,"Tablet 29644, plate 12), the genitive relation is signified by the postposition learn. The words are: er-lim-ma dl"Oir En-lU-ld-kam.

Chapter Hi Tablet 29631, Plates 15 and 16, Hymn To ADAD Obverse 1. [$ac?-]