Basic principles with the Sumerian Grammar 5

koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

8 August 2010

This is the 5th treatment of the subject on the basic principles that we find in the Sumerian grammar.

We are using the textbook of Daniel Foxvog (2010) online. The Bible is also a textbook and a very necessary textbook since it contains the records of Sumerian society after the flood of Noah in fragments but recorded by Moses in 1460 BCE when he wrote the book of Genesis from sources like the Book of Adam and the Book of Noah (see Genesis 5:1 and 6:1) that he carried with him when he ran away out of Egypt that night of 1490 BCE. Thanks to his mother Jochebed "blessed (is) Yahweh".

Julius Wellhausen's theory of the JEDP model of a Yahweh source (J) and an Elohim source (E), a Deuteronomistic source (D) and a Priestly source (P) for the books of Moses, does not match reality. It is a modern Victorian German invention subjectively superimposed upon an Ancient Near Eastern document like the Bible Old Testament, which is not done ever to any other Ancient Near Eastern document. "Blessed (is) Yahweh" was the name of Moses' mother and she was probably born in 1590 or even 1600 BCE. Quite early for the name of Yahweh to appear and contrary to the theory of Wellhausen that the Yahwist scribe invented Yahweh as his God and wrote history sometime in the Iron Age IIA period (920 BCE) as some kind of propaganda. The methodology and epistemology of Wellhausen's theories are in such jeopardy that we do not need to waste time on his results.

The study of Sumerian is imperative for a proper understanding of the book of Genesis. The agglutanive aspect of the Sumerian grammar can be seen in the long names that are sometimes given to the children in those days as Genesis also record. Our observation has nothing to do with the Gilgamesh epic as some scholars may think. The Gilgamesh Epic is a late attempt (650 BCE) by a syncretistic Israelite scribe in the Assyrian courts of Niniveh to amalgamate or fuse Moses' Genesis account of 1460 BCE, with what was known from copies of Sumerian and Akkadian traditions in the Babylonian library archives of the Assyrian Niniveh library. How do we know this? None of the Mosaic elements that we detect in the Gilgamesh epic were every transmitted in any other Flood account earlier in the Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite, Sumerian and other traditions. Suspiciously close to Moses is only the Gilgamesh epic and that at a time when Israelite were deported there already since 723 BCE. Too close to avoid contact with the Hebrew tradition in the Assyrian court library. So let us not put the cart before the horse.

Adverbs

Only a few adjectival (verbal) roots can function with adverbial force (see J. Krecher in ASJ 9 [1987]: 74. Also Attinger, Eléments de linguistique sumérien [1993], par. 105d; op. cit. Foxvog 2010: 51):

mah   loftily

qal    greatly

tur    small

hul    evilly

Mostly Sumerian write adverbs by the use of categories of phrases ending with case markers.

a. locative-terminative -e = by

húl-la-e      happily

húl-húl-e    very happily

b. terminative case marker -šè (or -éš/eš) = to.

Attinger currently calls the second one the "adverbiative marker" and separate the two and calls the first one "the terminative marker" (Foxvog 2010: 51).

qal-le-eš    greatly, well       (qal = big, great)

sud-rá-šè   forever               (sudr = to be far away, distant)

ul-šè          forever               (ul = ancient)

c. sequence -bi-šè (3rd sg. pronoun + terminative)

qal-bi-šè     greatly, well       (qal = big, great)

téš-bi-šè    together             (téš = each, single)

d. -bi (from BI) [suffix bi + locative-terminative case marker -e which gives the adverbial force in the place of the terminative in form as -bé] (Foxvog 2010: 51).

bíl-la-bé     feverishly           (bíl = to be hot)

bùr-ra-bé    openly                (búr = to be free, loosen)

diri-bé        surpassingly       (diri[g] = to surpass)

qibil-bé       newly                 (qibil = to be new)

húl-la-bè     happily               (húl = to be happy)

lipiš-bé       angrily                (lipiš = anger)

téš-bé        all of them          (téš = each, single)

ul₄-la-bé     quickly               (ul₄ = to hurry)

If one reads the consonants of the Sumerian word in reverse then one ends with the Korean word for quickly = pale.

e. Other possessive pronouns attached

dili-né                 he alone, by himself

diri-zu-šè            more than you

silim-ma-né         he being well

húl-la-né/na he joyfully (see Yuhong, NABU 1990/3 86 op. cit. Foxvog 2010: 51).

