Omen 32.A.78'
Nicole Lundeen, 2021, "Šumma ālu, Omen 32.A.78", Nicla De Zorzi et al., Bestiarium Mesopotamicum, 2018-2021; accessed 11/20/2024 6:24 p.m. at tieromina.acdh-dev.oeaw.ac.at/omens/Omen-32-A-78-/tei
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PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY
- The phonetic complement on DU.DU-ak ‘walks about’ indicates a singular subject. The stative patluma, however, indicates a plural subject not only in form (the final u vowel) but also in meaning ‘plaited together’. Indeed CAD P, 436 s.v. pitiltu d interprets the above protasis’s subject as the plural ‘lizards’. The CAD also refers to 32.S.66, another omen with the phrase ki-ma ŠU.SAR pat-lu-ma ‘plaited together like date-palm fibers’ (see the commentary there). In the Sultantepe omen, the subject is unambiguously multiple lizards. Finally the signs EME.DIR allow for a plural interpretation (see the commentary at 32.A.53’). We therefore translate the above protasis with a plural subject, despite the singular ending on DU.DU-ak.
- If a City 2 and KAL 1 translate the above omen as singular.
If a City 2 (173, *32.6’)
[If a liz]ard tied like a knot walks about in a man’s house, the owner […]
KAL 1 (16-17, 73 Rs. 6’)
[Wenn eine Eid]echse wie ein Seil verdreht ist und im Haus eines Mannes umherläuft: Der Herr [ … … ]
The logogram ŠU.SAR ‘date-palm fibers’ is commonly used in combination with the verb patālu ‘to twist, to plait’. See CAD P, 436 s.v. pitiltu d. At times it is also translated as ‘a rope’ which explains If a City 2’s ‘knot’ and KAL 1’s ‘rope’. In any case, the image evoked is one of entwined lizards, much as palm fibers may be braided together to form a rope.
