A Primer on Ugaritic: Language, Culture, and Literature - enenuru

Letters 61
Line 11b
yd. The word yd could be rendered as /yaddu/, “love,
affection.” 22 This is not the case here. The notion of “divine love”
seems to miss the obvious point of a letter that seems directed at
garnering help during a crisis. Furthermore, the descriptive terms
following yd are negative in connotation. Death’s negation is selfevident.
Additionally, the adjective }az has to do with ferocity, not
strength, and seems suited to describing a problem, not a passion.
It seems much more likely that a man fearing military defeat would
refer to the “hand” being against him. Thus, we take this word
from yd /yadu/, “hand.” We recall that in Akkadian “hand of God,”
qaœt ili, describes a calamity or a specific illness. 23 This word is
grammatically feminine, as are most body parts in Ugaritic as well
as in Akkadian, Hebrew, and other Semitic languages, so we have
a clue regarding the syntax of the next few lines.
Line 12
p. Compare the Ugaritic adverb p /pu/, “here,” with Hebrew poœ
and Phoenician.
22 Sivan, Grammar, 185.
23 Note, for example, ana marsim qaœti ilim, “for the sick person, it means it is
‘the hand of a god.’” For a study on the notion of the “hand of the god” in the
larger Ancient Near Eastern context, see K. van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction in
Israel and Mesopotamia. A Comparative Study (Assen/Maastricht, 1985),
77–80. In discussing the “hand of god” in a medical diagnostic context, van
der Toorn notes the elasticity of this phrase, “We are forced to conclude that
the bulk of the diagnostic series SA.GIG does not allow us a direct grasp of the
mysterious connection between the various ailments and the anger of the gods,
be it spontaneous or provoked by human offences. In many cases the series
establishes a relationship between the observed symptoms and the hand of a
specific deity, but it usually refrains from giving explanations concerning the
intentions of the gods involved or the cause of the illness” (79).