Reading akkadian PRayeRs & Hymns An Introduction

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READING AKKADIAN PRAYERS AND HYMNS: AN INTRODUCTION
7. la ia-ut-tu-un ši-i ki-ma GI an-nu-u na-aṭ-pu-ma
8. ana KI-šú NU GUR ù GIM TUG.SIG an-ni-tú ina TUG-ia bat-[qat]-ma
9. ana TUG-ia GIM ib-bat-qu-ma NU GUR ḪUL MAS.GE 6 an-ni-ti !
Line 7: Yattun, “mine,” is a fs form of yā’u (see also line 11). Alan Lenzi discusses
lines 6–12—specifically the phrase lā yattun šī here and in line 12—in the context of the
stock expression šiptu ul ya/uttun, “the incantation is not mine.” Notice that in our text the
stock phrase has been turned into a wish, a subjunctive as indicated by lā rather than its
more common indicative mood with ul (“Siptu ul Yuttun: Some Reflections On A Closing
Formula In Akkadian Incantations,” in Gazing on the Deep: Ancient Near Eastern and Other
Studies in Honor of Tzvi Abusch [ed. Jeffrey Stackert, Barbara Nevling Porter, and David P.
Wright; Bethesda: CDL Press, 2010], 131–66, here 161). The word kīma, “as, like,” introduces
the first ritual analogy of the prayer. GI = qanû, “reed.” Naṭpu, “torn out,” is a verbal
adjective from naṭāpu, “to tear out, to uproot” (see CAD N/2, 128) with a subjunctive
(–u) suffix. Kīma marks the beginning of a very long, complex sentence with several subordinate
clauses (and even a subordinate clause within a clause). The subject of the sentence
is in line 9b (lumun šutti) and its verb is in line 11 (ayy-ikšudanni).
lā yattun šī kīma qanû annû naṭpū-ma
Line 8: MS A reads ana KI-šú but MS B reads ana ni-iṭ-pi-šú, “to its place of plucking.” KI
= ašru, “place.” Ana ašrīšu generally means “(to be restored) to its place.” NU = lā. GUR
(MS A’s reading) = iturru, a G preterite with subjunctive –u, from târu, “to turn, to return.”
MS B confirms this reading with i-tu-[ru . . . ]. The first partially readable line of the ritual
preceding the prayer mentions qan kiṣri, “a reed joint” (see Butler, 314, line 1). Unfortunately,
the associated verb is unclear. The kīma in this line begins a second ritual analogy.
TÚG.SÍG = sissiktu, “hem, fringe, edge.” See CAD S, 322–25 for the most common definitions
of sissiktu. Meir Mallul suggested that a sissiktu is “some type of loincloth or lapgarment”
(“‘Sissiktu’ and ‘sikku’ Cutting Off a sissiktu - Their Meaning and Function,” BiOr
43.1/2 [1986], 20–36, here 36). See the further discussion of sissiktu in the note on line 15
of Shamash 25, page 426. The impression of a sissiktu could serve in lieu of a seal (CAD S,
322–25). TÚG = ṣubātu, “garment.” Batāqu, “to cut off.” MS B preserves the expected subjunctive
on the 3fs predicative verb (batqatu). This second ritual analogy may reflect the
cutting (batāqu) of a sissiktu as a symbolic act of divorce just as tying (rakāsu) a sissiktu was
a symbolic act of marriage (see CAD S, 322). The supplicant seeks to symbolically divorce
himself from any negative portent of his dream.
ana ašrīšu (var. niṭpīšu) lā iturru kīma sissiktu annītu ina ṣubātīya batqat(u)-ma
Line 9: MS A inserts the word ḫepî, “broken,” between TÚG and GIM, indicating that
there were unreadable signs in this place in the text (somewhere in the ancestry of MS A)
due to a broken or defaced tablet. Ḫepî is the common scribal method of indicating such a
break. MS B, however, reads TÚG-ia at this location. GIM = kīma, here means “because” or
the like and introduces a subordinate clause within the larger subordinate clause. Ibbatqu,
“it was torn,” is an N preterite of batāqu (with subjunctive). MS B varies, reading a G
preterite (with subjunctive): ibtuqu, “he tore (it).” The image of the torn hem reflects the
ritual requirement to “cut off (batāqu) the hem of the right side of his (garment)” in the