CHIEFLY FROM NIPPUR. 



255 



col. I, 37 Tar., col. Ill", 15 Yar., "canal" + "to fill" (si = horn), i. e., "to irri- 

 gate"), 1 lugal (ibid., col. I, 1-3, the sign shows the remnant of the original arm. 2 Cf. 

 also the ideogram zag (ibid., col. I, 3, 3S, etc.), gur (ibid., col. Ill, 42 Yar.), 3 Kish 

 (No. 92, 3; No 102, 3; 103, 4), 1 ag (No. 83, 11 and 14), 5 and many others for whose 

 explanation I must refer to my Gescliiclite und System der Keilschrift. 6 All the stone 

 inscriptions of Urukagina have the regular Old Babylonian sign for mn, 7 just as the 

 Nippur texts here treated. On the other hand, the Nippur texts have a large number 

 of far more original forms of signs than the Urukagina and Ur-Nina inscriptions 

 published. 8 In view of these facts I can only draw one conclusion — that most of these 

 Nippur texts are older than those of Urukagina. 



III. Another important fact corroborates my determination of the age of these 



to bara(g) the original meaning, "seat," instead of "chamber." This sign occurs frequently in the contracts of 

 Nuffar (in a much more develjped form) and was identified with bar by Scheil independently of me. Cf. Becueil 

 XVII, p. 40d. 



6 Suk(k)attu denotes the servant (gal) who pours out (su) [namely water over his master's hands and feet]. A 

 word with similar meaning (zu) is apparently contained in zu-ab, "ocean," which Hommel translated half correctly 

 "house of water (?)," cf. Sumerische Leseslucke, No. 6. Originally zu and su had the same ideogram, which repre- 

 sents a vessel (cistern?) into which water flows. Zu means, therefore, "to flow into," or trans., "to pour into, to 

 add," then figur., "to increase one's knowledge, to learn, to know." Zu-ab denotes "the house (abode) into which 

 all the waters flow." Sukkallu may be translated "chamberlain" (Kammerer), later it received a more general 

 meaning. 



1 Oppert already recognized the general significance of the picture (I. c, p. 64). But the exact analysis of the 

 compound ideogram, which I discovered long before we excavated in Nuffar, remained obscure to him, Houghton, 

 Sayce (Transactions of Soc. Bibl. Arch. VI, p. 475) and others. Cf. a very curious form, which is but a mutilated 

 "ra," in col. I, 37, second Var. 



2 The two elements lu -\- gal appear separated in No. 86, 2 Var., 13 Var.; No. 101, 7 ; No 105, 7. 



3 Successfully analyzed by Ball in Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch. XV, p. 49. The line which continues beyond the head 

 is, however, no continuation of the forearm, but represents the cushion between the head and the vessel upon which 

 the latter rests. Originally the arm reached further to the rim of the vessel, as in the corresponding Egyptian hiero- 

 glyphics and as illustrated by PI. XVI, No. 37, of the present work. 



4 It closely approaches the original picture explained by a Babylonian scribe on the famous fr. from Kuyunjik, 

 col. in, 6 (Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch. VI, p. 455). 



6 Cf. also the same sign on the very ancient monument preceding Urukagina's time (De Sarzec, I. c, PI. Ibis b., 

 col. IV, 1). 



6 As I have to dispose of more urgent matters at present, some years may still pass before its publication. 



'Only his barrel cylinder in clay exhibits traces of the older form for rnu, as shown above. 



8 Nobody can object that a few characters in these Nippur inscriptions seem to show the beginning of wedge- 

 writing and that a few others seem to have a later form. Lugalzaggisi presented c. 103 large inscribed vases, all 

 apparently bearing the same long inscription here published, to Iulil of Nippur. Every stonecutter available was 

 employed. Several of them understood but little of writing, and consequently some very ridiculous forms were 

 produced. Cf., e. g., col. II, 16 (second variant), dug-a (sic!), 29 (second variant) da, 39 (variants) aga, 42 gur, 

 44 (fourth variant) ganam, 45 shig, and others. In order to understand the enormous difficulties which I had to over- 

 come in restoring this text, Assyriologists will bear this fact in mind. 



