The Indo-European Elements in Hurrian

20 2. Phonology, Writing Systems, Texts
The two documents analyzed by Laroche display the same disposition: the cuneiform
tablet on the left and the transliteration of the alphabet on the right. And next, a vocalization of
the letters according to a half-phonetic half-conventional system on the left and the translation
into French on the right. An extensive set of annotations follows and provides explanations. We
have kept the general disposition. Laroche’s transliteration is updated according to the order of
the alphabet described above, and the reconstructed phonetics is strictly phonetic and does not
include any cuneiformic conventions. In general, words or syntagms are separated by a vertical
line (written here as ). Laroche has added blanks to separate words, but these blanks do not
exist in the original tablet.
RS 24.261 in Laroche (1968:499—504) “Sacrifice to Astarte-Šauška”:
The recto of the tablet is in very good shape. Most of it can be read fairly easily, and the
missing letters can securely be inferred. The verso is in bad shape and fragmentary. The tablet
describes how a ceremony was held. As in Anatolian or Hittite rites, there were two times: first
in the yard before the temple and then inside the temple. The first two lines are in Semitic, then
the rest is in Hurrian. One line (#9) is not understood.
1. [db­ : «ttrt] (Semitic) Sacrifice to Astarte
2. [qr9t 24 : bgrn] (Semitic) Invocation (?) in the yard
3. [9t¯lm : t†tkd 25 ] *[asxuluma 26 sauskada] Sacrifice to Šauška 27
4. [9gndym : tdndy] *[agandijama 28 sadandija 29 ] in the agandi and the sadandi 30
5. [Õnmty : Õn¯zzy] *[inumasija 31 inixadzidzija 32 ] in the place 33 and wisdom 34 of god(s)
6. [kzġd 35 : Õn¯mnd] *[kudzuγada inxumun 36 da] to Kušu¯, to the god Hmn 37 ,
7. [nntd kltd] 38 *[ninatada kulitada] to Ninatta, to Kulitta,
8. [nbdgd : wlbbtm] *[nubadigada, wali 39 bibita 40 dama] to Nubadig and the sacred house, 41
24
The meaning of is inferred. This looks like a derivative of Semitic qr" (cf. Arabic qara"a ‘to recite, to
read; to study’) (Laroche 1968:501).
25
Note that the directive is used for the dative.
26
Cf. aš¯ušikunni ‘sacrificator’, aš¯u ‘high’; aš¯ul- ‘to raise’; aš¯ulumma ‘elevation’ (Laroche 1968:501).
27
This translates line #1 and establishes an equivalence Astarte = Šauška.
28
Attested partially as . -ma is an enclitic morpheme ‘and, then’.
29
in Cuneiform writing. Laroche provides no explicit equivalence for this word.
30
Laroche interprets these two words as being nouns. It is worth wondering whether they should not be better
interpreted as being verbs in the Optative: ‘May she lead and well-feed us into the kingdom and wisdom of gods.’
Moreover, this verbal interpretation solves the problem of having Datives marked with the Allative case-marker -da,
a problem that Laroche himself had noticed.
31
in Cuneiform writing. This seems to mean the ‘place devoted to the god(s)’.
32
This word means ‘divine wisdom , god of wisdom’ . The Semitic form is (cf.
Akkadian ¯assu ‘intelligent, wise’, ¯asāsu ‘to heed a deity, to be pious; to be intelligent, understanding; to
remember; etc.’).
33
Laroche writes .
34
Laroche writes .
35
Instead of [k š ġ], which also exists.
36
Laroche (1968:530) suggests a reading *[xumun] (?) for this word.
37
Possibly the thunderstorm god Àamani, equivalent to Tešub or, more probably, Àamu, the brother of Teššub.
38
There is no vertical line in the tablet.