Lad in the Desert

Author(s): Thorkild Jacobsen

Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 103, No. 1, Studies in Literature from
the Ancient Near East, by Members of the American Oriental Society, Dedicated to Samuel
Noah Kramer (Jan. - Mar., 1983), pp. 193-200
Published by: American Oriental Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/601873
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AMONG SAM KRAMER'S NOW THIRTY-NINE "FIRSTS"
one finds the farmer (The First "Farmer's" Almanac)
and the orchardman (The First Experiment in Shade-
Tree Gardening)' but not, as far as I can see, the
shepherd. It might be of interest to him, therefore-if
only for his amusement-to take a look at an idyllic
Sumerian passage dealing with the shepherds' life in
the desert in the spring with its manifold urgent tasks.
Since the passage clearly antedates both Theocritus'
Idylls and Vergil's Bucolics he could also, if so
minded, claim for it status as "The First Pastoral."2
'See Samuel Noah Kramer, History Begins at Sumer:
Thirty-Nine Firsts in Man's Recorded History, 3rd revised
edition. 1981. See Chapters 11 and 12.
2
Idyllic in mood is also the attractive picture of Geshti-
nanna given in SEM 90 ii. 5'-10' with which we have
elsewhere dealt under the title "Bucolic" (Jacobsen and Wil-
son, Most Ancient Verse, 1963, 7 and Toward the Image of
Tammuz ed. by W. L. Moran, 1970, 215). We would now
read and translate
nin-a-ni gi?al-gar-gu-du,Q-ga-[k]a
ama dGeshtin-an-na amas-a mu-un-da-an-til
uX i-gid-de sila4 ba-ab-sum-mu
i-sa-da-ad i-na-di-in
uz i- gid -de mas ba-ab-sum-mu
su-zi-da-ni dugsakir-ra bi-in-gar
i-mi-it-ta-.a i-na MIN(!) .a-rakl(.)-na-at
munus-e gab-bu-na gial-gar
His sister of the sweet-voiced lyre,
dame Geshtinanna, dwelt in the fold with him,
was milking the ewes and giving to the lambs,
was milking the goats and giving to the kids,
her right hand she placed on the churn
in her left the (young) woman put lyre and harp.
As shown by this passage both Sumerian gid and Akkadian
.adddu have-within their general semantic range of "to
pull"-also the specific meaning "to milk." See also AS 12,
62 lines 361-62 gud-zu tur-bi-a ba-ra-mu-un-gub ia-bi
LAD IN THE DESERT
THORKILD JACOBSEN
BRADFORD,N. H.
wa-as-ba-[a]z-zu(!)
tigi [bi]-in-gar
193
The passage in question occurs in a Dumuzi lament
published by Zimmern in his Sumerische Kultlieder
aus altbabylonischer Zeit [Zweite Reihe, VS 10], 1913,
as no. 123 in obv. col ii'. 1' - rev. 1.4. What is left of
the preceding obv. ii' contains a lament for the dead
Dumuzi spoken by his sister,3 but when the text
resumes in the lower part of obv. iii' it is his mother
who is speaking. She recalls how he drove his flocks
into the desert to pasture, and how he sent a message
to her to come out and join him there, when the work
was getting too much for him. She says:
obv. iii
[i-gen-na-ea i-gen-na-e]
[na-amb-e pa bi-in]-rel [pa-bi im-me]c
i-rgen-na-gn-na-egen-na-e
na-am E-dugd-e pa bi-i-e pa-bi im-me
nu-mu-ra-ak-e/e-z6-zu amas(!)-bi-a ba-ra-mu-un-
d6r-ru ga-bi nu-mu-ra-Su-Bu-e "your oxen no longer
stand in their pen, their butter is not made for you, your
sheep no longer dwell in their fold, their milk is not milked
for you." gu-BU with the readings ul, dubul, and dulu
(CAD E, 86) corresponds to Akkadian elepu/ullupu "to
stretch forth," "to stretch," "lengthen," and would seem, like
gid and sadadu, to be capable also of the specific meaning
"to milk." (The precise sense of ga-9u-Buv:u-un-nu-qu of
MSL 13, 165 line 148 escapes us.)
