257 
begins with a character, which, when it stands alone, is very 
commonly used in the inscriptions. It occurs as part of the 
booty taken from the different conquered nations, following 
horses, when these are mentioned, which it always exceeds in 
number; while it is taken in much smaller numbers than 
another animal which follows it. I cannot doubt that this 
character signifies ‘an ox ; and it seems to be prefixed as a de- 
terminative to the following character av, which may signify 
‘a buffalo,’ or ‘wild bull. A similar word, determined by 
the figure of an ox, occurs in the Egyptian inscriptions. Its 
precise signification has not been ascertained; Mr. Birch, in 
the vocabulary given in Bunsen’s work, interprets it as ‘a 
cow; but there was another word in common use, of which 
this was certainly the signification. 
** An obelisk which has been lately brought to the British 
Museum belonged, I believe, to the same king, the builder of 
the North-west Palace. I have only seen a rubbing of one of 
its sides. In it, the word which I have translated ‘ buffaloes’ 
occurs without the determinative sign. The king says that he 
killed all those on Harajiq, and on the sides of Lebanon, that 
were of larger size, carrying away their calves, and (if I be 
right in interpreting the next word according to the Arabic) 
keeping their females in confinement. Though I think there 
is good reason to think that this animal wasa buffalo or bison, 
it is never used to express any of the stone objects which the 
Assyrian kings erected at their gates. The word for ‘ bull’ 
must have been different. 
‘The determinative of this word, which, when it stands 
alone, signifies oxen generically, is followed by different groups, 
all of which must signify ‘sheep, goats,’ or these two kinds 
of animals in common. Sometimes a word stands alone, which 
is evidently the Hebrew yx, ‘a flock,’ though the vowels are 
different from those expressed by the Masoretic punctuation. 
Tothis a determinative isgenerally, thoughnotalways prefixed ; 
namely, the character which has the phonetic value lu. I take 
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