Chapter II · Tablet 13930, Plates 16 and 17, Hymn to Sin

Obverse

43

Reverse

44

This beautiful and interesting hymn begins with a picturesque and lordly epithet of the god whose full face so often shone upon the worshipper night by night. His fatherly nature and his full-orbed glory are dwelt upon in adoring and glowing terms. The name of his city and temple are mentioned. His power to lighten the world is acknowledged. His peculiar relation of “son to Bêl” is announced. The phenomenon of his appearance in the heavens as the full moon is described to us from several points of view. This is the famous Nannar, dwelling in the temple of E-gišširgal at the ancient city of Ur. The sacred ship, becoming a peculiar emblem in Babylonian worship, symbolized several important ideas connected with Nannar’s transit through the heavens by night or during the month. Perhaps Nannar was in the beginning a water-god. His power over the waters is graphically described.

Obverse

mà-gur is a boat of crescent form. Sin is a man sitting in the half circle of the moon and sailing across the firmament of the heavens as in a majestic ship. mà: the sign MÙ was originally pictorial and represented the rudder of the ship. The sign of our tablet is New-Babylonian and can be found in the inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar II. It is half way between the old pictorial and the usual Assyrian MÙ. gur: the sign ḤAR probably refers to the body of the ship as “an enclosure”, or more particularly to “the crescent form” of the ship, since ḤAR means “circular enclosure”. The ḤAR of our text is much like the linear form found in the Stèle des Vautours.

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azag equals ellu, “shining”, (Br. 9890). The sign also has the value ku with the meaning ellu. azag, “shining”, refers to the moon and the moon looks like a ship.

an-na (see Hymn to Bêl, line 18).

še-ir-ma-al nì-te-na (see Hymn to Bêl, line 1). The ideas of these two words find their way into the first line of the Ašurbânipal Hymn to Sin, K. 2861, (IV R. 9). še-ir-ma-al appears especially as ner-gal (š-n and m-g) and nì-te-na as aš-ni maḥ-àm; e-diš-ši-šu ṣi-i-ru.

a-a (see Hymn to Bêl, line 3).

^dimmer Šis-^ki is the most common Sumerian name of the god Sin, and means “brother of the land”. Sin was probably looked upon as “the helper of earth”. ^dimmer (see Hymn to Bêl, line 2). Šis equals aḥu, “brother”, (Br. 6437). ŠIŠ sometimes has the value uru, especially when it means naṣâru, “keep”. The ŠIŠ of our hymn is New-Babylonian but is not essentially different from the ŠIŠ of Gudea. ki (see Hymn to Bêl, line 9).

ù-mu-un-e (see Hymn to Bêl, line 3).

Šis-unu-^ki-ma means “of the brother’s dwelling place”. Šis means “brother”. unu equals šubtu, “dwelling”, (Br. 4792). ma, perhaps, can be taken as a sign of the genitive, being dialectic for ga, which is for ge, one of the values of KIT (see MSL. pp. XI and XVI). Perhaps we ought to read this word Uru-um-^ki-ma, taking the other value of ŠIŠ and also reading um instead of unu. In texts of OBI. it would appear that UNU is closely related to UM as well as to AB.

a-a ^dimmer Šis-^ki ù-mu-un-e (see line 2).