The title ama given Geshtinanna is here a title of respect
only, and does not in that use imply motherhood. In the
Dumuzi materials Geshtinanna is typically the young un-
married girl whose loyalties are to her brother. In our earlier
translation we translated "Maid Geshtinanna," which sounds
better, but which undoubtedly underplays the note of respect,
and fits badly when the term is used of matrons as e.g.
Baba(SAK, 86 h iii. 2) or Nintur (e.g. Langdon, Babylonian
Liturgies, no. 75 (K 6110 rev. 7 or TuMHnF4/2, no 86 obv.
4). We have therefore preferred "Dame" in its sense of
"woman of station or authority" (Webster's Collegiate Dic-
tionary, 5th ed., 255) which seems to come close.
3 For a partial translation (col. ii. 10-21) see our Treasures
of Darkness, 52 and cf. TIT, 87.
194 Journal of the American Oriental Society 103.1 (1983)

ia-lume edin-se i-gen-na-e as ia-lum and ih-la-lum in lines 3' and 4' to form a
ia-la-lum edin-ge i-/gen-na-e so-called "particularizing stanza." See TIT, 334f.
na-am-Ama5f-e pa bi-in-e b. na-am is standard Emesal orthography for nam. For
5 na-am-Unuk"ga-ke4 pa-bi im-me the meaning "(administrative) district," "prefecture,"see
na-am-kU'Kulabax (UNu)k-ke4 pa bi-in-6 Deimel, SL 79.9 nam:pihatum. Each of the temples
na-am-Ama5 pa-bi im-me mentioned had apparently its own precinct and own
A-ra-lig da-ma-al-ba e-ze mu-na-dab-dab- separate administrative status.
beh c. pa-6 "to appear" means literally "to put out the top"
u8-e sila4 ke ba-an-da-ab-tag' and refers apparently to the fact that in the desert in
/murus-eJ edin-na Iraq, owing to mirage-effect, the first thing one sees of
udx(uz)-dek m'a ke ba-an-da-ab-tag' an approaching person or object is the seemingly free
/murus-e edin-na floating top of it.
10 rgal sa-ba sahar- harub nu-me-am The prefix bi- of pa bi-in-e indicates occurrence of
kisi(u-GIR)-e mu-na-ab-la the action of the verb outside, at some distance from
ga a-ru'-duru5-ben nu-me-a the speaker and listener's place. We therefore translate
a-gar-e mu-na-an-de "loomed up."
ga i-ti-i[r]-da mag-en-na nu-me-a The prefix -m- indicates nearness to the speaker's
ki-in-rdar1 mu-na-ab-ku5 place: hither/here/hence (see AS 16, 77f.). We accord-
ga-ara3-didli (TUR-TUR) du6-?e ingly translate im-me as "came into view"; it implies
/du6-Se mu-na-rsukud' murug-e that the thing appearing is close enough to be seen in its
ga-ara3-gal-gal mudru-SeP mu-na-nu entirety, is in full view. The writing im-me represents
/rnmurus-e edin-naq i.m.e durative of e/dug4. On the use of this verb as a
15 ga im-tuku4-dim su im-ra-ra' helping verb see Poebel, AS 11, 67-101. ph... e/dug4
/murus-e edin-na has the same meaning as pad alone.
muru? edin-ze-ba kum mu-da-ab-aks The -n- of bi-in-6 presumably resumes the adessive
mu-di-ni-mar of i-gen-na-e (cf. AS 16, 80 note second col.). In im-
murus-e edin-na
me<i.m.(n).e it seems to be assimilated to the preced-
ki-bi-a murus-e ama-u-gii-ni-ir
ing -m-.
kin mu-un-da-ra-Si-in-gi4t
d. l-dfg is here clearly-on the principle of pars pro
lii-du ama-gu1o-ir du,l-ga-na-ab
toto-the name of a Temple. The term, which literally
edin-ge he-im-ma-du
means "sweet house/room," denotes primarily the pri-
iv ia mu-da-gal ga mu-da-gal"
vate quarters in a house, specifically the bedroom. See
ga-guo1 duk-gakir-raV ma-tux-tUx(TUiM-TUiM)w
Gudea, Cyl. B ix 6-14, where the duties of Kinda-zi,
ga im-tuku4-dim Su im-ra-ra
who is in charge of it, are listed. They are those of a
ga i-ti-ir-da imi-dim ih in-tag4-e
chambermaid.
