SumerianGrammar

Table (cont.)
Aff. 3 ”I- (1 st , 3 rd p.) 12.11.11
”I- 12.13.6 NGA
Frustr. NU”- 12.11.12
NU” 12.13.6 INGA
Prosp. Ù 12.12.1
THE VERB 113
Note to the chart: NA I and NA II are, very probably, of the same origin, but have
diverged, NA I referring to future, NA II to past events. NA II as an affirmative may
go back to a negative rhetorical question (see 12.11.9). For allomorphs see below.
The table “Construction of Finite Forms” in Thomsen 1984, 139 is
an over-simplified presentation of the “Modal prefixes”.
12.11. MODAL INDICATORS
12.11.1. Indicative
Simple statements, in the “indicative mood”, are not specially marked.
12.11.2. Negative indicative
Its mark is [nu] (for allomorphs see below). [nu] is used independent
of conjugation pattern, and it may also be prefixed to nonfinite
verbal forms such as participles or infinitives.
“à-bi nu-zu “I did not understand its (heart =) meaning” Gudea
Cyl. A i 28.
“à-ga-ni nu-mu-zu “I did not understand what he meant with
respect to me” Gudea Cyl. A iv 21.
From NS onward, [nu] has the allomorph [la] before the dimen­
!
sional indicator [ba] (3): á (DA)-bad-∞gu 10 la-ba-ta-è “nobody escaped
my outstretched arm” Gudea Cyl. A iv 26.
‘Archaizing’ nu-ba- instead of *la-ba- is found in alan-e ...ki∞g-∞
gá
nu-ba-∞gá-∞
gá “for this statue . . . nobody was supposed to use (silver
. . .) as a working material” Gudea Stat. B vii 53. nu-ba- may
have been conditioned by the fourfold occurrence of suffixed -nu in
preceding lines 50–52.
In OB, the allomorph [la] before [ba] was extended to [li] before
[bi]: za-e “u-∞gar-lugal-zu li-bí-in-gi 4 “you(!) have not avenged your
king” Ali Letters B 5:7, as compared to earlier ér nu-bí(-n)-dug 4 “she
uttered no laments thereon” Gudea Stat. B v 4.
It is an open question whether allomorph [la] has been influenced
by the existence of Akkadian là “not”. There is a parallel, equally