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THE PHONETIC ELEMENT'S OF SUMERJAN AND SOUND-CHANGES 41
birku; anir > aser = tanilJu, and nir > ser = etillu; ne-gar > se-gar
= tumru'. t> s in muten> musen = ÜffiUl'U, bird. AIso afteri as
in the name of the goddess Nidaba > Nisaba'. Before palatal .a
as in dug> dag (?) > zag = tábu. [JENSEN, LEHMANN and HOMMEL
assume a middle step ñ > i > s, i. e., anir> añir, aiir > aser, ZK.
11 104. It seems that HAUPT first discovered the change n > s, see
ibid. p. 103.]
b) Velars to sibilants 3,. k > s before l, in ki-en-gin> kengir >
semir, sume,. (e>u due to the labial m). Perhaps also in lágal = ~íl{~
where the g may have suffered complete palatalisation and then disap­
peared, yet this explanation must be considered doubtful since no Babylonian
form se' alu 'x' has been found.
e) Velars to palatal nasal4; g > ng (ii): egar > ingar; digir >
dingir. The process g > 7i> m is carried through in digir> dingir>
dimmer and in lwnaga > kanaña* > 11:anama*> kalama.
d) 7)un > ng (7i) only in verbal prefixes after vowel l, immasir >
inga-sir,see above under nasals.[Pronounced perhaps iwwasir>iiiasir?]
§ 41. Closely connected with palatalisation 01' the tendency to
accommodate sounds to the palatal vowels l and a, is labialisation' 01'
the tendency to accommodate sounds to the rounded 01' labialised
vowels u, o, ü. In Sumerian, however, the process g > m and g > b
1. Cf. BRÜNNOW,4633 with 7486, also JENSENand HOMMEL, ZK. II 103, and
LEHMANN,H8 f.
2. THuREAu·DANGlN, RA. VJI, 107 infers the aspiratec1 sound of el after the
. voweJ but aspiration in Sumerian is questionable. The example sa-túr> sasarra,
[BR. 8010 and DEL., H. W., 677 b] cited by the same schoJar is a change due to
Semitic influence, since the correct Joan-word satarru DEL. ibid., 695 b, and
LEANDER,no. ¡¿¡¿5,shews that the word was cOl'l'ectJy prollounced by the Sumerians.
3. LEHMANNanc1 HOMMEL,ZK. n, 99·102 have explained the vaJue Ira rI§J] as
classical for sú also written I§J, but not onJy is sú the earliest anc1 only pronunciation
for the postfix but the two values belong to origina11y different signsS
and~. 1 imagine that both of these scholars have abandoned this explanation.
4. See above under nasals.
5. SlEVERS, 492 and 755.
Labialisation.