A problematic line in a Shamash prayer and Psalm 35:14.

AuthorBarre, Michael L.

In 1912 A. Schollmeyer (1) published transcriptions and translations of a number of Samas texts that had earlier been published by J. A. Craig (2) and C. D. Gray. (3) The text relevant to this article appears on plate IV of Gray's volume, (4) specifically line 18, which may be provisionally transliterated AT-ris sap-la-ku-ma DU.DU.ku. The difficulties with this line involve two issues: (1) Is the first word to be transliterated as at-ris, from (w)ataru, or ad-ris, from adaru I; and (2) what is the correct nuance of DU.DU.ku--evidently a form of alaku Gtn--in this context?

Schollmeyer transliterated the line as ad-ris sap-la-ku-ma muttaliku (ku) and gave the translation, "Voll Angst und gebeugt gehe ich einher," (5) In their 1953 collection of Sumerian and Akkadian hymns and prayers A. Falkenstein and W. von Soden translated it, "Ubermassig niedergebeugt bin ich und trete immer wieder vor dich." It is clear from "ubermassig" that the editors read the first word as atris rather than adris. (6) Evidently they took the phonetic complement on DU.DU.ku to be the 2nd masc. sg. dative suffix (7) and DU.DU as a 1st sg. form of alaku Gtn.

Several other indications of uncertainty about the reading and meaning of the line appear in later studies. W. G. Mayer transcribed it as ad/tris saplaku-ma attanallaku (8) Although he reproduced Falkenstein and von Soden's translation, he expressed uncertainty as to its accuracy: "Ich bin nicht sicher, ob diese Zeile richtig ubersetzt ist." (9)

Uncertainty was also signaled by the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary. In 1964 it cited this passage under the entry adris, translating, "I live prostrated in unhappiness." (10) The editors provide no transcription of DU.DU.ku. (11) In one of the more recent volumes (1989) the dictionary cites this line, again reading the first word as adris, yet this time no translation is given. Instead, after the transliteration appears only the remark "obscure." (12)

Finally, one should note two other translations of the prayer in question. In his 1976 publication of Akkadian hymns and prayers M.-J. Seux rendered line 18: "Je suis prostre et je vis sobrement." (13) Like CAD A/1, the French Assyriologist read the first word as adris and translated the Gtn of alaku as "I live." More recently, B. R. Foster, in an anthology of Akkadian texts, translates "I go on, downcast in misery." (14) Here "in misery" reflects the reading adris and "I go on" presumably attempts to capture the iterative or...

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