SumerianGrammar

80 CHAPTER TWELVE
12.6. NOTE ON VERBAL REDUPLICATION
The form a verbal case takes when it is reduplicated cannot be established
beforehand. It differs from one verb to the other. We may
generally distinguish between two ways of information: (1) standard
orthography: repetition of the sign used to render the simple form or,
very rarely, of a variant form (e.g., gá-∞ ∞ gá instead of ∞gar-∞gar); (2) un-
orthodox spelling: the scribe tried, to the best of his ability, to render
in syllabic script the actual pronunciation of the reduplicated form.
12.6.1
a) Full reduplication: gi 4 -gi 4 , bad-bad (”ulgi A 45 with var. ba-adba-ad
in Susa MDP 57 no. 200).
12.6.2
b) Loss of final consonant: gar ∞ → ∞gá-∞
gá; kur 9 → ku 4 -ku 4 ; na∞g →
na 8 -na 8 , and see above 12.4.2.
c) Loss of final consonant in first base: bi-bi-z(é) < *biz-biz (Gudea
Cyl. A xxviii 11, 24; “u ba-ba-r(a-da) < BAR-BAR Gudea Cyl. B
xv 7; la-la-ah < LAH 4 -LAH 4 , see ZA 53, 99 with fn. 16.
d) Assimilation of final consonant in first base to following initial
consonant: bar 6 -bar 6 → UD (babbar), ba(-ab)-ba-ar Proto-Ea 157
(MSL 14, 38).
e) Loss of consonant in second base: gen → (*gen-gen) ge-en-gete
[genge(n)-(e)d-e] “make firm” Innin “ag. 118 (var. to ge-en-ge-en),
see Å. Sjöberg, ZA 65 (1975) 188.
f ) VC-VC > VCCVC (loss of hiatus): ul 4 → ul-lu-ul “to hasten”
ibid. (as e) 116 (var. ul 4 -ul 4 ).
g) C 1 VC 2 (V) → C 1 VC 1 C 2 (V) (loss of consonant in first, of vowel
in second base): bir-bir CT 15, 22:8 // bi-ib-ri VS 2, 2 iv 20 (see
Falkenstein 1959 b, 99 with fn. 17).
tuku 4 → tu-ut-ke see above 12.4.3.
h) C 1 VC 2 VC 3 → C 1 V-C 1 VC 2 VC 3 (loss of second syllable in first
base): ù-bi-GALAM-GALAM ga-ga-la-am : gana utlellì “rise high (O Inanna)”
TCL 6, 51:37 (Hru“ka 1969, 483 f.).
zu-lu-un → zu-zu-lu-un, sù-sù-lu-un = rußßunu “roaring” see CAD
R 183 raßànu lex.
i) C 1 VC 2 VC 3 → C 1 VC 2 -C 1 VC 2 VC 3 (loss of the end of the second
syllable in first base): zalag → za-al-zu-le-g(a) = nuwwurum “illumi­