Of Sumerian Songs and Spells

The paper explores the uses of the Sumerian expression ser 3 -ku 3 , with a view to clarifying its sense. The paper arises from my study of Babylonian šerkugû , which I argue to have the meaning ‘incantation’ (see fn. 16). This is a loan from Sumerian *ser 3 -ku 3 -ga. The form with -ga (arising fro...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Worthington, Martin (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:German
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Published: De Gruyter 2019
In: Altorientalische Forschungen
Year: 2019, Volume: 46, Issue: 2, Pages: 270-300
Further subjects:B univerbation
B Incantations
B me
B Hymns
B Sumerian lexicography
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:The paper explores the uses of the Sumerian expression ser 3 -ku 3 , with a view to clarifying its sense. The paper arises from my study of Babylonian šerkugû , which I argue to have the meaning ‘incantation’ (see fn. 16). This is a loan from Sumerian *ser 3 -ku 3 -ga. The form with -ga (arising from the addition of the ‘adjectival a’ to ku 3 .g ‘holy, pure’) is not currently attested in Sumerian. (I thank Pascal Attinger, pers. comm., for the observation that apparent attestations of ser 3 -ku 3 -ga, e.g. in Martu A 58, are in fact locatives in -a). It does however occur in spellings of Babylonian šerkugû (CAD Š/2, 316b). It argues that there are two main uses, ‘incantation’ and ‘hymn’, probably correlating respectively with one-word (‘univerbated’) and two-word incarnations of the expression. This hypothesis finds support in the phrase’s loan and translation into Babylonian.
ISSN:2196-6761
Contains:Enthalten in: Altorientalische Forschungen
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1515/aofo-2019-0018