Download Ebook - The Knowledge Den

144 SUMERIAN GRAMMAR
Occasionally ra is assimilated to ri as in f¡e-ti-ib-gi-gi = liduk-lw,
'may it slay thee' '. f¡e-ri-pad = lu utammu-ka, 'verily I will curse
thee' '.
In both of the cases last cited we have to do with ra denoting the
accusative (§ 82). ra postfixed after the first or third persons is ordinar­
ily rendered by an oblique infix, or its force may be rendered by the
infix si (for sú), logically incorrect but the only infix which could be
employed in its place. lu-lu-u-ra in-si-in-gar-ri-es, 'man with man
confers':l. ad-da-ne-ne-ra in-na-ab-kallagi-ne, 'to their father they
will pay 4. 01' left unrepeated; d.ningirzu-ra a-sag-gan kenag-ni .. ,
su-na mu-ni-gí', For Ningirsu his beloved field . .. into his hand I
resto red ' , .
Infixed ilú. § 198. Sú employed as the suffix of motion toward things, in an
adverbial sense, and as an accusative sign (§§ 83-93), ordinarily
appears as the verbal infix si 6. This infix often repeats the force of a
preceding suffix Sú; develo ping the notion of 'motion towards' the infix
acquired a truly modal significance, infusing into the entire verbal-form
a feeling of action directed toward an object.
áb amar-bi-sú igi gal-la-dim é-Sú te-te-ma im-si-túm, 'As a cow
which casts (her) eye toward her calf, he directed (his eye) toward the tem­
pIe with love' 7. gu-de-a sig-ta ba-si-gin, 'Gudea from the lower (coun­
try) went forth' 8. saf¡ar-bi sag-ba im-si-gi, 'he restored the earth
(sic)
therein' 9. lugal-zu-[ra?] gisginar u-mu-sá ansu-clUl.Hír ü-si-lal, 'for
thy lord prepare a wagon and attach a l11ule thereto', Cyl. A 6, 17-8.
1. HROZNY, Ninib 32, 23.
2. CT. XVI 10, 20.
3. POEBEL, op. laudo no. 37, 11.
4. Ibid., 23, 25.
5. SAK. 26 g) II 3-6.
6. The original form sú is rare; ef. e-su-sam, e-su-kirl, ete., Syntame, 247.
7. Gud. Cyl. A 19, 24-5.
8. Ibid., 17, 23. ba here subjeet, appears to be employed without the force of
an indireet case. In faet ba appears olten as subjeet where we expeet bi.
9. Ur-Bau, Sto 3, 2.