26. Aṭ-tu, an unusual feminine adjective from у be dark, cloudy'. 36. il Bu-ne-ne was the consort of Malik with whom she attended the sun-god. 37. Clearly the goddess A here, the consort of Šamaš. 38. Here again A-A 42. KA-KA-MA == abu 'father', as in line 22. Sum. inim-inim-ma = Sem. šiptu 'incantation, exorcism'. We expect rather Sum. a-ra-zu teslîtu 'prayer', as this hymn is an invocation. GA-TU-LAL is composed of the elements GA-TU malû be full' + redundant LAL lá; also www malû. Some Notes on the So-called Hieroglyphic-Tablet. By The following notes are an attempt to read the so-called Hieroglyphic Tablet published in T. S. B. A. Vol. VI, p. 454 ff. Menant1, Houghton2 and Delitzsch 3 have each discussed it wholly or in part, and for their suggestions grateful acknowledgment is here made. The tablet is clearly a sign list. The characters at the right hand of each column correspond to those on the kudurrus of the Cassite and Pashe dynasties, differing from those of Hammurabi's time on the one hand and from the archaic forms of Nebuchadnezzar II on the other. The signs on the left, except a few obviously late ones, are seemingly older and show little more than a passing resemblance to Babylonian traditions of writing. Two problems are therefore to be solved: 1. The general plan and interpretation of the sign list. 2. The identification as to origin and date of the archaic characters at the left. The association of several words under one sign seems to have been determined partly by unity of idea and partly by similarity of sound. In some groups a clue was found in the 1 Leçons d'épigraphie Assyrienne (Paris, 1873), p. 51 ff. 2 Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archeology, Vol. VI p. 454 ff. 3 Die Entstehung des ältesten Schriftsystems (Leipzig, 1897), p. 199 ff. My attention was first called to this fact by Dr. Geo. A. Barton of Bryn Mawr. chief syllabic value, which under varying transcriptions stood for other more or less closely related words. Elsewhere, with several syllabic values, the divergence is greater. Generally the meanings given to the signs at the left fall within those listed by Brünnow and Meissner under the case-sign, but this has not been held to rigidly, because the present knowledge of lexicographical material is still far from complete. Of course the equations assigned these unknown characters. and couched in the phraseology of Babylonian signs hold only as far as the idea, if the theory of a non-Babylonian origin. is accepted. As to the identification of the archaic signs three theories are tenable: a) That they are Babylonian, of a date and locality as yet unknown. b) That they are foreign to Babylonian life and writing. c) That they are Babylonian, but strongly under some foreign influence. In favor of the first view is the resemblance of certain of the characters to Babylonian signs, but at best this evidence is slight. A more clearly defined similarity exists between them and the proto-Elamitic, and if the parallel tablet in C. T. V., 81-7-27, 491 and 50, be collated together with this one, it makes a total of thirty-one signs in which this similarity challenges attention. What really results therefore is a triangular relationship between the three, the Babylonian, proto-Elamitic and these characters. Whether this is due to coincidence or to common origin with subsequent independent development, only future research can answer. Meanwhile the writer would suggest the following as a possible solution, though one as yet unproved. If, as has been thought by some, the Cassites were an Elamitic people, it is likely that they used or were familiar with the early Elamitic writing now known as proto-Elamitic, and also with its later forms. As part of their very strong influence upon Babylonian affairs, may not these Cassites have made some attempts to equate their own older signs with those of the language about them? If so, something like the present sign-list would have resulted. 1 See J. A. O. S. Vol. 32. VOL. XXXIII. Part I 2 4) E V V = = The case sign is RA (Hinke 113).1 ? ? Cases 5, 6. The case sign is AB, ES (Hinke 77). = 6) - E, AB (Rec. 345) tâmtu, sea; aptu enclosure; (arah) Tebîtu, the month of floods; (amelu) irrešu, irrigator. Allied with this sign is ÊS house, inclosure. = Col. III. Cases 1-4. The case sign is AZA, AZ, AS. (Hinke 206). The sign is a compound of PIRIK ZA = = lion, and stone, jewel. In the early archaic inscriptions it appears only in the place name AZ (ki). Later it is equated with a) (is) šigaru, some means or implement of restraint. b) asu, physician, or according to Langdon3 1 Hinke, Selections from the Kulurru Inscriptions. 2 Thureau-Dangin, Recherches sur l'origine de l'écriture cunéiforme (Paris, 1908). 3 Sumerian Grammar and Chrestomathy (Paris, 1911), p. 204. "An ointment or paste used in medicine." The use of AZ šigaru in the sense of 'chain' or 'fetter' is indicated by the combination in which the sign occurs. 1) 2) AZ. BAL êrinnu, nâbaru, cage. AZ. GU = = (iş) šigaru, ša kišadi, chain for neck. (iş) šigaru, ša kalbi, harness or leash for a dog. (LAL kasû, kamu, rakâšu, to bind, and şamâdu, to yoke). AZ. BAL. LAL. E = (iş) êrinnu, cage, but used also as a synonym of sigaru. There is probably a connection between this šigaru = (is) SI. GAR and iškaru (is) GAR or KAR, fetter or chain, if they are not the same word differently transcribed. = (?), UR (?) + ZA (Rec. 438, 9), stone lion colossus. UR. MAH is the usual transcription for nergallu, the stone bas-relief of a lion placed at the entrance of palace or temple to ward off the evil power of Nergal the "destroyer". Rec. 439, as yet unidentified, resembles this present sign more closely than Rec. 438, but may be only a variant. UR. MAḤ is also the usual form for nêšu, lion, whereas ûmu, labbu, and (ilu) Nergal as the liongod are transcribed by PIRIK. JJA + }], NUNUZ + ZA (Rec. 282, supl. 480), (aban) êrimmatu, necklace, or chain in the sense of fetter; cf. DAK. NUNUZ. GU = nîru, yoke (Br. 8182). Is this the same as êrinnu above? The pictograph represents a link-chain plus the sign for stone. A+, NUNUZ + ZA (Rec, 283, supl. 480), (is) šigaru, chain or fetter. 3) 4) = , AZA (Rec. 185, supl. 518), asu, physician. The pictograph is difficult to explain, unless by an association of both form and idea with GIR below, which see. Cases 5-8. The case sign is GIR, NÊ, PIRIK, UG, (Hinke 202). Primarily this is GIR the sign for sandal, 1 Brünnow, A Classified List of All Simple and Compound Ideographs (Leyden, 1899). |