È-ner-nu-gál is not the usual spelling. The more common form is È-giš-šir-gal. Our È(BIT)-ner(NER)-nu(NU)-gál(IG) which also occurs in Ḥammurabi (for example, in CḤ. Col. II, line 21, Plate II) is dialectic for È(BIT)-giš(IZ)-šir(ŠIR)-gal(GAL). È(BIT)-giš(IZ)-šir(ŠIR)-gal(GAL) is the spelling found in the Ašurbânipal Hymn. In the inscription of the Clay Cylinder of Nabonidus found at Ur (Col. I, line 30), the spelling is È(BIT)-giš(IZ)-šir(ŠIR)-gal(GAL), but the margin has the spelling È(BIT)-giš(IZ)-nu(NU)-gál(IG). È equals bîtu, “house”, (Br. 6238). ner evidently stands for kiš. These two values, ner and kiš, were represented by the same sign in old Babylonian; namely, PIRIḲḲU. From the sign PIRIḲḲU, there developed in Assyrian another sign, whose chief 46 value is kiš with the meaning kiššatu. The sign here then should have the value kiš, or in old Babylonian giš, which is also one of the values of GISSU, a determinative before the name of a light. nu is for šir which equals nûru, “light”. IṢ.ŠIR is a common ideogram for “light”. The interchange of NU and SIRU is not so easy to explain. The fact that NU instead of SIRU occurs in the name of the temple in the time of Ḥammurabi would go to show that the spelling of the word with NU is more primitive than the spelling with SIRU. Perhaps NU has a value šir. Brünnow recognizes the fact that NU in the name of the temple sometimes takes the place of SIRU (see Br. 2005 and 1657). There is a difference between IḲU and GALLU. IḲU equals bašû, while GALLU equals rabû. The gal (ES mal) of IḲU must be different from the gal of GALLU.

a-a ^dimmer Šis-^ki ù-mu-un (see line 2).

^dimmer Áš-suḥ-ud: one of the citations Brünnow gives, in which the name of this god occurs, is in Incantation K. 3255 (IV R.² 2, 21), where, in the Sumerian as well as in the marginal reading of the Assyrian, Sin is said to be the lord of the god Namraṣit. ^dimmer En-zu-na en ^dimmer Áš-suḥ-ud ra-ge = ^ilu Sin be-el Nam-ra-ṣi-it. Áš-suḥ-ud means “the only foundation of light”. Áš has a very common Assyrian equivalent edu, “one”. suḥ equals išdu, “foundation”, (Br. 4811). ud equals urru, “light”, (see Br. 7798).

^dimmer Šis-^ki (see line 2).

ṭu-mu: ṬU.MU is a syllabic and dialectic form of DUMU (Br. 4069 and 11917). When DUMU stands for mâru, “son”, it is supposed to have the value du (Br. 4081). ṭu-mu is no doubt for dumu and du is a shortened form of dumu. ṭu: the sign may be recognized as old Babylonian appearing in this form in the Code of Ḥammurabi (see also AL. p. 135, No. 328).

sag (see Hymn to Bêl, line 5). ṭu-mu sag must be equal to some such expression as “first born son”, or “only begotten son”.

^dingir En-lil-lá: in line 7, we shall have ^dimmer Mu-ul-lil-ra and in line 18, ^dimmer Mu-ul-lil-li. ^dingir may be preferred to ^dimmer because the sign is a determinative to an EK form. En-lil-lá consists of the god’s name, En-lil (see Mu-ul-lil in Hymn to Bêl, line 2).

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síg-ga-zu-ne is a ḥal-clause equal to ina malîka, “in thy fulness”. síg: the sign to which this value is attached is composite. One element consists of SI whose chief meaning is “fill”. The other element consists of A which means “water”. SI.A then means “full of water”, or “fulness”. The sign, called DIRIGU, has two values ending with g; i. e., dirig related to the sign-name and síg which is quite certainly equal to malû (Br. 3722). ga is a phonetic complement (see Hymn to Bêl, line 4). zu is a determinate suffix of the second person (see Hymn to Bêl, line 21). ne is a postposition equal to ina (see Br. 4602, also de in Hymn to Bêl, line 6).

i-de (see Hymn to Bêl, line 6). i-de is a preposition used as a noun in the construct state, having the meaning of maḥru or pânu and equal to ina maḥar or ina pân.

a-a-zu equals noun a-a, plus suffix zu. a-a (see Hymn to Bêl, line 3). zu (see line 6).

^dimmer Mu-ul-lil-ra equals god’s name ^dimmer Mu-ul-lil, plus phonetic complement ra. ^dimmer Mu-ul-lil (see Hymn to Bêl, line 2). ra (see Hymn to Bêl, line 3). It might be better to regard lil-ra as a shortened form of lil-lá-ra. lil is quite apt to take the phonetic complement lá, a value of the sign LALLU, while ra is naturally a postposition.

