SumerianGrammar

∞
THE VERB 73
12.2. ›AMˇU AND MARÛ
These Akkadian adjectives meaning, “quick” and “fat, slow” respectively,
were used as grammatical terms by the compilers of bilingual
lexical lists. They have been the cause of lengthy learned debates,
since Yoshikawa 1968.
¢am†u (¢an†u) or marû is found as an addition to the Akkadian translation
of a Sumerian (verbal) entry, e.g.,
igi-zu = uddû ¢an†u, igi-zu-zu = II marû
“to mark, indicate (when ¢.)”, to mark, indicate (when m.)”
Edzard 1971, 209–12, gave a survey of the successive efforts of
scholars to explain ¢. and m. from 1885–1968; the discussion between
1971 and 1984 has been summarized by Thomsen 1984, 115–23;
thereafter, Black 2 1991, 99–119; Lambert 1991, 7–9, brought arguments
that ¢. and m., found in the right hand Akkadian column of
lexical lists referred to the left hand, Sumerian, column (and not to
the right hand col., as Steiner 1981, 1–14, as well as Jacobsen 1988,
173, had seen it).
See now also Attinger 1993, 185–87, and Krecher 1995, 142 with
fn. 1, with more lit.
If ¢am†u and marû refer to the Sumerian verbal base, they cannot
in all cases be describing its form. For while, e.g., igi-zu is, in fact,
“quick (short)” as opposed to igi-zu-zu, “slow (long)”, ∞gen “to go” (¢.)
versus du (m.) presents no such opposition. The same formal dilemma
we would encounter in Akkadian where, e.g., iprus : iparras would correspond
to “short” : “long” whereas ìkul : ikkal, i“ìm : i“àm would not.
Be that as it may, Krecher’s decisive argument (1995, 142) was
that the references “¢. and m.” in the right, Akkadian, column should
be seen in the same way as the reference EME.SAL, which can only
refer the Sumerian expression given in the left, Sumerian, column.
It has in fact proved practical to apply the terms ¢am†u and marû
to those complementary variants of the Sumerian verbal base, occurring
in two different, transitive, conjugation patterns: “preterite” ingar
“he set (something)” and “present” ib-∞gá-∞gá “he sets/will set it”;
and to two non-finite uses of the verbal base: ∞gar-ra [∞ gar-a] “set”
(past participle) and ∞gá-∞gá-(d) [∞ ga-∞ga-ed] “setting” (present participle).
We will, therefore, retain those two terms both for different verbal
bases and for the conjugation patterns in which they occur.
Note: The two conjugation patterns have, alternatively, been named “Präteritum”:
“Präsens-Futur” (Poebel 1923; Falkenstein 1949–50; Römer 1982, 55 f.); “achevé”: