148 THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES^ LL.B., M.R.A.S., ON THE 



cities situated on hills. Other completions are possible — pir'dni^ 

 " seeds " = " offspring " ; mactni, " mighty ones/' from ma'ti, etc. 

 Ubhuku is the Pu'ul of dbdku, " to overthrow " ; and luputtu 

 (from lapdtu) is practically a synonym of that word. Hurum is 

 possibly for hurriisu, from hardsu, " to grind/' " crush." 



The different expressions for " ship " in lines 8 and 9 

 are noteworthy. The usual word is elippu, " boat/' and in the 

 eleventh tablet of the Gilgames series it is also called ekalhi, 

 " palace " — literally " great house/' and Mht, " house/' simply. 

 In Professor Hilprecht's new fragment, however, it is called 

 a " ship," literally a " great boat " {elifpu rabitu). What kind 

 of vessel the ma-gurgurrum was, and wherein it differed from 

 other ships, is doubtful. The root giir is Sumerian, and means 

 " to enclose," or the like, and Hilprecht's explanation of the 

 word as meaning " houseboat " seems very probable — indeed, 

 a gigantic structure which was to be a ship and a dwelling-place 

 is just what would be expected. It is not improbably connected 

 with the non-reduplicate form ma-gur, Semiticised as makurru, 

 " shrine " or " ark " of a god. In any case, these two words 

 would seem to be the equivalents of the Hebrew tehah^ 

 " ark," " shrine," " coffin," borrowed from the Egyptian. 



Gobi gahbi in line 7 the translator of this fragment renders 

 as " total height " — " total height shall be its structure." In 

 this case it may be supposed that a numeral preceded — " (so 

 many) cubits in total height," or the like. This is naturally a 

 possible rendering, and I have nothing to say against it. 

 Nevertheless, it seemed to me that an alternative might be 

 suggested, especially as gahe may be for qahe, whose singular is 

 rendered " stable/' " fold," " pen " — a good meaning for such a 

 passage as this. But I am not satisfied that the rendering 

 is the right one, notwithstanding the excellent sense which "all 

 pens let its construction be " would make. 



Professor Hilprecht has some interesting remarks upon the 

 nature of the " strong deck " (zulula danna) in line 9, with 

 which the craft was covered in. He quotes a similar line in 

 the Gilgames version : kima apsi sdsi sullil-si, " like the abyss, 

 as for that ( boat), cover it in " ; and also the second Nineveh 

 version : [sulul-sa] kima kippati samS lu dan Slis, " let its 

 covering be strong above like the vault of heaven." All this 

 suggests a structure like a domed roof, possibly circular, even 

 though the boat itself may not have had the same form ; though 

 it is noteworthy that circular boats have been used on the 

 Euphrates and Tigris from time immemorial. 



Though I agree with Professor Hilprecht with regard to the 



