The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament; - The Search For ...

KIB .
NUN.
OENESIS II. B5
KI the origin of the name of the river will have
to be sought in the Akkadian, just as the name of the Tigris
according to Delitzsch Parad. p. 169. The name signifies
ihe "great (nunu) river (bur a)." By the omission of
n u n u and the addition of the Semitic feminine ending (see
above on Idignat) the 'great stream' became for the
Semitic Babylonians and Assyrians Bur at or the 'stream'
par excellence ; compare the Heb. "IHiin = the Euphrates.
The Euphrates stands here without any addition or more
specific local designation, certainly not because "it was the
main-stream that watered the garden, the stream that
specially belonged to Paradise" (Fr. Delitzsch Parad. p. 78).
It was certainly not so regarded by the Hebrew narrator.
But the lack of specific definition is rather due to the fact 35
that the river did not need to be specified more precisely
since it was the stream that was well known to every
Hebrew and which the Hebrews themselves called simply
"the stream." This could not be said of the Tigris (see
below p. 42).
"II^N, name of the region Assyria. The native appella-
tion is sometimes Assur, see Behistun inscription line 5,
Inscription of Asarhaddon 1 Rawl. 48, No. 9, line 3 and in
other passages; sometimes A-sur, as occasionally in the
Ninivite inscriptions e. g. Tigl.-Pil. col. VII, 31. 48. 59. 62.
The name stood chiefly as that of the city Assur or Asur
(A-sur-Kl Tigl.-Pil. I, col. 11,95; IV, 37; V, 25. 26. 62;
VI, 69 &c.—in other cases, as a rule the familiar compound
sign is employed for the city also). This city was the
ancient imperial capital, situated South of Niniveh, on the
right bank of the Tigris, on the spot where stand at the
present day the ruins of Karat-Sherkat (see on Chap. X.
11). As often happens, the name of the ancient imperial
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