še-ir-ma-al-la-zu-ne is a ḥal-clause equal to “in thy sovereignty”. še-ir-ma-al (see Hymn to Bêl, line 1). zu-ne (see line 6).

a-a ^dimmer Šis-^ki (see line 2).

še-ir-ma-al-la-zu-ne (see line 7).

gaba equals irtu, “breast”, (Br. 4470). We have had gaba as an adjective equal to pitû (see Hymn to Bêl, line 6).

zi-ga-zu-ne is a ḥal-clause meaning “in thy lifting up”. zi equals našû, “lift up”, (Br. 2325). We have had zi as equal to kênu, “right”, and napištu, “life”, (see Hymn to Bêl, lines 4 and 25). ga is a phonetic complement. zi might be zig (see Br. 2303 and Hymn to Bêl, line 4). zu-ne (see line 6). In gaba zi-ga-zu-ne, perhaps we have the picture of the full moon suddenly rising in the night from the horizon.

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mà-gur (see line 1).

an-šàg-ga: ŠÂGU is usually taken as a preposition and stands before its object. Here it seems to follow its object, an (see Hymn to Bêl, line 18). šàg-ga equals LIB plus GA. šàg: ŠÂGU, equal to libbu, may have either one of three values; viz., šà when not followed by a phonetic complement, šàg when followed by the phonetic complement ga and šàb when followed by the phonetic complement ba (see Br. 7980 and Hymn to Bêl, line 22). ga (see Hymn to Bêl, line 4).

síg-ga (see line 6).

še-ir-ma-al-la-zu-ne (see line 7).

a-a ^dimmer Šis-^ki (see line 2).

za-e (see Hymn to Bêl, line 16).

éš (see Hymn to Bêl, line 16). éš is admittedly a Sumerian value as is shown by its relation to the sign-name ÊŠU. éš is the fuller form of è(BIT). From éš there has arisen a Semitic loan-word ešu, “house”.

azag-šù means “to the shining”, azag (see line 1). šù (see Hymn to Bêl, line 15).

pa(d)-a-zu-ne is a ḥal-clause composed of a preposition with an infinitive that governs a suffix, as ina tamîka, “in thy speaking”, i. e., “when thou speakest”. pad is a verb equal to tamû, “speak”. pad also equals zakâru, “to name”. pa, the shortened form of pad, evidently intended here, is sometimes represented by the Assyrian nabû. a is the vowel of prolongation indicating the pa, rather than the pad-value. zu-ne (see line 6).

a-a ^dimmer Šis-^ki (see line 2).

mà-dim consists of noun mà and postposition dim. mà (see on line 1). mà-gur refers to the moon, mà refers to an ordinary ship. dim is equal to kîma, “like”. The sign-name is DIMMU. dim is ES. The EK form of the value is gim.

êgâ is a contraction of a, gè and a from the signs A, MI and A, and means “tide”, or “high water”. a means “water” and MI with the value gè means “black”, and the second A is evidently phonetic only. êgâ, therefore, means “black water”, such water as is seen in a “flood” or “high tide”.

síg-ga-zu-ne (see line 6).

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síg-ga-zu-ne (see line 6).

za-e (see line 10). It may be noticed that síg-ga-zu-ne occurs three times in this line and ten times in the section, lines 6-18. This repetition no doubt serves for rhetorical effect, especially in oral delivery and, together with the marked uniformity of measure in the clauses, characterizes the passage as poetic.

síg-ga-zu-ne (see line 6).

bi-šag-a-zu-ne is a ḥal-clause equal to “in thy speaking graciously”. bi equals ḳibû, “speak”, (Br. 5124). Starting with the meaning “speak” the sign KŠU comes to have a demonstrative force and is generally used as a suffix of the third person singular. We shall also see that it sometimes equals šikaru “strong drink”. šag: the sign giving this value is one not much used. It may be identified as GIŠIMMAR (see AL. p. 130, No. 206, also Br. 7286). šag is the chief value, equal to damâḳu or damḳu, “gracious”. a: the value is generally followed by the phonetic complement ga, but here it is followed by a (see Hymn to Bêl, line 9). zu-ne (see line 6).

