SUMERIAN GRAMMAR (Hdo) by DIETZ OTTO EDZARD

Author:DIETZ OTTO EDZARD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sumerian; Mesopotamian; Babylonian

the nominalized phrase is in a casus pendens.

See Falkenstein 1956, 63 ff. for the different formulations of "assertorischer Eid" and "promissorischer Eid".

12.16.2. The nominalized phrase is in the genitive

digir-Gu-de-a . . . lu E-an-na in-fu-a-kam [i-n-fu-a-(a)k-am] "it is the

(personal) god of Gudea . . . the one who built the Eana" Gudea

Stat. C i 2-5.

ur-sag-ug 5 -ga i-me-sa-ke 4 -es [i-me-(e)s-a-(a)k-es] "because they (= the

aforementioned mythological beings) are warriors (once) slain (by

Ningirsu)" Gudea Cyl. A xxvi 15.

Note: [imesak] is a free standing genitive to which the adverbiative ending [es] has been added. We cannot give an answer to how [imesakes] was distinguished from a construction mu . . . -a-se (see 12.16.5), i.e., *mu . . . i-me-es-a-se.

enim-ama-ne-ne nu-ub-kiir-ne-a [nu-b-kur-(e)ne-a-a(k)] mu-lugal-bi in-

pa-de-es "they invoked the royal name that they would not change

the (word =) disposition of their mother" NG no. 99:44—46.

Note: In this and in many parallel cases it is not certain whether the nominalized phrase should really be understood as standing in the genitive, resumed by the -bi of mu-lugal-bi, or whether it stands in the absolutive, as a "casus pendens".

12.16.3. The nominalized phrase is in the locative

u 4 d Nin-gir-su-ke 4 sa-ge ba-pa-da-a [ba-n-pad-a-a] "when Ningirsu had (called him in the heart —) chosen him" En. I 2 i 7—ii 1.

The nominalized phrase is in the locative, and there is no geni-tival (regens-rectum) relation between the head (u 4 ) of the phrase and the phrase itself. Therefore, the phrase can only be defined—mor-pho-syntactically—as an apposition or an adjective joined to u 4 . If we see the phrase as an apposition the head (u 4 ) would virtually be in the locative, too, with the locative case particle deleted following a rule that in a sequence of parallel syntactical members only the last one will be marked by a case particle: u 4 (-da) ... -a. Cf. the sequence an ki-a "in heaven (and) on earth" where the locative after an (*an-na = [an-a]) has been deleted: an//ki-a.

If, on the other hand, we see the relation between head (u 4 ) and phrase as a connection of substantive (u 4 ) + adjective (nominalized phrase), there is no need to postulate the deletion of a case particle after u 4 .

By the time of the Ur III dynasty, the separate notation of nom-inalizer [a] and locative case particle [a] often coalesced so that a single written [a] may stand for both. But note still Hammu-rapi bi-in-du„-ga-a RIME 4, 335 no. 2:20.

The u 4 . . . -a construction is extremely popular. In Akkadian it has an exact parallel in the sequence inu/inuma . . . Moreover, the sometimes very elaborate construction u 4 ... (1) ... -a, (2) . . . -a, (3) . . . -a (etc.) u 4 -ba . . . "when . . ., (at that day =) then . . ." (e.g., En. I 20 i 9—iii 2) has its counterpart in Akkadian inu . . . inumisu . . . "when..., then.

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