[1] Ni. 13981, published by Dr. Poebel in PBS. V, No. 2.
[2] The local Bel of Erech and a bye-form of Enlil, the earth god. Here
he is the consort of the mother goddess Ninsun.
[3] Tammuz is probably a real personage, although _Dumu-zi_, his
original name, is certainly later than the title _Ab-u_, probably the
oldest epithet of this deity, see _Tammuz and Ishtar_, p. 8. _Dumu-zi_
I take to have been originally the name of a prehistoric ruler of
Erech, identified with the primitive deity Abu.
[4] See _ibid._, page 40.
[5] Also Meissner's early Babylonian duplicate of Book X has invariably
the same writing, see Dhorme, _Choix de Textes Religieux_, 298-303.
[6] Sign whose gunufied form is read _aga_.
[7] The standard text of the Assyrian version is by Professor Paul
Haupt, _Das Babylonische Nimrodepos_, Leipzig, 1884.
[8] The name of the mother of Gilgamish has been erroneously read
_ri-mat ilat_Nin-lil, or _Rimat-Belit_, see Dhorme 202, 37; 204,
30, etc. But Dr. Poebel, who also copied this text, has shown that
_Nin-lil_ is an erroneous reading for _Nin-sun_. For _Ninsun_ as
mother of Gilgamish see SBP. 153 n. 19 and R.A., IX 113 III 2. _Ri-mat
ilat_Nin-sun should be rendered "The wild cow Ninsun."
[9] The fragments which have been assigned to Book II in the British
Museum collections by Haupt, Jensen, Dhorme and others belong to
later tablets, probably III or IV.
[10] Rm. 289, latter part of Col. II (part of the Assyrian version)
published in HAUPT, _ibid._, 81-4 preserves a defective text of this
part of the epic. This tablet has been erroneously assigned to Book
IV, but it appears to be Book III.
[11] K. 2589 and duplicate (unnumbered) in Haupt, _ibid._, 16-19.
[12] See also Ward, No. 199.
[13] Here this late text includes both variants _pasaru_ and
_zakaru_. The earlier texts have only the one or the other.
[14] For _kakabe_; _b_ becomes _u_ and then is reduced to the
breathing.
[15] The variants have _kima kisri_; _ki-[ma]?-rum_ is a possible
reading. The standard Assyrian texts regard Enkidu as the subject.
[16] Var. _da-an_
[17] _SAM-KAK_ = _ilu_, net. The variant has _ultaprid ki-is-su-su_,
"he shook his murderous weapon." For _kissu_ see ZA. 9,220,4 =
CT. 12,14b 36, _gis-kud_ = _ki-is-su_.
[18] Var. _nussu_ for _nus-su_ = _nussa-su_. The previous translations
of this passage are erroneous.
[19] This is to my knowledge the first occurence of the infinitive
of this verb, _paheru_, not _paharu_.
[20] Text _ma_?
[21] _istanamma_ > _istilamma_.
[22] Cf. Code of Hammurapi IV 52 and Streck in _Babyloniaca_ II 177.
[23] Restored from Tab. I Col. IV 21.
[24] Cf. Dhorme _Choix de Textes Religieux_ 198, 33.
[25] _namastu_ a late form which has followed the analogy of _restu_
in assuming the feminine _t_ as part of the root. The long _u_ is
due to analogy with _namassu_ a Sumerian loan-word with nisbe ending.
[26] Room for a small sign only, perhaps _A; maiak_? For _maka_,
there, see BEHRENS, LSS. II page 1 and index.
[27] Infinitive "to shepherd"; see also Poebel, PBS. V 106 I,
_ri-ia-u_, _ri-te-ia-u_.
[28] The text has clearly _AD-RI_.
[29] Or _azzammim_? The word is probably an adverb; hardly a word
for cup, mug (??).
[30] _it_ is uncertain and _ta_ more likely than _us_. One expects
_ittabriru_. Cf. _muttabrirru_, CT. 17, 15, 2; _littatabrar_, EBELING,
KTA. 69, 4.
[31] For _sapparu_. Text and interpretation uncertain. _uttappis_
II2 from _tapasu_, Hebrew _tapas_, seize.
[32] Text _ta_!
[33] On _ekesu_, drive away, see Zimmern, _Shurpu_, p. 56. Cf. _uk-kis
_ Myhrman, PBS. I 14, 17; _uk-ki-si_, King, Cr. App. V 55; etc., etc.
[34] The Hebrew cognate of _masu_, to forget, is _nasa_, Arabic
_nasijia_, and occurs here in Babylonian for the first time. See also
Brockelman, _Vergleichende Grammatik_ 160 a.
[35] Probably phonetic variant of _edir_. The preterite of _ederu_,
to be in misery, has not been found. If this interpretation be correct
the preterite _edir_ is established. For the change _r_ > _l_ note also
_attalah_ < _attarah_, Harper, _Letters_ 88, 10, _bilku_ < _birku_,
RA. 9, 77 II 13; _uttakkalu_ < _uttakkaru_, Ebeling, KTA. 49 IV 10.
[36] Also _na_-'-[ -]_ma_ is possible.
[37] The text cannot be correct since it has no intelligible sign. My
reading is uncertain.
[38] Text uncertain, _kal-lu-tim_ is possible.
[39] _KAK-si_.
[40] _KAK-si_.
[41] Literally nostrils. _pitik apunnati-su_, work done in his
presence(?). The meaning of the idiom is uncertain.
[42] Text _ZU_!
[43] Text has erroneous form.
[44] Text _PA-it-tam_ clearly!
[45] Omitted by the scribe.
[46] Sic! The plural of _kakku_, _kakkitu_(?).
[47] Cf. _e-pi-sa-an-su-nu libaru_, "May they see their doings,"
_Maklu_ VII 17.
[48] For _sakin-sum_.
[49] On the verb _naku_ see the Babylonian Book of Proverbs Sec. 27.
[50] The verb _la'atu_, to pierce, devour, forms its preterite _ilut_;
see VAB. IV 216, 1. The present tense which occurs here as _ilut_
also.
[51] Note _BUL(tu-ku)_ = _ratatu_ (falsely entered in Meissner,
SAI. 7993), and _irattutu_ in Zimmern, _Shurpu_, Index.
[52] "For _ipsah_."
[53] Sic! _hu_ reduced to the breathing _'u_; read _i-ni-'u_.
[54] The tablet is reckoned at forty lines in each column,
[55] Literally "he attained my front."
[56] IV1 of _waladu_.
[57] I.e., in the suburb of Erech.
[58] _pataku_ has apparently the same sense originally as _bataku_,
although the one forms its preterite _iptik_, and the other
_ibtuk_. Cf. also _mahasu_ break, hammer and construct.
[59] The passage is obscure. Here _suhuru_ is taken as a loan-word
from sugur = kimmatu, hair of the head. The infinitive II1 of _saharu_
is philologically possible.
[60] I.e., an ordinary man.