EEMAEKS ON THE FOREGOING PAPER. 35 



also the old Babylonian names Imgariia, Ibnia, only abbreviations 

 from Lngur-Samas, Imgw-Bel, etc., and from Ibni-Martu, Ibui- 

 Sin, and other similar names. 



Quite another question is to find the right explanation of the 

 numerous names ending in *-'-] ]\ ]y , collected by Mr. Pinches. 

 Whilst names such as Ya-hhdlu (Yah is ray Jlr>-), Ya-khahi (Yah is 

 my ^r. , here khavi standing for 'ammi, 'avvi), Abi-nadih (father 



of the latter), Nadhi-yau a.o. are pure Canaanitic, the names with 

 *"*"T Tt Tt must contain a national Babylonian- Assyrian male deity. 

 We know besides it a female deity >->-y JJ JJ^ , the consort of Samas, 

 a variant of which is ^>{- Nin-a-a ;^ it is a synonym oi Animlt, and 

 in the same manner as Anunit is a female personification of anun, 

 " heavenly ocean ; " also fy fj is such an one of anna, an-i (ayi) 

 "heaven"- But who is the male deity ^-j-f ff ff, with whom 

 are identified in proper names almost all of the other Babylonian- 

 Assyrian gods (e.g., Nindar-Ai, Bel-Ai, Nirgal-Ai, Samas-Ai, 

 Assur-Ai) ? Is Professor Delitzsch right, who, in his book, " Wo 

 lag das Pai'adies?" postulated K Babylonian (originally Sumerian) 

 word i, ya, ya'u, " god," which he thought the prototype of the 

 Hebrew Yahu or Yahve P 



In my opinion, we have only two possibilities to find the origin 

 of this enigmatical name. Either it is the same as the name for 

 the goddess »->-y ]} |I[, only as a male personification; then it 

 wouJd be originally no more than Anu or " Heaven," perhaps also 

 metaphorically used for "god" (=. ilu). Or, it is the same 

 name (only written in other characters) as the well-known god Ea 

 (•->-y t:yyyf \\), the god of the Earth and of the subterranean 

 waters, and also sometimes, like his son Morodach, the god of the 

 creation.^ In every case this male deity *->{- ly fy {ya, A'i) seems 

 to me in its semiticised form Yau to be the original of the Hebx-ew 



» Comp. JVanai, Nai/aTo as a name of Istar. 



2 Comp. my paper, " Babvl. u. aeg. Gottergenealogie " (Transactions of 

 the ninth Congresr, of Orientalists, II), p. 219, bit ]} ]}-iik=bU an-na 

 (Ilaupt, " Keilschrifttexte "' No. 21, lines 29 and 30). In W.A.I. Ill, 66, 

 2d, the wife of Samas is called *~*~] ]} Jy 5=^ ^], i.e., lya'itu, a name 

 formed from aya or iya, like Aminitu from u.nun. 



^ It is deserving of atteJition that the oklest Sumerian name of this god 

 Ea is not >->-f j^yyyy y^, E-a (this latter only used in the Semitic translation 

 of the Sumerian incantations), but In-ki and Dugga (or Zihba) ; so that it 

 would be not impossible the god In-ki (lord of Earth) got his other name 

 Ji-a only in later times, Ea being then only a variant of ihe old word ya 

 m, a'i, for "heaven" or "god." 



D 2 



