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THE VERB 163
he had built for him Eninnu his beloved temple, he relaxed his mind',
Gud. B 7, 26-8.
f The subjunctive is likewise employed in causal phrases; mu asag
•• PA-lugal sá-nu-ub-dúg-ga-as 2 gtn kú-babbar ... in-na-an-búr, 'Be­
cause the field does not equal in value the right to the royal PA'-office,
he has given as redemption two shekels of silver', POEBEL,no. 37, ]2.
To illustrate the difference between the simple adjectival phrase and
the subjunctive phrase let us compare the following sentences : tukundi
lú-sag-gá-e galu túg-mal-e-ne ba-dig,' Suppose that a slave, whom a
man has hired, die' '. Here we have the simple suffixed secondary
conjugation tug-mal-e-ne indicated by ne in a purely descriptive phrase.
mu Ammiditana lugal-e lamas-lamas mas-sug-ga-ge nam-til-la­
ni-sú su-á(m) 3-má-mú-ám guskin rus-a nCí-lj;al-la-bi-da-ge su-á(m) 2
ne-in-da-ra-dú-a ne-in-dim-dím-ma-a d·innina nin-gal kis (?)-(ki)-a
sag-lugal-la-na-ge an-si·in-ib (sic!)-ila-ás in-ne-en-tur-ra, 'Year when
Ammiditana the king caused to be entered, for 3 Innin:t great mistress
of Kis (?), who exalted his chieftainship, (statues) of the huge guardian
spirits, who pray for his life, and which he had adorned and fashioned
with radiant gold and precious stone' 4. In this sentence we have the
temporal subjunctive in-ne-en-tur-l'a, and two subjunctives in an
adjectival phrase, ne-in-da-ra-dú-a and ne-in-dím-dím-ma-a; the
subjunctive is employed here since the no un which these verbs describe
is regarded as already subjected to the action of the verb tur-ra 5.
Sumerian thus endeavors to represent by the subjunctive the mental
subjection oi a minor idea to the princi pal idea. Theoretically a feeling
of uncertainty and unreality, a sense of advel'biality subjected to the
main idea, lead to the use oi the subjunctive in such constructions.
X aturally out oi this sense of subjection arose the subjunctive oi indirect
1. V R. 25a 13-16.
=:. árn certainly represents the oblique case here.
3. ás, he re with a persono
4. VATh. 670 in EA VI pt. 3, p. 47.
5. The same construction in VATh. 1200, date formula of Samsuditana (v. POE­
:BEL. p. 106), ni-lag-gi-es-a etc.