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Aleksi Sahala: Translation and grammatical analysis of Sumerian text "UVB 10, pl. 28"
Introduction
The structure is very typical for a royal inscription; in the beginning, both, the receiver (moongod Nanna) and the builder (king Amar-Suen) are introduced with their epithets. Then the
building process and its benefits for the king are described shortly. This text was originally
scribed on a door socket (see drawing here) and is dated back to the Neo-Sumerian period
(~2000 BC).
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15-17
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Aleksi Sahala: Translation and grammatical analysis of Sumerian text "UVB 10, pl. 28"
/karzida+LOCday distant+GEN+ABLgipar+3iPOSS+ABSNEG+build+PP+3COP/
in Karzida, from the distant past, its gipar (dwelling) had not been built
18
en nu-un-ti-la-m
/en nu++n?+til+m/
/priestess NEG+PREF+3AGE?+live+3COP/
(and) truly, the en-priestess did not dwell (there).
19-20
23-24
en ki---ni | mu-na-ni-kur9
/en ki.+ani+ mu+na+ni+kur9/
/priestess love+3POSS+ABSVENT+3DAT+LOC+enter/
(and) his beloved en-priestess entered into it for him.
25-26
nam-ti-la-ni- | a mu-na-ru
/nam.til+ani+ a mu+na+n+ru/
/life+3POSS+TERwater VENT+3DAT+3AGE+impose/
(He) dedicated (the gipar) for him (Nanna) for his life.
Fluent translation
"For his beloved lord, Nanna of Karzida; Amar-Suen, whom Enlil has called by name in Nippur,
caretaker of the temple of Enlil - the true god, the sun-god of his land; [Amar-Suen] the mighty
king, the king of Ur, the king of the four corners [did this]: From the ancient times no Gipar
was built in Karzida [and] no En-priestess dwelled in it. Amar-Suen, the beloved of Nanna, built
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Aleksi Sahala: Translation and grammatical analysis of Sumerian text "UVB 10, pl. 28"
the holy Gipar for him and the En-priestess entered in it. [By this] Amar-Suen prolonged his
days and dedicated it for his life."
Notes
1
Amar-Suen included a genitive suffix /-ak/ and was most likely pronounced /amarsu'enak/ "the calf of Su'en".
5-7 In here ergative forms a special non-finite syntactic structure, i.e. mes-anne-pada
construction. Corresponds to Finnish participial phrase, e.g. "Enlilin nimelt kutsuma".
8
8-9 These lines show a good example of the Sumerian genitive concatenation: enlil+ak
'Temple of Enlil' ~ sa.s enlil+ak+ak 'Caretaker of the temple of Enlil'.
14 The purpose of ergative marker /-e/ in an ub-da 4-ba-ke 4 is unclear to me, as the
predicate following it on line 17 nu-du-m seems to be a non-finite form /nu+d+a+m/
"gipar that has not been built". The ergative case is to be taken here as an introductory
subject for the whole text.
18 Because of the agentive prefix /-n-/ verb tl 'to live' is to be considered transitive, in
meaning "to dwell something; to live in". However the problem is, that the subject is not
marked with an ergative case marker /-e/.
19- Ergative case /-e/ here marks the subject..
20
22 Verb is to be read literally "he built for him". The agentive prefix /-n-/ is here omitted in
writing.
24 Verb is to be read literally "he entered for him there".
26 This is the only mar (present) verb in the text. In transitive present, prefixes /-n-/ and /b-/ denote to the object of the sentence unlike in present where they mark the subject.
The subject is marked here with a suffix /-e/. Verb is to be read "with it (the building
process) he lenghtens the days".
28 Compound verb a...ru means "to dedicate", literally "to impose seed/water".
Abbreviations
3AGE
/-n-/, /-e/ Singular 3rd person agentive verbal affix "by him"
3iOBJ
3iCOM
3COP
/-am/ Singular 3rd person copula "he/it is". May also emphasize "truly".
3DAT
3POSS
3iPOSS
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Aleksi Sahala: Translation and grammatical analysis of Sumerian text "UVB 10, pl. 28"
ABL
ABS
DAT
ERG
GEN
LOC
NEG
PP
PREF
TER
VENT
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