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THE VERB J51
directly upon tbe exterior object, will necessarily bave two direct objects
and in a complete prefixed conjugation both should be repeated. A
correctly prefixed compound verb will make the construction evident at
once. In the flrsi class the exterior object wiII be repeated by an ob­
ligue infix ; in the second class by a direct infix.
For example, we have seen that the verb igi-gar in th\'. inscriptions
of Gudea governs the obligue case of the exterior object. When we
meet the same verb in the inscriptions of the period of Isin it is construed
with the casus rectus; lugal-e igi-ne-ne-in-gar-ri-es-ma, 'they beheld
the king' '. Here the first ne represents the subject. ne-in = ni-ni, re­
produces the exterior and interior objects. A glance at the parallel
form igi-mu-na-ni-gar cited under § 204 will make evident the change
which time has brought about in the constructioIl of the verbo The
evolution of the verb sal-dúg, 'to bestow care upon', 'to care for', can
be traced in the same manner. Thus we have in the period of Gudea an­
kár ... sal-u-ma-ni-dúg, 'care for the an/mr', where the subject falls
away after tbe imperative prefix u. es-bar-kin-mal sal-ba-ni-dúg, 'she
cares for the oracles'. In the latter construction the subject is appar­
ently omitted entirely. But in a hymn of the Isin period we have sal­
zid-ma-ra-ni-in-dúg, 'he cares for thee faithfulIy' 2, where we have the
double object clearly indicated together witb tbe superfluous dative of
the second person ra. The change of construction is indicated by two
variants, d.nudimmud-da sal-dúg-ga-zu-dé, 'when thou carest for
Nudimmud', SBH. 690bv. 2 and d·nudimmud-e sal-dúg-ga-zu-dé, CT.
XV 17,203• Other examples in which the construction is evident are:
me-mu bar-zu si-ga-ra-ni-ib-sá-e, 'may my command direct thy soul
aright'~. sá-bi pu1J,rum nibru-(ki) tub-bi ne-ne-in-dúg, 'Tbe council of
Nippur shall settle the affair' 5.
ud d·ás-du-bar iti-sag-ga-ni igi-ma-ni-in-d'tl-a, 'when tbe god of
1. POEBEL, no. 10, 5.
2. CT. XV 17,16.
3. Cf. SBP. 296, note 7.
4. RADAU, Ninib, 44, 44.
5. POEBEL, no. 10, 15. tub-dúg,' speak peace '.