bi-šag-a (see line 13).

rù-ti-a-zu-ne is a ḥal-clause equal to “in thy engendering life”. rù: we have had UL already as a composite part of Mu-ul-lil (see Hymn to Bêl, line 2). UL here probably with the value rù equals kalâlu, “perfect”. The sign is intended to be the picture of a goring bull; then, as we get away from the primary idea, there arise the meanings of “exultation”, “perfection”, etc. Nannar is “the perfecter of life”. ti (see Hymn to Bêl, line 16). a (see Hymn to Bêl, line 9). zu-ne (see line 6).

za-e (see line 10).

síg-ga-zu-ne (see line 6).

a-a ^dimmer Šis-^ki (see on line 2).

lid may be of Semitic origin from the Assyrian word littu, “progeny”. The two horizontal lines in the sign suggest the 50 idea of “pairing”, from which comes the idea of “progeny” (thus, Prince, MSL., p. 223).

damal (see Hymn to Bêl, line 10).

lid-ne-ra equals “to that progeny”. ne equals annû, a demonstrative pronoun “this”. ne is cognate with de which is also cognate with da and ta used as postpositions (see de and da in Hymn to Bêl, lines 6 and 4). ra is a postposition = “unto” (see Hymn to Bêl, line 3).

sal-dug-ga-zu-ne is a ḥal-clause: “in thy speaking”. sal is a prefix of an abstract character. It is equivalent to the Assyrian zinništu, “feminine”. It is a counterpart to ku in the expressions Eme-sal and Eme-ku, ku being equal to bêlu, “lord”. As a prefix, sal generalizes the root-idea of the stem to which it is attached and is consequently an abstract prefix (see Br. 10930, 10949 and 10955). dug-ga (see Hymn to Bêl, line 4). zu-ne (see line 6).

a-a-zu (see on line 7).

ide equals pânu, “face”, (Br. 9281). The sign IGÛ can be read either ide, which is ES, or ige, which is EK.

ḥùl-la equals noun ḥùl, plus phonetic complement la. ḥùl equals ḥadû, “joy” (Br. 10884). The sign giving this value is not to be confounded with another sign which also has the value ḥul meaning “evil”, expressed by limuttu (Br. 9503).

mu-e-ši-in-maš is a verb consisting of verbal prefix mu, verbal infixes e and ši-in and root maš. mu (see Hymn to Bêl, lines 1 and 18). e (see Hymn to Bêl, line 18). ši-in: an objective verbal infix naturally has its person determined by the object to which it refers. That object in this case seems to be ide ḥùl-la, “the joyful face” of the moon. maš: the sign has two names, BÂRU and MŠU, and two chief values related to these names, bar and maš. bar and maš are cognate forms. b changes to m (MSL. p. X); r changes to š (MSL. p. XII). The sign has two chief meanings, “side” and “cut”. The meaning of “side” is represented by bar (see MSL. p. 234), while the meaning of “cut”, from which we get the idea of “distinguish” is generally represented by the value maš (Br. 1735).

sal-zi consists of abstract prefix sal and noun zi. sal (see on line 15). zi (see on line 8).

ma-ra equals “unto the land”. ma (see Hymn to Bêl, line 8). ra (see line 15).

ni-in-gú: ni can be a verbal prefix and in a verbal infix, or ni-in can be a verbal infix with the verbal prefix omitted, gú 51 being the verbal root. ni, if taken as a prefix, naturally refers to a-a-zu. ni may have a demonstrative force, equal to šuatu, like ne. in as an infix refers to ma-ra. gú, a shortened form of gug, equal either ḳìbû, “speak”, or apâlu, “answer”. gú and gug have dialectic forms du and dug, the g changing to d which ES prefers. The sign is apparently a modification of the sign SANGU (see AL. p. 121, No. 14, and p. 124, No. 87). The primary meaning was “opening” and the leading value is ka equal to pû, “mouth”. The values ka and gú come from the sign-name KÂGU (see Hymn to Bêl, lines 1 and 4). With the value ì the sign means “word”.

e (see Hymn to Bêl, line 14).

i-i: i is the chief value of GIṬṬÛ. The sign with its five parallel lines or wedges representing the five fingers of the hand is a symbol of power. From the idea of “power”, we get that of “exaltation” (see Hymn to Bêl, line 6).

lugal-ra consists of stem lugal and postposition ra lugal: the sign is composite, the elements being GAL and LU which mean “great” and “man”. lugal equals šarru (Br. 4266). We shall have the element LU with the ES value mulu. ra (see Hymn to Bêl, lines 3 and 8). We might expect la here.

