Good News (simutu) !(Essay)

• Author: Butts, Aaron Michael

BM 34584+ is an early Seleucid copy of a hemerological treatise that compiles prognoses for three months (Abu to Arahsamnu) from a variety of sources, including the "Babylonian Almanac" and the "Prostration Hemerology." These prognoses are occasionally furnished with Akkadian translations and glosses. Thus, for instance, the prognosis of the "Babylonian Almanac" regarding the 20th of Abu (fd-da na-an-bal-e gig dab-sw) is translated as "he shall not cross a river lest disease infect him" (nara(ID) la ib-bir mursu(GIG) isabbat(DAB)su, 11. 12-13). The translation is then justified, in the spirit of Babylonian commentaries, by explaining, "the sign BAL, when read /bal/, means cto crossc" (ba-a['B]AL : e-be-ri).

A full edition of this text has been given in a recent article. c The purpose of the present note is to discuss the word si-mu-tu (4), which occurs in 1. 115 of the tablet. The text explains the prognosis of the "Babylonian Almanac" for the 24th of Arahsamnu (bu-us-rat SIG (5), "good news") as si-mu-tu (4) M dum-qi. The word si-mu-tu (4) is not booked in the dictionaries, but three other occurrences are known:

(1.) si-mu-su-nu asme-ma, "I heard their news" (sc. the news about their arrival), IM 95917 iv 32' (BagM 21 p. 417, edited in Cavigneaux and Ismail 1990: 346 and Frame 1995: 300). Inscription of Ninurta-kudurn-usur, governor of Suhu and Mari, datable to the mid-eighth century BCE.

(2.) si-mu-tu ki alliku (...) ul isturu, "they did not write (...) the news that I had departed," IM 77126 11. 11-15 (OIP 114 no. 64, edited in Cole 1996: 147-49). Letter from Nippur, second half of the eighth century BCE.

(3.) si-mu-us-su ittlsu ittesmu, "news was heard (that she was) with him," BM 30868 11. 6-7 (Nbn 682, edited in Wunsch 1997/1998: 87-88 no. 18). Document from Babylon, dated 543 BCE.

S. W. Cole (1995 and 1996: 148) has argued that the word in question does not derive from semu "to hear" and mean "news, report," but rather that it derives from samu/sacamu "to buy" and means "purchase." He cites as a parallel Sabaic [s.sup.2]'mt "purchase, merchandise" from the root [s.sup.2]'m "to purchase." This interpretation was rejected by M. Jursa (1997/1998: 423a), who defended the analysis of the word as "news," based on its occurrence in (3) above, where the meaning "purchase" is ruled out based on context. The hemerological treatise in BM 34584+ definitively confirms this analysis of simutu with its equation of si-mu-tu (4) sa dum-qC and...