AMD 1, 287b

SEAL no. 7189 · MLC 1614 · Incantations · witch? · Unknown · 11 lines · 20 words · 51 signs · 13 Sumerograms

The Akkadian incantation on the reverse follows a Sumerian one (against Lamaštu). Clumsily written.

Transliteration

Rev.?

1 etellum(NIR.GÁL) tukultum(NIR) etellum(NIR.GÁL)

2 tukultum(NIR) etellum(NIR.GÁL)

3 EN.KA etellum(NIR.GÁL)

4 ABZU N[UN.KI.(GA?)]

5 ši!(Text: SI)-tas-si!(Text: ŠI)qí-⌈ib?⌉ ⌈x⌉⌈x⌉

6 mu-up-pa?!-ra-ti-[i]m?

7 ^dÉ-a ^dLÚ.ASAR.ḪI

8 li-taš-ši-ra-an-ni

9 te-e!-en-nu!-ri-e

10 [ši]-pa-at ka-ša?-ap?-[ti?]

Translation

Rev.?

1 Trusting, oh prince, trusting

2 Oh prince, trusting.

3 ..., trusting.

4 The Apsû, Eri[du]

5 Call out the....

6 of the scattered ones.

7 Oh Ea (and) Asarluhi,

8 May (the witch? / the evil-doer?) let me go for ever!

9 Incantation formula.

10 [In]cantation (against) a witch(?)

Commentary

1–2: Both NIR.GÁL and NIR can stand for etellum, "prince, lord", and both can also render tukultum, "trust" (or the verb takālum). The meaning of this phrase remains obscure and its translation tentative.

3: Or En-ka (bēlka)?

5:Against the edition, not ši-taš-ši but ši!(Text: SI)-tas-si!(Text: ŠI). SI-tas-ŠI must be a mistake for šitassi, šasûm-Gtn-Imp, "to call again and again, to summon, to address, etc." Note that the syllabic reading /tas/ is not usually attested in OB.

6: mu-up-pa?!-ra-ti-[i]m? (not in the edition) stands for mupparrâtim, f. pl. partic. of parārum-N "to be scattered, disperse". This verb in the N- and Ntn-stems refers to roaming demons, or to their description as being smashed and scattered (AHw 830, s.v.).

8: li-taš-ši-ra-an-ni is taken as a wašārum-Dtn form (the attached acc. pronoun makes Dt practically impossible). The subject of the verb is presumably the malefactor.

10:[ši]-pa-at ka-ša?-ap?-[ti?]: Hallo (1999, 279) suggests hesitantly [ši]-pa-at ka-ta-ar-[ri], "incantation against fungus". However, the signs, as copied, do not yield easily to this reading. kaššaptum, "witch", is also uncertain.

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. 7189; view on seal.huji.ac.il.