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CHAPTER 1.
Historical OuUine.
§ 1. Surner is a term applied by the inhabitants of the lower
valley of the Tigris and Euphrates to their native land, 01' at least
to a part thereof. The ideograrn KI-EN-GIN. which according to pho­
netic laws became sumer', rnay be analysed into ki(n) 'place,locality',
and en-gin, 'the faithful lord' 2. This ter m occurs in an inscription upon
a vase presented to the temple of Nippur by Lugalzaggisi and is there
used apparently for the district of which N ippur was thecapital'. Lugal­
zaggisi, who claimed the title, 'king of Erech, and king of the lancl',
and who mentions most of the important Sumerian' cities as part of
his empire, used the word kalama, 'land " to designate what we
understand to be ancient Sumer. The possession of Nippur seems to
have carried with it the title, 'king of the lancl '. KI·IN-GIN is
explained by Nippur on a lexicographical tablet'. The ideogram is
followed frequently by the phonetic complement m".
1. So we infer from the semitic loan-word sumeru. By vowel harmony KI­
EN-GIN became KI-IN-GIN. Earliest mention 01 Sumer is by Eannatum, Stele
des Vautours, rey. VIII.
2. CL the title of Ninlil, goddess 01 Nippur, en-zid kalama, CT. XXIV, 6, 15,
and of Nisaba the grain goddess in the Nippurian pantheon, ibid., 9,37, both characterized
as the "faithful ruler of the land". See also OPPERT, quoted by WEISS­
BACH, Sumerische Frage, p. 18.
3. HILPRECHT, OBl. 87, Ir, 21; also OBl. 90, 4.
4. Scholars universaliy speak ol the S/wmerians as the Sumerians, a slight
inaccuracy due to the lounders ol the science. 1 have not ventured to correct the
termo
5. KING, Cl'eation, 1, 217, 1. 5.
6. Cl. ibid., 1. 4. ki-en-gi-rá Gudea Cyl. A 11,16; 21,25 and B 22, 20. ki-
GRAM. SUMo 1
Sumer as a
geographical
termo