û-de-eš consists of root û, phonetic complement de and adverbial ending eš. û equals ûmu, “day”, (Br. 7797), and is a shortened form of ud. de is phonetic here. The more usual phonetic complement of ud is da (see Br. 7774). eš (see Br. 10001). eš as an adverbial ending is probably derived from the Semitic adverbial ending -iš which is supposed to have grown out of the Assyrian suffix of the third person šu. Agglutinative languages do not often possess special adverbial endings.

mu-un-ê consists of verbal prefix mu-un and verbal root ê. mu-un is phonetic for mun which is simply a nasalized mu (see MSL. p. XXVIII, and Hymn to Bêl, line 1). On ê (see Hymn to Bêl, line 15).

^dimmer Mu-ul-lil-li (see Hymn to Bêl, line 23).

mu-du-ru: there is a sign MUDRU (Br. 10776) which may be related to PA. We may infer a relation between MUDRU and PA, because the two signs have a common value sig. We know also that MU.DU.RU sometimes stands for PA (Br. 1275). Now 52 if MU.DU.RU can stand for PA it must have some meaning in common with PA. The most usual meaning of PA is ḥaṭṭu, “sceptre”, which gives good sense here. mu (see Hymn to Bêl, line 1). du (see Hymn to Bêl, line 15).

û-sud-du consists of noun û, adjective sud, and phonetic complement du. û (see line 17). sud equals rûḳu, “distant” (Br. 7603). du (see gin, line 23), phonetic complement here.

šú-za equals noun šú and suffix za. šú (see Hymn to Bêl, line 25). za is a suffix of the second person singular masculine (Br. 11722). We have had za-e as being equal to “thou” (Hymn to Bêl, line 16). zu we have found to be the more usual suffix of the second person (see on line 6). za is dialectic for zu.

ma-ra (see on line 16).

ni-in-rù consists of prefix ni, infix in and verbal root rù. ni-in (see on line 16). rù (see on line 14).

Šis-unu-^ki-ma (see on line 2).

mà-gur (see on line 1).

azag-ga equals adjective azag, plus phonetic complement ga. azag (see on line 1). ga (see Hymn to Bêl, line 4).

pa(d)-a-zu-ne (see on line 10).

^dimmer Nu-dim-mud-e: we have here a compound ideogram as a name of the god Ea. ^dimmer is determinative before the name of a god (see Hymn to Bêl, line 2). Nu-dim-mud equals the Assyrian E-a (Br. 2016). The usual Sumerian ideogram is EN.KI. e in Nu-dim-mud-e a vowel of prolongation (see Hymn to Bêl, line 3).

sal-dug-ga-zu-ne (see line 15).

pa(d)-a-zu-ne (see line 10).

Reverse

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a equals mû, “water” (Br. 11347). “Water” is a primary meaning of the sign ÂU, which at first consisted of two short perpendicular lines representing “falling water” (see Hymn to Bêl, line 3).

im-si consists of indeterminate verbal prefix im and verbal root si. im (Br. p. 545). si (Hymn to Bêl, line 22).

a im-si (see line 23).