edin-se he-em-ma-du
e. ia-lum we tentatively take to represent a loan from
Akkadian ialum/aialum "stag" and ih-la-lum in the
next line we analyze as ial alum "noble stag." In
COMMENTARY a-lum, an epithet for sheep later replaced by as-lum
"fine," we would see a variant of alim/elum: kabtu.
a. This and the following lines-in Emesalsince spoken The term ia-lum occurs as an epithet of Dumuzi also
by the mother-describe Dumuzi'sprogressas he drives in RA 8, 168. 18 and the parallel SK 2.i.16. Whether we
his flocksout to the pasturesin the Aralidesertbetween are right in all of this may well be questioned. One
Bad-tibiraand Uruk. The preciseroute taken by him, could consider seeing in ih-lum and ih-la-lum vari-
while undoubtedlyfamiliarto the ancient listeners,is ants of the well known cries alali and e'ellu, the
not clear to us since the preciselocationof the various latter of which is a cry used in driving animals (cf.
landmarks mentioned, except for Uruk, is not known. STVC 75 rev. ii 6'-7' dealing with plough-oxen).
We analyze i-gen-na-e as a punctive 3 p.sg. i-gen Not to be connected with the ih-lum of our passage
"he went," nominalized with -a as i.gen.a (written i- is the phrase with which Enkidu tries to encourage
genana), "he who went," and given the adessive mark Gilgamesh in the stories of "Gilgamesh and Huwawa"
-e to form i.gen.a.e "unto him who went." The and of "Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven." It reads
indefinite "he" of this and the following line is specified
ia(var. ia4)-lum-lum (var. om) f(var. u)-luh-ha-su-
 JACOBSEN: Lad in the Desert
si dumu-ge7 girix-zal-dingir-re-e(var. om)-ne
(JRAS 1932, 914-21 iv. 9-14 vars. from SK 196 iv. 18-
19) "Sprinkler (of) rich oil on the rod, princely child,
the gods' delight." To sprinkle oil on the rod means
tempering discipline with kindness; the oil soothes the
wales left by the rod. The phrase thus praises Gilgamesh
as a kind master.
f. Ama here, as E -d g above, clearly serves-pars pro
toto-as name of a separate temple with its own admin-
istrative district around it.
g. Arali was the name of the desert between Bad-Tibira
(Medinah) and Uruk (Warka). There, according to the
Dumuzi texts from those two cities, Dumuzi pastured
his flocks, and there he was killed. Because it figures so
constantly in the laments for Dumuzi, it took on, to
later generations, unfamiliar with the ancient topog-
raphy of Uruk, Nether World connotations and became
in time a name for the Nether World. Such usage,
however, is clearly secondary.
h. A reading of the verb as dab-dab is indicated by the
complement -be. The signs are LAGABXMAS.The verbal
form we take to be an intransitive durative 3rd non-
personal in -e, the reduplication of the full root indicat-
ing plurality of subject.
i. tag is phonetic writing for tag4 "to leave," "to aban-
don." Sheep are notoriously bad mothers and the ewes
tend to leave their new-born lambs on the ground after
they have yeaned. The shepherd must thus go to look
for them to take care of them.
j. Apparently the g of gurut is the nasalized one that
appears as m in Emesal. See the value mu-ru-us given
in MSL 2, 58 344 (= MSL 14, 45. 344). The form as it
stands, murus-e, is probably best interpreted as an
adessive with directional datival force. This use of the
adessive -e is normal with words for non-personals, but
occasionally it is found, instead of-ra, also with words
denoting persons, as shown by Falkenstein ZA 45
(1939), 181f. The examples there discussed, all have -e
follow a genitive. Occasionally, though, -e in such use
appears also without preceding genitive element. Such
cases, apart from the one here discussed, are Scheil, RA
8, 161ff. line 72 (cited by Falkenstein and treated by
him on p. 176f. of his article) gal5-la-tur-e gals-la-
gal-e gui mu-u[n-na-de-e] "The little ranger was
saying to (-e) the big ranger," and Gudea Cyl. B xvii.
