maṭāṭum, “to collapse”, 2006

. 2006 n°2 (juin) described in section 7.1.2.1 of GMTR 1. Both were dated at Dilbat and come from the earlier period of the archive. BM 54151 is a promissory note from the reign of Samas-suma-ukln (year damaged) making it the earliest known tablet from the archive, and BM 54564, though in poor condition, duplicates at least partially BM 54192, a promissory note dating to 12 Kandalanu (636) already included by Jursa in his catalogue. Two tablets from the 1888-4-19 collection (BM 78159 and BM 78167) and a third consisting of fragments from the 1881-8-30 collection (BM 46799+46928+47309) can be attributed to Bel-etir of the Misiraya kin group and might constitute a previously unknown archive from Kish to be included in section 7.8 of GMTR 1. The earliest of the three dates to 1 Samas-suma-ukln (667) and records the purchase of bansu land (BM 78167). The other two are dated 12 Samas-suma-ukin (656) and record Bel-etir's obligation to pay for a flock of sheep and goats (BM 78159) and his purchase of additional tjansu land (BM 46799+). 1. I thank The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq (TAARI!) for the generous grant that allowed me to pursue this research in support of my University of Chicago dissertation "Sons and Descendants: Early Neo-Babylonian Kin Groups,747-626 B.C." John P. NIELSEN (16-03-2006) jpnielse@uchicago.edu Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, 1155 East 58th Street, CHICAGO, IL 60637 (USA) 45) mafafum, "to collapse" - CAD M/2, 8a, 2) and 8 b , 4e) list a few occurrences of an idiom involving the verb madadum, a divinity, and a geographical designation (mostly river and silt, but once a kingdom and a country). As the editors of the CAD have noted, the normal meaning of the verb madadum, "to measure", hardly passes for this group of texts ("uncert. mng." and "obscure").' In this short note I would like to suggest that these passages entail not madadum, but the verb matatum, which to the best of my knowledge is not recorded hitherto in Akkadian, with the meaning - well known in west Semitic - "to collapse (trans.), to sway, be shaken, to demolish." Three of the examples under discussion are found in a not too-common curse formula in OB and later copies of OAkk royal inscriptions. (1) Naram-Sin C 5 : r d i e n-fkii nar(id)-su so- (text :a)-<ki-ka-am> «-/m-DU-UD.2 (2) *Naram-Sin C 30: den-ki nar(id)-su sa-ki-ka-am /(-im-DU-UD.3 (3) The Cruciform Monument (pseudo epigraphic inscription of Man-i§tu§u): d[en-ki] id-s[u a]-n[a] sa-ki-ki-i[m\ /i-im-DtJ-UD (MB var. /ra-DU-[UD]).4 The key to the understanding of these passages is found, I believe, in the Sultantepe ms. of Ludlul bel nemeqi 1:100, where a similar phrase is attested. There the verb is spelled unambiguously with the emphatic /t/. (4) Ludlul bel nemeqi: pi'-i ndrija (fd-mu) u-man-Dl-tu^ s[a]-ki-ka (var.: u-man-Dl-DU). 5 The correct rendering of the supposed verb madadum is therefore matatum : li-im/lim-tu/tu-ut and uman-ti-tu. The meaning of Akkadian matatum can be ascertained by comparison to Biblical Hebrew, where the root Vmw/ (closely related to the later Vm«) exists, with the meanings "to sway, be shaken" (qal); "to be made to stagger, to be made to totter" (nif.); "to reel" (hitpol).6 In some dialects of Aramaic this root is found as well: "to decline, become poor (Pe.); "to shake, totter (Af.); "to be shaken (Itpe.); "to stagger, weaver" (Pal).7 In the Biblical corpus ~jmwt refers to human body and economic activity, but especially to geographical designations, such as land, mountains, hills, and, markedly, also city and kingdom (e.g. Ps 46, 4, 6, 7). Hence, the OAkk curse formuae should be translated: "may Ea collapse his canal with silt (sakikam, ace.)", or "may Ea ruin his canal (turning it) to silt (ana sakikim)." Another passage that the dictionaries list besides those just treated is also found in a curse formula, towards the end of a royal monument: (5) Idrimi Statue : i7i7(dingir-mesl^a.Iam£(aiti.ii-erseti()d\£ar-rut(L\JGAL-ut)-&u-uma^ai-su^ lim- DU- DU-su.s Here too, notwithstanding the slightly different idiom and the double accusative construction, I suggest reading /('m-DU-DU-sa as limtutusu, "may the gods of heaven and earth collapse his kingship and land on him". In summation, the available evidence shows that matatum is a relic of early Semitic lexicon. Its cognate root Vmw/ is widely attested in west Semitic,9 but is attested in Akkadian only in a handful of (mainly OAkk) frozen phrases and in a highly literary text. In later stages of Akkadian this verb was replaced with some usages of the verbs maqatum-S, naratum-D, qdpum, and rdbum-D. When the rare OAkk curse formula ^Ea narsu sakikam limtut fell out of use, other curse formulae came to be used instead: AAdad narsu limelld sakiki, "May Adad fill up his canals with silt" and kima ndri sa AEa irurusu pisu sakiku imtali, "just like a canal that Ea has -45- 1. 