AoF 35, 146

General: this OA incantation is closer in themes and form to the OB incantations than to the MA incantation against the evil eye published by Geller 2004, furnishing thus yet another proof to the dependency of OA magic literature on OB material.

         1–2: e-nu-um a-lu-ší-tum: Comparison to other evil eye incantations (see esp. Ford 1998) may suggest that the unknown adj. a-lu-ší-tum designates a color, or another physical quality of the evil eye. A profession, or a social designation poses grammatical problem, as one would expect a genitive construction here. (Note that alušûm  “eine Menschennklass?” in AHw 39b is ghost lemma, corrected to kulûm! in CAD A/1, 391b and in AHw 1543a). For the particle kīša see now Wasserman 2012, 138–153.

         2–3: bi-ru-um la-am-nu-um: I take bi-ru-um as bīrum, “divination”, here in its basic meaning “vision”. (Barjamovic/Larsen 2008, 148 differently, connecting this word to birratu, “a filmy condition of the eye”).

         4: tí-ru-um: Barjamovic/Larsen 2008, 148 suggest tentatively “an affliction”, or connect this word to the verb tarāru “to tremble”. Another possibility is to see here the typical OA qualification of goods (sliver, tin, barely) ṭīrum (CAD Ṭ, 113), perhaps referring to a color.

         8: ta-ḫu-uz: the verbal form at the end of the line is no doubt a scribal mistake of miscopying the same form in l. 9. A valuable indication that the text was copied from another incantation.

         11–12: ta-ḫu-uz eṭ-lam i-na sú-pu-im: Based on the OB parallel passages in the incantations YOS 11, 11: 8 and YOS 11, 19a: 9–10  (libbi(ŠÀ) eṭlim(GURUŠ) i-na šu-li-i-im iṣ-ba-at libbi(ŠÀ) wardatim(KI.SIKIL) i-na me-lu-ul-ti-im iṣ-ba-at; and i-ṣa-ab-ba-at eṭ-lam i-na šu-li-im wardatam(KI.SIKIL) i-na me-lu-li-im), Barjamovic/Larsen 2008, 149 have concluded that the OA incantation which reads suppu’um, “proves that šullûm in the OB texts clearly has to represent a phonetic variant of sullûm ‘prayer’”. In my view, this conclusion is not warranted. It is more likely that the OA scribe has read, or heard šullûm, “street”–pronounced by him or by his reader as sullûm–and mistook it for “prayer”.

         23: Following Lambert 1959–60, 117: 32 and CAD N/1, 150b, I take naʾilu to denote a “watercourse”. An oath invoking the name of the netherworld together with bodies of water is found also in an OB incantation: ut-ta-mi-ka er-ṣe-tam ù ḫa-am-mé-e, “I conjure you by the earth and the lakes” (YOS 11, 12a: 8). The suggestion of Barjamovic/Larsen 2008, 149 that er-ṣa-tám ù na-i-li-ša is “the Underworld, and those who lie in it” cannot be accepted. Those staying in the underworld are usually called eṭemmu, and are not called for as guarantees in oaths. They are usually avoided altogether or, at most, summoned to tell the future in necromancy-like rituals (see Finkel 1983). A rare reference to the dwellers of the Netherworld (mītum) is found in an OB incantation against ‘worms’ (in fact, leeches - see Wasserman 2008): a-di… mi-tum iš-tu er-ṣ[e]-tim i-ba-lu-ṭa-am-ma la te-li, “Until the dead comes to life from the netherworld you must not rise!” (YOS 11, 3: 6–9).

         24: la ta-ṣa-bi-tí-ší-ni: A clear case of incantation destined for a female client (so also, e.g. YOS 11, 14c).