21 arad-de lugal-e zag mu-da-Du-am "while the
slave walked beside the master." See also Kramer, Enki
and Ninhursag (1945), 14.91, 111 and p. 18. 197
sukkal-a-ni-dlsimu-de gi mu-na-de-e.
In the first of these quotations gals-la is a term for
the infernal policemen, "rangers," who are seeking
Dumuzi. The term denoted apparently originally a
195
fighter who, like Marduk in Enuma eliS, was armed
with a net, a retiarius, as may be seen from the entry
gal5s-1:sa-ha-sum SL 376.77b AOF 7, 274, 21 and
Lambert BWL, pl. 73 VAT 10756 line 7. See AHw,
1008 s.v. sahd.u.
In the passage from Cyl. B the verb written DU
should be active transitive with zag as direct object.
Perhaps one could read di6 (cf. de6:babalu SL 206.19
as well as zag-Du:sananu ibid. 332.89b and zag-de:
Saninu ibid 332.115) and assume the construction to
reflect "bring up the side at/to with (someone)."
The use of -e to denote movement to external con-
tact, also with words for persons, represents undoubt-
edly an original usage. However, since movement to
external contact with a person would usually tend to
affect him also internally, i.e., emotionally, -e tended to
yield to -ra, which had that latter implication, so that
by historical times -e survives with words for persons
only in special cases-especially after genitive element.
Interesting is that when, consonantly with the older
construction, adessive -e was resumed by an adessive
-ni- in a following verbal form, later usage changed
only the -e of the free form to -ra. The -ni- remained
frozen as a bound form in the verb and was not
changed to -na-. Cf. e.g. E-an-na-tum-ra li ti mu-
ni-ra "a man shot an arrow at Eannatum" EAN 1,
obv. ix 2-3 dNin-gir-zu-ke4 ..... E-an-na-tim-ra
..... mu m[u]-ni-[sa4] "Ningirsu ..... gave Ean-
natum ..... the name ....." EAN 1, obv. iv 13-29;
Igi-sa6-ga arad Mas-gu-la-ra i-bi-la Mas-gu-la-
ke4-ne gu in-ni-ga-gar"-eS "The heirs of Mashgula
laid claim to Mashgula's slave Igisaga" ITT 3/2 5286
Falkenstein NSGU, no. 205 2-4 cf. ibid 27-29. As an
example of survival of the original construction may
serve dlI-me-dDa-gan dumu dEn-lil-la-ke4 ki-
sikil ama dBa-ba6 ..... nam-dig mu-ni-tar .....
"Unto Ishme-Dagan, Enlil's son, did the maiden, dame
Baba, determine a good fate." Romer SKIZ, 237 29-30.
Side by side with it, though, we have dIS-me-dDagan
dumu dEn-[lil-l]-ra nam-til ud-sud-ra sag-e-
[et] [ri]g7-a-ni-ib "Unto Ishme-Dagan, Enlil's son,
grant life of long days as a gift" op. cit., 238.64.
It should be noted that the replacement of adessive -e
after a word denoting a person with retaining of ades-
sive infix as bound form in the following verb is not an
isolated instance. Similar replacement by -ra of other
dimensional case-marks with retention of their corre-
sponding infix in a following verb are frequent.
k. For the reading udx of iz see Landsberger MSL 8/1,
28 note to line 192a.
1. We assume the signs inscribed in DAG+KISIM to be [iu]-
rGfR1and so read harub. As noted in CAD H, 129f the
196 Journal of the American
Ancient Mesopotamians called the fruit of the sh6q
(camel thorn) harub:harubu "Charob." In sahar
ha rub we see an "apposition of substance" (like har-
gu kin "gold ring") meaning "charob powder." Charob
powder was added for flavor.
m. nu-me-a presumably stands for nu.me.a.a "for ...
which was not." Since me expresses "esse. "so-sein"
only, not also "existere," "dasein," a translation "in
which there was not" would hardly be right.