ìd equals nâru, “river”. Sometimes ìd is shortened to i (Br. 11647). The value ìd comes from the union of two signs A “water” and ṬÚ (Br. 10217). Moreover, ṬÚ with the value ṭú equals apsû, “sea”. The ṬÚ sign, explained more minutely, consists of ḤAL “run” inside of KIL “enclosure”. So ḤAL + KIL = running, “flowing within an enclosure”, hence = “sea”. While ìd means primarily “water of the sea”, it is much used also as a determinative before names of rivers. We have the name of the Euphrates in the next line. Perhaps the name of the Tigris was given in some one of the lines. The common Sumerian ideogram for the name of the Tigris is ḥal-ḥal, an intensified form of ḥal, which means “running” or “rushing”. The Tigris is thus very appropriately called “the rushing river”. The Babylonian Diglat in the hands of the Persians took the form Tigra.

azag-gi equals ellu, “shining” (Br. 9901). azag (see line 19). gi is a phonetic complement, chosen no doubt with a view to vowel harmony as regards the following ìd (?). GI as an ideogram means “reed” (see Hymn to Bêl, line 24, gín).

ìd ud-kib-nun-na-ge means the river of Sippar. For ìd, see on line 25. ud-kib-nun consists of ud “sun” + kib “flourish, generate”, and nun “great”. The sign KIB suggests the idea “double” and hence, of course, “generate, beget” (MSL. p. 203). Nun, of course, = rabû “great” (Br. 2628), while na must be the phonetic complement and ge the nota genitivi as used in the next Hymn. The form ud-kib-nun then seems to mean “the great (nun) generative force (kib) of the sun” (ud); a name applied to Sippar had been from time immemorial the seat of the worship of the sun-god Šamaš (RBA., pp. 69, 117). Ìd-ud-kib-nun-na-ge then simply means “the river (ìd) of (ge) Sippar”, viz., the Euphrates, 54 which was usually termed in Sumerian Bura-nunu “the great stream” (MSL. p. 7, C).

a im-si (see on line 23).

ìd (see on line 25).

nu, regular Sumerian negative adverb, equal to the Assyrian la.

e-bi equals noun e and suffix bi. e equals mû, “water” (Br. 5844). We have also had e equal to ḳabû, “speech” (Hymn to Bêl, line 14). bi is a suffix of the third person singular (see Br. 5135). bi gets its demonstrative nature from the conception “speak” which seems to be the primary one in the old Babylonian linear hieroglyph.

láḥ-e consists of root láḥ and vocalic prolongation e. láḥ equals misû “wash” (Br. 6167). It is used of washing the hands and feet. It gets the idea “wash” from the idea “servant” who does the washing, but it may have meant “servant” before it meant “wash”. It often has the phonetic complement ḥa or ḥi. Literally the clause read: “the river whose water washes not”.

a im-si (see on line 23).

^dimmer Šis-^ki-kam equals god-name ^dimmer Šis-^ki plus kam = KAMMU without doubt (see CT. XV, Colophon of Tablet 29623, plate 12). kam is a well recognized determinative used after ordinal numerals. It no doubt occupies this position as a genitive particle, but, as a genitive sign, it may be used after words other than numerals; and, in fact, is so used in Gudea. It is evidently a lengthened form of the postposition ka; being ka plus am (see SVA. p. 60).

The sign looks like MÀ but perhaps the copyist made a mistake. maḥ (see Hymn to Bêl, line 23).

sug equals ṣuṣû, “marsh”. The sign is the enclosure-sign KIL with the “water” sign ÂU within the “enclosure” sign.

ban-da: the signs are DUMU and DADDU. DUMU has several values, the chief of which are dumu, tur and ban. dumu equals mâru, “son”. We have met the value dumu or its dialectic equivalent ṭumu, represented by ṬU and MU (see on line 5). tur equals ṣiḥru, “small”, and is naturally followed by the phonetic complement ra. lan-da also equals ṣiḥru “little” (Br. 4133).

a im-si (see on line 23).

^dimmer Šis-^ki-kam (see line 27).

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êr-lim-ma (see Hymn to Bêl, line 27).

^dimmer En-zu “lord of wisdom” is the other name by which Sin is known in Sumerian. We have had one name above; viz., ^dimmer Šis-^ki. ^dimmer En-zu is no doubt in genitive relation to the preceding part of the line, although the nota genitivi is lacking. In another hymn to Bêl (CT. XV, Tablet 29644, plate 12), the genitive relation is signified by the postposition kam. The words are: êr-lim-ma ^dingir En-lil-lá-kam.