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

114
Legal Texts
The final -w has generated many comments. This form looks like a
mistake. For example, Segert suggests possible dittography with
the first letter of the next line. Perhaps this is a mistake for /*bibeœtihu/.
Perhaps this is an example of the elision of /-h/. 6 This is
the usual Phoenician 3ms suffix. Perhaps it is like BH /-iw/, as in 2
Kings 4:34, wyIÚp.
The line on the tablet indicates that the first section of the text
ends, and a new section commences with line 5.
5. /wa-sûaœttu }ibuœsaœna/ And I placed a “pub” [“tap room”?]
In this section of the contract proper, lines 5–10, SÁamuœmaœnu states
what he is doing. Thus, the verbs are probably G suffixed 1cs. The
long /a/ shortens in Hebrew (tDv > y;ItAv), but it is not certain that this
reduction took place in Ugaritic.
The noun ibsn is uncertain. In keeping with the drinking theme
of the mrzh, wehave suggested a pub, or a barroom in the house.
This seems reasonable, though it does cut against the general
tendency for modern scholars to assume that unfamiliar words,
places, and artifacts are religious in nature.
6a. /lekumuœ wa*[him]-ma/ for you. Now, if I
6b-7. /}agarrisûukumuœ/ drive you out
The verb is a D Prefixed 1cs +2mplsuff. See the Hebrew vrg, inD
pref 1cs + suffix …w…nRvr`ÎgSa.
8. /bi-beœtiya/ from within my house,
Note the use of the preposition /bi/, indicating the positions of the
persons in the group and then being forced out.
9. /kaspa h˙amsûˆäma/ then fifty pieces of silver
6 Sivan, Grammar, 33; but later Sivan (53) writes, “However, since the
orthography of this tablet seems to indicate an unpracticed hand, it may reflect
a different school or more likely a non-Ugaritic scribe.”