The West Semitic/peripheral Akkadian term for "lung".

• Author: Cohen, Yoram
• Position: Brief Communications

The Sa vocabulary list from Emar (Emar 537) presents in one of its more complete copies the Akkadian sequence for the Sumerian value HAR, (1) as set out in Table 1.

This article is concerned with how to translate the sixth entry of this copy: ri-i-u. Comparable to the sequence presented in Table 1, also from Emar, is Copy 1 of the vocabulary, here set out as Table 2.

Copy 3 from Emar is not wholly preserved (only four entries), but it is important to present it here for the present argument:

Copy 3 (F obv.) 6' [1] [HAR] [t][e.sub.4]-e-nu "[to gr]ind" 7' [1] [HAR] [sa]-mi-du "miller" 8' [1] [HAR] [ ]-x-du lost 9' [1] [HAR] [a-r]a-ru "[mi]ller" In his investigation of the Sa Vocabulary from Emar, Sjoberg suggested, with some reservation, that the entry ri-i-u equated with HAR might mean "angry" and be the same word as re u (a hapax spelled re-e-u; see CAD R, 303b). (2) This suggestion might be supported semantically and contextually, if one accepts Arnaud's plausible reconstruction of entry number 2 in Copy 2, reading sa-ka-sa as [sa.sub.14]-ka-su! "to be wild(?)." (3) However, one can raise a few objections to Sjoberg's suggestion. The hapax re u cited in the CAD is in fact equated in a lexical list found at Bogazkoy with Hittite kartimmiyaz(a) "anger" and (most likely) with Sumerian [[tuku.sub.4]-[tuku.sub.4]], but it is not equated with HAR. (4) The Hittite word kartimmiyaz(a) is not otherwise equated with HAR in the Bogazkoy lexical lists, to my knowledge. In addition, the fact that no semantically related entry is found in the HAR section of other copies from Emar (except for the reconstructed sakasu!), or for that matter, elsewhere, makes Sjoberg's equation subject to a re-evaluation. Sjoberg's other suggestion, that ri-i-u be equated with Hebrew rea "noise, outcry" is equally subject to reconsideration, if one concedes that there are no semantic or lexical equivalents to such an equation, at least in the Emar lists. Henceforth, a simpler solution based on a sound Semitic etymology and contextual usage is suggested.

One should note that it is immediately obvious that the entries in the Emar vocabularies, as in the case in other Sa Vocabularies found in Assur and Bogazkoy, are arranged in a somewhat thematic fashion. Two semantic groups are apparent: one glosses HAR denoting viscera terms sequential to each other in Copies 1 and 2; the other supplies glosses for grinding and milling terms. A less well-defined group denotes business transactions. Observing the position of the gloss ri-i-u in Copy 2 of the Emar list leads one to suspect that it can be semantically related to the group of glosses meaning viscera.

Specifically, I suggest that it means "lung." Appearing directly after the well-known Akkadian term for lungs, hasu, it provides the West Semitic/Northwest Peripheral Akkadian gloss for HAR. This word has a well-established Semitic cognate in Talmudic Hebrew: re a, "lung"; re ot, "lungs." It is best documented in...