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Original
suffixed
conjugation
confused.
128 SUMERIAN GRAMMAR
sessed by an antecedent noun. For this reason the suffixed pronoun
must agree not only in number and person but in case with the antecedent
subject described in the dependent phrase. isina !lar-ra-na, 'at the
feast which is prepared for him', literal1y 'at his prepared feast' '.
mada gú-sag sár-Sár-ra-na, 'in the land whose gú-sag is much' '.
N otice that in both these cases the suffix na 3 agrees in case with the
nouns described by the relative phrases. In the second instance the suffix
should real1y be attached to gú-sag but is attached to the modifying
verbal root. The idea at the basis oi the second phrase is 'in the land--"-­
its gú-sag - much being'.
1 mas d.ningirzu ba-ga sal gir-zu-(lci)-ia ium-ni ni-gub, 'one kid
for Ningirsu which had been brought from the baga of a woman oi
Girsu is here' " Literal1y,' one kid - its being brought' etc,
dwnu dúr ud-sal' d,sin-na an-na su-mu-ug-ga-bi gig-ga, 'As for
the princely son, Nannar the Moon God, who in heaven in sorrow is
eclipsed". The fact that ni and bi in these constructions do not conform
to the rule that ni should refer to persons and bi to things proves that
the language had partial1y lost the force of the original construction".
By force of analogy the language began to em ploy the original suffixed
conjugation by preference in dependent phrases. Thus we have igi-úg­
.M ú igi-bar-ra-zu ni-a tJe-gál-la-úm, 'before the people whom thou
beholdest there is abundance in plent)" 7. na-am-tap-ga nig aga-nw,
, the evil which 1 ha ve done (1 kno\y not) , 8.
1. ASKT. SO, 17.
2. Gud, Cyl. A 14, 8.
3, Here referring to things, where we should expect ba.
4. DP. 53, obv. Il-6.
5. CT. XVI 20, 136. Cl. also (umun) su-má su-ur-ra ma-al-la-Da, 'the lord
who has placed trembling in my hand', IV R. 21* b 16. ba is here incorrect
for Di.
6. CL also unHlü-a á-darn gar-!'a-na, 'in the builded city where exist creatures',
lit.' whose creatures existing'; here na agrees in casewith its antecedent,
u!'u-dii-a.
7. Gud. Cyl. A 3, 4.
8, IV R 10 a 42.
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