RA 36, 3
A bilingual, but not parallel text (Obv. Akkadian- Rev. Hurrian). The Akk. is perhaps a love incantation, showing some similarities to the Isin collection of love incantations (ZA 75). Note the vulgar and argumentative character of the text, as well as the emphasis on the dialogue itself (ll. 7-12).
Transliteration
Obv.
1 at-ba-AT-ka ki-ma a-[... ]
2 uk-ta-as-sí-ka ki-ma i[m-ba-ri-im]
3 ad-di-ka šu-bu-ur-[ (x?)]
4 el-qé ma-at-na-am uš-ta-pu ša-ap-ti-[ka]
5 ki ba-ar-ba-ri-im uš-ta-aḫ-ḫi-iṭ-ka
6 ki né-ši-im ru-pu-uš-ti e-li-ka ad-di
7 lu-uq-bi-ma qí-bi-ti el qí-bi-ti-k[a] lu e-[la?-at?]
8 lu-ut-wi-ma ti-wi-ti el ti-wi-ti-ka lu ḫa-ab-r[a-at]
9 ki-ma bu-lu e-li ša-am-ka-ni ḫa-ab-ra-at
10 ki-em qí-bi-ti el qí-bi-ti-ka lu ab-ra-at
11 ki-ma ša-mu-um el qa-aq-qa-ri-im ḫa-ab-ra-at
12 ki-em qí-bi-ti el qí-bi-ti-ka lu ḫa-ab-ra-at
13 ta-as-ni-ib ap-pa-ka aq-qí-na-ti-ka
14 a-ki la am-ta-ḫa-aṣ le-et-k[a]
Translation
2 I have enveloped you like a f[og].
3 I have thrown you down, (your?) anus...
4 I have taken a bowstring, I have fastened your lips.
5 I have attacked you like a wolf,
6 I have thrown my excrement over you like a lion.
7 Let me command, let my command be more e[levated(?)] than your command!
8 let me speak, let my utterance be louder than your utterance!
9 Just as the masters are superior to the servants,
10 may my words be superior, in the same way, to your words!
11 Just as the rain is superior to (lit. heavy on) the land,
12 may my words be superior, in the same way, to your words.
14 so that I will not strike your cheek.
Commentary
1: The form at-ba-AT-ka is either a valuable variant for the pronunciation of aṣbat, or, more likely merely a scribal mistake (repetition of the AT sign).
4: For matnum, "sinew, bowstring", see CAD M/1, 412, 2 (cf. CAD Š/1, 484, 2' without translation). The phrase uš-ta-pu ša-ap-ti-[ka] poses a problem. It is clear that the speaker in this line is taking a sinew or a bowstring in order to control his opponent and to stop his speech - thus šapûm A (u), "to surge, to swell up and down (said of the voice), CAD Š/1, 487ff. does not fit here. Rather, one must assume that uš-ta-pu is an OB attestation of šapûm B "to wrap, to fasten with laces", CAD Š/1, 490, although the vocalization of this verb is with (i) and all its attestations are late. (Note that šapûm B goes typically with sinews and leather ropes, so matnum fits here well). Alternatively, one could derive uš-ta-pu from šapûm C "to be silent, to remain silent", which in the D-stem means "to silence, to subdue", CAD Š/1, 490f. A contamination between šapûm B (i) and šapûm C (u) is not impossible.
5: For uš-ta-aḫ-ḫi-iṭ-ka, see CAD Š 92,7 and AHw 1131 (D only here. error for G?).
7–8: For this couplet see CAD T, 302 s.v. **tawû, and CAD T, 440 s.v. tīwītu. (See also AHw 1363). The restoration - provisional.
2, 5, 6, 11: For the similes in these lines, see Wasserman 2003a, 113. For the comparatives in this text, see Wasserman 2003a, 151.
9: bu-lu, not to be emended to be-lu (contra CAD Š/1, 314, s.v. šamkānu), see Wasserman 2003a, 90, n. 128.
9–10: For this couplet, see Wasserman 2003a, 119 (with previous literature).
11: ša-mu-um is rain, not sky, see Wasserman 2003a, 77.
11–12: Another example of this line of argument ("the words of X are superior/stronger/overcome the words of Y"), cf. the Neo-Assyrian proverb discussed in Livingstone 1988, 185–186.
13–14: A similar description (cf. also l. 3) is not without parallel, see the Sumerian short composition A diatribe against Engar-dug (ETCSL 5.4.1.1: 12f.): "Engar-dug, blocked at the anus, …… speech, …… vomit (?)! A man without ……, a tail stuck in its mouth".
Michael P. Streck and Nathan Wasserman, Sources of Early Akkadian Literature (SEAL), seal.huji.ac.il. No commercial use is allowed. Published under CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives). Reproduced unmodified. Cite as SEAL no. 7186; view on seal.huji.ac.il.