As to case, we have tentatively assumed inessive in
-a, functioning as dativus commodi with non-personals
(cf. Falkenstein, Anal. Or. 29, 90 104 a 2 and references
p. 99 104 e. 2). Possible is also directive of purpose -se,
which after a vowel would become -s not rendered in
writing.
n. Sheep normally need no water if they pasture on fresh
juicy grass or other verdure. If such verdure is lacking,
and if, as a result, they feed on dry grass, they need
water, especially if they are to produce sufficient milk.
Here the water is furnished, when needed, by the fields
with their irrigation canals.
o. iterda is "buttermilk," the milk left in the churn after
the butter is made. See below note 20. The buttermilk
was used to feed kids and lambs, who got it instead of
their mothers' whole milk, which was reserved for
human consumption. Note the passage quoted above in
note 2; Geshtinanna has her hand on the churn, i.e., is
churning, so that the milk she is feeding to lambs and
kids may well be buttermilk.
Goats need a certain amount of salt and the present
passage suggests that salt was mixed into the buttermilk
fed to the prize kids. The source of this salt, readily
available to a shepherd in the desert, was apparently the
ever-present patches of strongly saline Solonetzic soils
with their characteristic gaping cracks in the surface.
p. The phrase mudru-se mu-na-nfi "were laid onto the
rod for him" parallels du6 -s mu-na-rsukudl "were
piled high for him" and so would seem to be connected
in some way or other with "stacking" or "piling." The
phrase is also used concerning grain. In the "Farmer's
Almanac" it constitutes the next to last operation after
the grain has been winnowed: Se-nir-ra-zu gigpA-se
nfi-bi-ib/ siskur-siskur ud-te-en-ge6-ba du,,-ga-
ab/ ud-sa9-a-gim se bfr-ra-ab
"Lay your cleaned (i.e. winnowed) grain to the rod/
Say the 'prayer of the cool of even and night'/ Release
the grain about midday" (UET 6/2, no. 172 iv 9-11).
One text, OECT 1, pl. 32-35, adds se-bfr-ra a-ra-
ab-tfum-t[fim]-e "and the cleaned grain is ready to be
carried off for you." The "rod" to which the grain is
laid is mentioned also in ana ittisu (MSL 1, 4 i. 39ff,
which lists items to which the renter of a field can lay
Oriental Society 103.1 (1983)
claim at the division of the produce. After mention of
interest on the seed-grain he had provided come giSPA-
hm:'gShattam, "the rod itself," and dur-gun-na(?):ri-
ki-is bilti "the bindings for the yield" (the usual transla-
tion "twine of the sheaves" does not fit since the grain is
at this point both threshed and winnowed). Lastly the
hymn to the grain-goddess TRS 29 11-14 lists: gi-gur-
mah-zu 'gili-it-ga-zu/ se PA-se nu-a-zu/ du-urdfr-
bi nig-sag-nu-rdi1 / gur-ru-am silim-am/: "Your
great reed basket! Your wooden standard measure!/
Your grain laid to the rod!/ Its bindings, things not to
be scattered,/ are twisted, are intact." Here the mention
of the "rod" in close connection with terms for stan-
dards of measuring suggests for it a similar function. It
may have been a measuring stick used to measure
grain-piles before the grain was loaded in sacks that
were then tied up for transport from the threshing-
floor. Such measuring, both of grain and, as here, of
cheeses, would be a sensible safeguard against pilfering
during the transport from the field or from the sheep-
fold in the desert.
q. The products of the sheepfold here mentioned occur for
the most part, mutatis mutandis, in the list of the
shepherd's products given by Dumuzi in the tale called
"Inanna Prefers the Farmer" (SRT 3 ii. 18-iii.l 1), and
in the same order. This is of some interest since the
latter list clearly proceeds from the more to the less
valuable items. It has "black ewe and white ewe,"
corresponding roughtly to lambs and kids in SK 123.
Then follow yellow milk (ga-sig7), clabber or "lebn"
(ga ki-rsi-[im-ma]), whipped cream (?) (ga-bul-a)
"grass"milk (ga-f), and buttermilk (ga i-ti-ir-da).
