Note 116 — Chapter VIII
Reading edition
The name is also written Ma-ru-duk, which points to its having been regarded (for which there is other evidence) as a compound of maru, 'son,' and an element, duk(u), which in religious and other texts designates the 'glorious chamber' in which the god determines the fate of humanity. Such an 'etymology' is, however, merely a play upon the name, similar to the plays upon proper names found in the Old Testament. The real etymology is unknown. The form Marduk is Semitic, and points to an underlying stem, rdk. Marduk appears under a variety of names which will be taken up at their proper place. See Schrader's Assyrisch-Babyl. Keilschriften, p. 129; and the same author's Cuneiform Inscrip. and the O. T. (p. 422) for other etymologies.