Basic principles with the Sumerian Grammar 10

koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

29 August 2010

It is the tenth treatment of the subject of the Sumerian grammar.

We are sometimes citing examples of the Sumerian language from the time of Gudea. It is important to say more about Gudea. The Gutian invasion of Sumer was between 2179-2100 BCE. Abraham was born in 2229 BCE and Noah died in 2169 BCE. Noah died ten years after the Gutian invasion of Sumer. The Gutians were the "curse of Agade" since it remained uninhabited while they were ruling. One later Sumerian scribe reported that after the time of Sargon (2305 BCE), Agade was powerful with Inanna, gold, silver, copper, tin, lapis lazuli, music and songs in abundance. The Meluhhaites or "the people of the black lands" brought their exotic wares. The destruction by the Gutians in 2179 BCE were in 5-10 days. They ransacked Nippur and took possession of it. The scribe says that the sense of Agade became the folly of Agade. The Gutians were like locusts, "it covered the earth like locusts". A famine came and also inflation (Kramer 1963: 64). The later scribe said that later Enlil fought the Gutians with a number of gods.

Gudea was ruler during the Gutian period and he was situated at Lagash. "I do not have a father or a mother", he said (Kramer 1963: 93). The trade was strong with gold from Anatolia and Egypt, silver from Taurus, cedars from Amanus, copper from Zagros, diorite from Egypt, carnelian from Ethiopia, timber from Dilmun. Gudea fought a war with Anshan the neighbor of Elam. He controlled Ur. Gudea saw to it that nobody was beaten. He cleansed the city. He chased the widows out of the city. He ordered the kalu priest not to sing Psalms and not to lament. He installed a curfew (line 11). He felt that reform was necessary since "mothers do not spank their sons" (Kramer 1963: 91). He corrected the wrongs of the temple (lines 36-37). He protected the widow (line 39). He preached his god to all nations. The curses were that whosoever removed Gudea, there will be plaques (line 17), no rian (line 19), and the government will be overturned (line 22). Gudea was an evangelist of his god. It was during this time that Utuhegal of Erech called the Gutians the "snake/scorpions of the mountains". It was close to the start of the Ur III period that lasted between 2112-2004 BCE. It was in 2114 BCE that Abraham took his son Izaac to mount Moriah. It was after the death of Gudea of Lagash.

Relative Clauses and the Nominalizing Suffix -a

There is a verbal suffix -a that can function in a number of ways, to nominalize, to participialize, relativize. It is seen as a particle (Foxvog 2010: 95). For Thomsen it is a subordination suffix (§483-491; 512-518). For Edzard there are different homophonous -a suffixes depending on the context and grammar. Generally, scholars are talking about a nominalizing suffix (Foxvog 2010: 95).

Syntax of the relative suffix -a

The suffix -a is placed at the end of the verbal stem after the modal suffix -(e)d and any subject or imperfective agent pronominal suffix. Thomsen said that -a is a syntactic particle (Thomsen §483 also Foxvog 2010: 95).

lugal-e é in-dù> lugal lú é in-dù-a

The king built the house > The king, the man who built the house

é ba-dù>é dù-a

The house was built             The house that was built

(a) lugal-e é-mah in-dù   The king built the lofty temple

(b) é-mah-bi-ta                      From that lofty temple

Combining (a) and (b):