The term ga-sig7 "yellow milk" is self explanatory.
The yellow colour indicates the richness of the milk.
ga-ki-rsil-[im-ma], which has the ideogram ga-
LAGAB, has been interpreted as "stinking milk," due to a
reading of the ideogram as ga-hab (MSL 11, 109).
Such a meaning does not however, accord well with its
place here as second most valuable milk product and
equated in value with the farmer's "good beer" (kas-
sig5) in SRT 3. We accordingly translate the term as
"clabber" the lebn of the present day Iraq, which re-
sembles yoghurt and is a very popular delicacy.
ga-bul-a we have tentatively rendered "whipping
cream" assuming that bul here has the meaning "blow
up," "fill with air," "make effervescent" (napahu SL
515. 6). The same word, written phonetically, may
occur in ga su-nu-bu-ul:el-du (Hh. 24.92, MSL 11,
81) "milk that won't whip," "skim milk." The term
eldu(<esdu) "mowed," when used of milk, can hardly
refer to other than the skimming off of the cream. In
the Hh passage cited it parallels [ga zi-i]l-lf and [ga-
 JACOBSEN: Lad in the Desert
ur4]-ra (restored from MSL 11, 122.8 line 16. Note
ur4:esedu SL 594.2) both rendered as eldu. An alterna-
tive reading of the sign bul is, of course, tuku4 "to
shake," but "shaken," i.e. "churned," milk hardly be-
longs at this point in the list; it comes in later with ga
itirda.
ga-f "grass milk" is also self explanatory. It is milk
from pasturing ewes feeding on grass. Such milk is
likely to be light. It is pitted in SRT 3 against the
Farmer's thin billatu beer.
ga-i-ti-ir-da "buttermilk." The reference of this
term is made clear by lines iv. 3-4 of SK 123 ga im-
tuku4-dim su im-ra-ra/ga i-ti-ir-da imi-dim ih
in-tag4-e ... "She will be beating the milk like a
buffeting wind, making the buttermilk leave butter as
were it clay (sediment after the flood)." The term seems
to be an early loan from Proto-Akkadian with the
characteristic ending -a. A variant itirtum (perhaps
reflecting a slightly later loan) is also attested. Tenta-
tively we would interpret it as (w)itirtum "surplus" i.e.
what is poured off as the butter is made.
In ea IV 38 (MSL 14, 356) the sign U+GA, perhaps to
be read di-im-na, is rendered as i-tir-tum in the Ak-
kadian column. The sign in question goes back to a
picture of a milk-jug (GA) covered with a pointed lid,
for which the Obeid dairy frieze may be consulted. The
seated man shown there holds a large vessel thus cov-
ered, which he apparently is using to churn with, by
rolling it back and forth on the ground.
The line also shows that ia in sheepfold or byre
context means "butter" and not "fat," as it is usually
rendered due to its Akkadian equivalent samnu, which
must, of course, in such context also be rendered "but-
ter" rather than "fat." The rendering of ih as "butter"
fits in well with ia-nun "princely ih" i.e. "rendered
butter," "ghee." Note also Arabic samn "ghee" formed
from the same root as samnu. A further passage that
helps to clarify this particular meaning of ih is "The
Epic of Lugalbanda" line 155ff. Anzu is there offering
he-gal dUgsakir-k u-dDumu-z[i-d]a-[ka-ka]/ i-bi
ki-sar-ra-ke4 sa-ra-x [ .....]/ gara-bi ki-sar-ra-
ke4 sa-ra-x [ ......]/ "The butter of Dumuzi's pure
churn's plenty in places of abundance I will give (?) you
instead/ its cream in places of abundance I will give (?)
you instead." Here very clearly, ia is a product of the
churn and so not "fat." (For ki-sar-ra-ke4 cf. "Enki
and the Weltorder" 330 dAsnan ninda-Sar-ninda-
ki-gsr-ra-ke4 "Ashnan who makes bread abundant,
bread of myriad places"). See also "Lament for Ur and
Sumer" 296 (UET6/2, 131 rev. 40 ih-bi lfi-ia-nu-zu-
ne i-im-du9-du9-NE, "men who knew not butter were
churning its butter." Here too "fat" would not fit. We
197
are pleased to note that A. Berlin in her Enmerkar and
Ensuhkesdanna also abandons the unsuitable transla-
tion of ih as "fat." She prefers "cream" and comes very
close to our view in her note 21 on p. 82 with the
qualification "cream"(i.e., butterfat).