2006 n°2 (juin) cursed, its mouth became filled with silt" (CAD S, 76 s.v. sakiku), 1. AHw does not list these occurrences, but on 1012a. s.v. sakiku(m) madadum is translated with "messe!", cf. also AHw 666a, s.v. muddulu 11, "etwa fiillen ??", for which see Lambert, JSS 14 (1969), 250. 2. Gelb/Kienast, FAOS 7, 260: 180-182 (with Kienast/Sommerfeld, FAOS 8, 237 s.v. madadum: "Enki soil seinen Kanal mil Schlamm anfullen"). Frayne, RIME 2, 102: 27-29 ("May the god Ea block up his canal"). 3. Kienast/Sommerfeld, FAOS 8, 382 : 121-124 (trans, as in Nar. C 5). Frayne, RIME 2, 99 : vii 6-9 ("May the god Ea block up his canal with silt"). 4. Sollberger, JEOL 20 (1967-68), 62 : 368-391. 5. Lambert, BWL, 36 : 100. See CAD M/l, 8b , 4e, Lambert, JSS 14,250, and von Soden, TUAT 111/1, 120 n. lOOa). 6. Baumgartner/Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, vol. II, Leiden-NY-K61n, 1995, 555. 7. Sokoloff, A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, Ramat-Gan, 1990, 295. 8. Dietrich/Loretz, UF 13 (1981), 207 : 95 ("dessen Konigsherrschaft und dessen Land mogen die Gotter von Himmel und Erde zerteilen"). 9. Botterweck/Ringgren/Fabry (eds.), Theologisches Worterbuch zum Alien Testament, vol. IV, Stuttgart-Berlin-KolnMainz, 1984, 728. Nathan WASSERMAN (02-06-2006) The Hebrew University of JERUSALEM (Israel) 46) Examining the entrails - A ritual text in Ugaritic (RS 24.266/KTU 1.119) includes the following sentence (lines 20-22): brb\ 'srmrn. bfyms [.] 'srtnm. wkbd w.ssrt Ib'l ugrt. bbt. "On the fourth (day), two birds, on the fifth (day), two birds and a liver and a ssrt (shall be offered) to Baal of Ugarit in (his) temple." Unfortunately, the reading of the untranslated word ssrt is uncertain. Herdner1 reads it as ssr[p], to be divided as s srp (although it should be noted that there is no word-divider present) and the translation in TOu II (p. 209 and n. 197) reflects this: "Au quatrieme (j°ur)> des oiseaux; au cinquieme (jour), des ois[eaux] et un foie et un mouton (s), en holo[causte] (sr[p]) pour Ba'al". Herdner's reading is also accepted by Wyatt2 who translates: "On the fourth (day), (two) birds. On the fifth (day) (two) birds and a liver and a ram as a holocaust to Baal of Ugarit in (his) temple". Instead, Xella3 adopts the reading ssrt, which he translates "catenina (d'oro)", referring to the Ugaritic expression ssrt f}rs with that meaning in RS 18.028/KTU 4.341 :14. However, in our text, the qualifier frrs ("[of] gold") is not present and would have to be understood by ellipsis. A different solution was proposed by Del Olmo Lete5, who accepted the reading ssrt and understood it to mean "cadenilla". He noted: "It is probable that in parfallel] with kbd, ssrt here denotes entrails"6 and referred to Akk. serse(r)ru(m), "(Ketten)Ring, Ring auf Milz, Niere usw. (AHw, 1218a)7. However, in his recent review article8, he now accepts Herdner's reading (s srp) "as very suitable, so avoiding the hapax ssrt." He adds: "Nevertheless, the argument of the context of body parts (cf. CR p. 41 )9 could favour this reading" (i.e. Ssrt). If the reading in RS 24.266/KTU 1.119:21 is in fact ssrt, then I suggest that perhaps it may be explained by Akk. sisurru, which means "gizzard" (CAD P, 426b) and occurs in contexts involving birds10. The appearance of Akk. Is/ in Ugaritic as Isl instead of ItJ is not a problem as it is also found in Ug. rb nksy, "chief accountant" (RS 17.025/KTU 6.66 :3-4), which corresponds to Akk. rdb nikkassT/e, "chief of accounts, comptroller"11. The translation proposed here, then, is as follows: "On the fourth (day), two birds, on the fifth (day), two birds and a liver and a gizzard (shall be offered) to Baal of Ugarit in (his) temple." Of course, in different ways, both the reading in the Ugaritic text and the correct reading of the Akkadian term sisurru (which may be read pisurru1^ are uncertain, so the proposal made here is only tentative and is presented as such13. 1. A. Herdner, "Nouveaux textes alphabetiques de Ras Shamra - XXlVe campagne 1961", Ugaritica 7, Paris 1978, 174(34-35). 2. N. Wyatt, Religious Texts from Ugarit (London - New York 2002) 420. He notes (ibid. 420 n. 31): "Herdner (1978 : 34-35) reads ssr[p]; KTU2 reads sSrt. Neither is certain." 3. P. Xella, / testi rituali di Vgarit -1 (Rome 1981) 27 and 32. 4. Note also that the reading s$rt is accepted by Tropper UG, 148, 276 and 301 (and translated "Kette"). 5. G. del Olmo Lete, "Liturgia sacrificial y salmodia en Ugarit (KTU 1.119)", Aula Orientalis 7, 1989, 27-35 (32 and n. 28). See also, G. del Olmo Lete, "Anatomia cultual de Ugarit. Ofrenda de visceras en el culto ugaritico", AuOr 7, 1989, 12325 (124) and "Ug. kgb y sllj como material sacrificial", AuOr 10, 1992, 151-52. 6. G. del Olmo Lete, Canaanite Religion According to the Liturgical Texts of Ugarit (translated by Wilfred G. E. Watson ; Bethesda, 1999 = CR) 302 n. 29. 7. I.e. "link (in chain)", "a feature on spleen, kidney, etc." (CDA, 368a). However, cf. CAD S/II, 321b: "mark on the -46- ,|