Temporal adverbial expressions

Dimensional case endings are added to give the expressions.

ĝi₆-a                    in/during the night

itu-da          in a month, monthly              [itud+a]

u₄-ba                   on that day, at that time, then [ud+bi+a]

u₄-bi-ta                since that time, afterwards

u₄-da                   in/on the day, when; today    [ud+a]

u₄-dè                   by day                                  [ud+e]

Causal adverbial expressions

bar-zu-šè            because of you, for your sake

mu-bi-šè             because of that, instead of that, about that

nam-bi-šè            for the sake of that, on the occasion of that

Frontal+Locative adverbial expressions

igi-bé         in front of it, at the fore

igi-šè                  to the front, to the fore, before

Locative/Temporal adverbial expressions

eger-bé                behind that, after that

eger-bi-ta            since then, thereafter

Frontal adverbial expression (Van Wyk 2010)

qaba-bi-šè           facing, opposing, confronting

Locative Spatial adverbial expressions

ki-a                     in place, here

ki-ba                   in this place, here

ki-bi-šè               to that place, thither

ki-ta                    from the place, thence

ki-ĝa                   in/at my place, with me [ki+ĝu₁₀+a]

Central locative adverbial expressions

šà-ba                  in the middle of it, inside it

šà-bi-ta               out of it, from them

On top locative adverbial expression

ugu-bi-a              on top of it

Side locative adverbial expression

zà-ba                   at it's edge, beside it

Modal sentence adverbs

i-ne-éš                now

a-da-al/lam  now

i-gi₄-in-zu            as if, as though

(igi-zu = as if, in the time of Gudea in Old Sumerian before 2114 BCE). However, B. Alister in the Festschrift to Georg Molin (1983): 122f., suggest that it is "know (this) for sure!" [i-gin-zu]; op. cit. Foxvog 2010: 52).

Numerals

Cardinals

1 = aš, dili, diš

2 = min, mìn

3 = eš

4 = limmu, límmu

5 = ía

6 = àš

7 = inim, umun5

8 = ussu

9 = ilimmu

10 = u

60 = ĝeš(d)

600 = ĝeš(d)u

3600 = šár

36000 = šáru

Ordinals

It is formed by genitive /ak/ followed by copula /am/:

u₄ 2-kam = second day

It can be extended by a second /ak/ followed by a locative -a:

2-kam-ma = the second (one)

2-kam-ma-ka = for the second time

u₄ 2-kam-ma-ka = on the second day

(see Edzard 2003: 61-67 for Ebla texts and numerals also; op. cit. Foxvog 2010: 53).

Numeral expressions

aš-a-né, aša-né    = alone, by himself [aš + (a)ni+ e)

min-na-ne-ne       = the two of them[mìn + (a)nene + Ø]

dili-bé, dili-bi-šè = alone, by itself/themselves

dili-dili = didli       = several, various, miscellaneous

lú-didli-e-ne        = the various men

lú-igi-nigin₂-didli = miscellaneous inspection personnel

anše-hi-a            = assorted donkeys

Multiplication a-rá = time(s)

mu ^dnanna kar-zi-da a-rá 2-kam-aš é-a-na ba-an-ku₄

Year Nanna of the Good Quay entered his temple for the second time

Year+deity+noun+noun+adjective+genitive+multiplication+numeral+ordinal indicator+noun+3rd person suffix+verb

Order: 1 2/3, 6 5 4, 15/16/17, 14 13 12

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.