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Origin of
dím.
156 SUMERIAN GRAMMAR
the verb ám, whence arose the word dam, 'to be like'. bur-azag .
bunin-matJ-banda-a nu BANSUR-gi dam, 'the pure stone bowl was .
like the basin matJ-banda' '. sim-dak é-a su-ga-bi é sutug azag-a nu­
BANS UR-gi dam, 'The stone ointment (jar'?) placed in the temple
was ... like the pure house of anointment>'. kun-an-na ... sir kúr-Sú
igi-sud ila-dam, 'The reservoir of lead ... was like the light which lifts
a. far gaze toward the lands' 3. é-a gis im-ga-ga-ne usum-abzu ur-ba
e-ne dam, 'In the temple the wood-(work) which he constructed was
like the dragon of the nether sea which arises .. .". Here dam follows
the dependent verb e-neo The full construction da ... ám more often
appears with the oblique case, simply, da being omitted. gis-dal ...
an-sig-ga su-lim il-la-ám, 'The gis-dal was like the radiant sky which
bears splendour' 5. é-gi-gur-bi mus-kur-ra úr-ba nad-ám, 'The house
gigurru is like a mountain serpent which lies ... ' 6.
§ 213. By false usage dam appears as a postfix, as in ud-dam síg­
mu-na-ab-gí, 'he rendered it brilliant as the day". It is tempting to
connect the regular postfix dím =:::o kima, with the dam here discussed.
In fact the idea of a suffix, 'like unto', in the sense of a preposition
(1rima) does not appear to be original in Sumerian. As to the origin
oE the suffix dím we have, therefore, two evident suggestions. On the
one hancl it l11ay have cleveloped from dam under influence of the Semi­
tic kima, or it may be a word borrowed directly from the Semi tic word.
For the present 1 shall adopt the Sumerian origin of this suffix, which
from the periocl of Gudea onwards beeomes an important faetor in Sumerian.
ti-ra-as ab-zu-clím nam-nun-na ken-im-ma-ni-gar, 'The tiras
1. Cy1. B 17,7-8.
2. Cy1. A 29,0-6.
3. Ibid., 28, 21-2.
4. Cy1. A 21, 26·7.
5. Cy 1. B 16, 9·10.
6. Cy1. A 22,2.
7. Cy1. B 19,1. CL also ud-dam ken-am-us, 'it is founded like the day', SBH.
7,1. dam appears once explained by ki[ma?] in the syllabar CT. XI 42, Bu. 89­
4-26, 165 rev. 10. 12.