é-mah lugal-e <é-mah> dù-a-bi-ta

é-mah lugal-e dù-a-bi-ta

From that lofty temple built by the king

dù               built

-a               that

-bi              from

-ta

é šub-ba     the house that collapsed > the collapsed house

é dù-a                  the house that was built > the built house

inim du₁₁-ga the word that was spoken > the spoken word

lú-e é in-dù>é lú-e dù-a

the man built the house the house built by the man

mes an-e pà(d)+a > Mes-an-né-pà-da

the noble youth chosen by An

é iri-a dù-a                            the house built in the city

lú úri^ki-šè ĝen-na                   the man who went to Ur

inim galam-šè du₁₁-ga              a word artfully spoken

é ur₅-gin₇ dim-ma           a house fashioned like this

√+e+d+e

kù-babbar šúm-mu-dè

to (-e) give the silver

√+e+d+a

kù-babbar šúm-mu-da

the silver that is to be given

√              root

+e           to

+d

+a           that

√+e+d+a+m

kù-babbar-bi kù-babbar šúm-mu-dam

that silver is silver that is to be given

kù-babbar-bi šúm-mu-da

that silver is to be given

Attached clauses that modifies the agent or indirect object

1. Clauses can be modifying an agent or indirect object with finite verbs or non-finite verbs:

a. en-e a-huš in-gi₄

The lord turned back the raging waters

(Gudea Cyl A 8:15 Ur III 2150 BCE)

en-e           the lord

a                waters

-huš           raging

In               he

-gi₄                   turned back

b. en a-huš gi₄-a

The lord who turned back the raging waters

(Gudea Cyl A 8:15 Ur III 2150 BCE)

en              lord

a                waters

-huš           raging

gi₄                     turned back

-a               who

2. lú-ra kù-babbar ba-na-šúm

silver was given to the man

lú               the man

-ra             to

kù-babbar   silver

ba-na          he was

-šúm          given

lú kù-babbar šúm-ma

the man (to whom) silver was given

lú               the man [to whom = personal dative object]

kù-babbar   silver

šúm            was given

-ma

3. lú-ra kù-babbar ì-na-an-šúm

he gave silver to the man

lú kù-babbar šúm-ma-ni

his man (to whom) silver was given

the man to whom he gave the silver

4. In the Gudea cylinders sometimes the possessor is the implied agent:

[Text: Gudea cylinder A 20:24 Ur III period 2150-2119 BCE]

[dù+a+ak+e]

lú é dù-a-ke₄        by the man of the built house

by the man who built the house

[Text: Gudea cylinder A 15:13 Ur III period 2150-2119 BCE]

[dù+a+ak+ra]

lú é dù-a-ra for the man of the built house

for the man who built the house

Finite verbs as opposed to non-finite verbal system

The finite verbal system is more complex than the non-finite verbal system.

"In finite clauses verbal affixes are not deleted, and the resulting nominal chains are somewhat more complex, convey more explicit information, and have broader uses than the simpler non-finite constructions" (Foxvog 2010: 98).

When two declarative statements are connected and fused in one sentence, a simple restrictive clause is designed to link the two sentences. This simple restrictive clause has a relative pronoun -a; the noun lú = man, person; nì = thing for impersonals is used in the relative clause to avoid a repetition of the head noun representing the subject or agent of the new nominal chain following.

a. lugal úriki-šè ì-ĝen

the king went to Ur

b. lugal-e é in-dù

the king built the temple

"Either sentence can be embedded in the other as a restrictive clause, resulting in one or two new sentences:"

c. lugal lú é in-dù-a úri^ki-šè ì-ĝen

the king who built the temple went to Ur

d. lugal lú úri^ki-šè ì-ĝen-na é in-dù

the king who went to Ur built the temple

In each case new nominal chains have been created and a relative clause has been created in apposition of the head noun lugal (Foxvog 2010: 99).

All nominal chains must end with a marker, and since the newly created nominal chain represents the subject of the main verb ì-ĝen, it stands in the absolutive case:

c.

lugal lú é + Ø n+dù+Ø+a+Ø úri^ki-šè V+ĝen+Ø

All nominal chains must end with a marker, and since the newly created nominal chain represents the agent of the main verb in-dù, it stands in the ergative case.

d.

lugal lú úriki+šè V+ĝen+Ø+a +e é+Ø n+dù+Ø

Rule: all these sentences in a-d can still be shortened by elision of more elements:

a. Suppression postposition -e on lugal.

b. Ergative at the end of the new nominal chain has elided to the preceding relativizing particle -a.

c. The embedded relative clause can be abbreviated even more with the elimination of the relative pronoun and the ergative prefix on the verb to result in a simple past participle.

Source:

Daniel A. Foxvog, Introduction to Sumerian Grammar (Revised edition, June 2010). This work is a revised edition of his 1990 Sumerian Grammar (Foxvog 2010: 3). It is online at www.etana.org.