142 JASTROW— THE SIGN AND NAME [April 25, 



accepts the interpretation proposed as long ago as 1890 by Jensen^ 

 for the ideographic compound as " frei weidendes, abseits weidendes 

 Schaf." This view rests on the identification of the first sign Lu 

 as " sheep," while the second is taken in the sense of " to remove,"* 

 the combination thus expressing the movement of the planets, like 

 sheep that wander away from the flock. That Jensen was right in 

 his explanation of the first element as " sheep " follows from various 

 considerations, among which the testimony of the lexicographical 

 list IIR. 6, 4 c-d by itself, Lu-Bat = bi-ib-bu, is decisive, since in 

 the same list Lu-Igi is explained as lu-li-iiiu (1. 8) " ram " or " bell- 

 wether " and Lu is the common ideogram for iunncru the ordinary 

 term for " sheep. "^ In addition we have the equation IIR. 39, No. 

 5, 62 a-b (//) bi-ib-bu ^= (il) Lu-Bat. 



Jensen's explanation, however, of the second element is not satis- 

 factory. -In the first place the equation Bat = ms{i ("to remove ") 

 does not represent the most common value of the ideograph in ques- 

 tion, for the various meanings of which it seems more reasonable to 

 start from the fundamental notion of " coming to completion,"^ 

 whence we have the further development in two directions : ( i ) 

 "coming to an end" (gamaru, katij, Br. Nos. 1499, 1512, etc.), 

 " closing up " (sakku, sikeru Meissner, Assyr. Ideogramme, Nos. 

 869-872); "removing" (nisii, Br. No. 1525); "growing old" 

 (labaru, Br. No. 1515) ; "die" (matu, etc., Br. Nos. 1517-19, 1527, 

 1533); "set at rest" (pasahu, Br. No. 1528): (2) "Completion" 

 in the sense of " fullness " and " vitality," consequently, " life " 

 (balatu, Br. No. 1494); " being " (basu, Br. No. 1495); "blood" 



^ Kosmologie der Babylonier, p. 99. Hommel (Aufsatze und Abhand- 

 lungen p. 379) thinks that the designation bibbu which he takes as " ram " is 

 an alhision to the " solar " character of the planets, but this is even less plau- 

 sible than Jensen's explanation. 



* Cf. Briinnow, No. 1525 (BAT=znisu). 



" See Muss-Arnolt, Assyr. Diet., p. 61 b. Note also that in the list 

 IIR. 6, s-8 we have the group bi-ib-bu, a-tu-du ("he-goat"), sap-pa-ru 

 ("mountain-goat") and lu-li-mu. 



' We must bear in mind as Thureau-Dangin, " Recherches sur 1' Origine 

 de I'Ecriture cuneiformc," No. 11, has pointed out, that two originally dis- 

 tinct signs have been confounded in Bat, so that all meanings associated, e. g., 

 with pitii (Br. No. 1529) must be referred to No. 278 (p. 45) and explained 

 accordingly. 



