Reading akkadian PRayeRs & Hymns An Introduction

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READING AKKADIAN PRAYERS AND HYMNS: AN INTRODUCTION
11. [a]-li-ik ur-ḫi-im DINGIR-lam [i-ša]-si ù ša di-nim uš-te-bé-er-re ši-it-tam
12. [d]a-a-a-an ki-na-tim a-bi e-ki-a-tim
13. d UTU i-te-ru-ub a-na ku-um-mi-šu
14. ra-bu-tum i-li-i mu-ši-i-tim
15. na-aw-ru-um d BIL.GI
Line 11: Alākum, “to walk, to go.” Urḫum, “path, road.” How would you translate the
phrase ālik urḫi idiomatically? DINGIR = ilum, “god.” Šasûm, “to call, to shout, to invoke.”
The scribe’s orthography here (i-ša-ši) is defective for the durative form. Instead of išassi,
MS B has uselle (from sullûm), “he appeals to, prays to.” Ša dīnim, though often understood
as the petitioner, clearly must refer to the petitioned god, i.e., dayyānum ša dīnim. See
Dossin’s translation of the same text in MS B: “le tribunal se rassasie de sommeil.” Šutebrûm
(Št of bitrûm [Gt]) “to do permanently, to continue.” The origin of this common but unusual
root is difficult; AHw derives it from berûm, “to starve.” See AHw, 123 and CAD B,
279–81. Šittum, “sleep.” Here the accusative case is adverbial.
ālik urḫim ilam išassi u ša dīnim ušteberre šittam
Line 12: Dayyānum, “judge” (dayyān = construct/bound form). Kittum (from kintum*),
“truth.” Abum, “father.” Ekūtum, “a destitute girl.” MS B repeats kittum at the end of
the line, replacing ekūtum. The masculine equivalent of the term ekūtum does not occur. As
such it often occurs in parallel with almattum, “widow.” See CAD E, 72–73. Here the epithets
dayyān kinātim and abi ekiātim are epithets of the sun god Shamash, mentioned by
name in the next line.
dayyān kinātim abi ekiātim
Line 13: Erēbum, see line 7. Shamash’s kummum here does not seem to be an area of
an earthly shrine, but rather his own private cella in the celestial residence of the gods.
Šamaš īterub ana kummīšu
Line 14: Line 14 begins a long sentence, whose main verb appears in line 21. Rabûm,
“great.” The mp adjective here seems to be acting in apposition to ilī mušītim rather than
serving as an attributive adjective. For ilī as a nominative, see comments to line 5 and 9.
rabûtum ilī mušītim
Line 15: Nawrum, “shining, brilliant,” is a common adj. applied to celestial bodies.
d BIL.GI = Girra. As mentioned in the introduction, the fire god Girra is the protagonist in
the poorly preserved OB myth called Girra and Elamatum, in which he slays a monster
called Elamatum and makes her into a constellation. In this context, it is important to note
that the constellation Elamatum appears in MS B after qaštum (MS A line 17) and in the
place of nīrum. Ms B thus features both the protagonist and adversary of the OB myth.
nawrum Girra