Johnson 2004 - CDLI - UCLA

interpretation of UM, which like MA is a member of the set of graphemes in Sumerian
without any clear lexical meaning and presumably derives from whatever language
underlies the proto-cuneiform materials (see Englund 1998, 77, fn. 158, 79-81). In
chapter 3, I argue that one function of the *bi-√ prefix is to form what are known as head-
internal relative clauses and it appears that umbisag may represent just such a head-
internal relative clause.
If we now turn to the class defined by the BNBV diagnostic in the Old Babylonian
materials from Nippur, in the materials studied by Karahashi (2000), which are limited to
compound verbs in which the nominal component of the compound is a body-part, nearly
a dozen and a half compound verbs belong to this narrowly defined subset of the BNBV
class.
Table of BNBV inal lexemes (excluding those involving ßu ‘hand’)
Noun Verb Meaning Type
a 2 √dar to seize illegally; to confiscate Adversity
a 2 √œar to lose Adversity
a 2 √su 3 to spread out; to sail away; to run off ?
du 10 √œal 2 to fight Adversity
dur 2 √œar to sit; to seat ?
œiß √tuk to hear Perception
gu 2 √du 3 to neglect; to despise Adversity
gu 2 √e 3 to wear; to cover; to be clad in ?
gu 2 √gur to bend downwards; to lodge; to spy Perception
igi √du 8 to see Perception
igi √kar 2 to examine Perception
ka √keß 2 to put together; to tie up; to bind Adversity
ßa 3 √dab 5 to feel hurt; to be angry; to be worried Adversity
umbin √la 2 to scratch Adversity
za 3 √tag to push away; to overthrow; to reject Adversity
zu 2 √gub to taste Perception
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