The ga-ara3-1ll refers apparently to cream-cheese
covered with honey as flavoring. With any other kind
of cheese a combination with honey would hardly be
palatable. It may be noted that cylinder seals picturing
life in the sheepfold, the Etana seals, regularly show a
rectangular board with circular markings which could
be the rims of cylinders seen from above. Frankfort, in
his Cylinder Seals, 139, interpreted this as a representa-
tion of cheeses on a mat. We would prefer to see it as a
cheeseform. A very similar cheese-form for a soft variety
of cheese to be eaten quite fresh like cream cheese
(Gervais) is pictured in The Encyclopaedia Britannica,
11th edition, vol. 7, 751, Fig. 9.
ga-ara3-didli "small cheeses" seems self explana-
tory. More problematical is the question of what one
should understand by ga-ara3-gal-gal "the big
cheeses." Here perhaps, we may be dealing with harder
types of cheese, since large soft cheeses seem imprac-
tical to handle.
r. su-ra-ra is "to beat repeatedly with the hand" and
refers to the action of churning, which the Encyclo-
paedia Britannica (llth ed., vol. 6, 350) describes as
"shaking or beating the cream so as to separate the
fatty particles which form the butter from the serous
part or buttermilk." The term recurs in line iv 3 below,
which deals with milk already in the churn since the
direct object of the verb is ga "milk" rather than sakir
"churn." It seems probable that the reference is to
beating the milk inside the churn with a dasher.
That the ancients may have had the upright churn
with dasher is perhaps indicated by the Etana Seal,
Frankfort, Cylinder Seals, xxiv g, where the vessel
shown directly above the seated figure can hardly be
otherwise interpreted (cf. op.cit. p. 139). The dasher
itself and the lid of the churn through which it passes
seems to be pictured in the sign BUR with the readings
dunx and du9. The early form of the sign as given in
Deimel LA K 52 (a still earlier, slightly damaged, exam-
ple is Falkenstein Archaische Texte no. 259) shows a
rod passing through a tapering lid (apparently meant to
fit the tapered neck of the churn and keeping the milk
from slopping over), ending in two slanted appendages,
which will represent the bottom plate or flat blades of
the dasher. Since the dasher is an implement for "stir-
ring" and "beating" milk it serves well as a symbol for
the meanings attributed to its pictogram "to stir," "to
churn," "to push," cf. MSL 14, 501, 158-161 [d]u-u:
198 Journal of the American Oriental Society 103.1 (1983)
BUR:da-a-pu (i.e. da'apu "to push") du-[u-pu] (thus
rather than du[-up-pu] for du'upu: "to push") ma-a-
sum (!?) "to churn" na-[a-su] "to stir."
Besides churning with upright churn and dasher,
other ways of churning were probably in use. Above in
note 20, in the discussion of itirda, we suggested roll-
ing a vessel with milk back and forth, as one such. On
the so-called Etana seals one or two men are often
shown rocking an upright vessel back and forth in the
fold, presumably also a way of churning (see e.g. Frank-
fort Cylinder Seals, pl. xxiv g and h and Porada Meso-
potamian Art in Cylinder Seals, 1947, fig. 36). Lastly,
in discussing the myth of Inanna and Bilulu (JNES 12
[1935], 166, TIT, 57), we have noted a reference to the
primitive method of churning by jogging a skin with
milk on the knees.
s. kfim mu-da-ab-ak var. mu-di-ni-mar "was made
hot with it" var. "heat was established for (lit. "with")
him there."
t. kin mu-un-da-ra-si-in-gi4. It seems to have been
customary for shepherds to send for the women of their
household to come to the desert to help with the work
at the height of the yeaning and milking season. As
Dumuzi here sends for his mother, so does his sister
Geshtinanna often join him (see note 2 above). Also his
bride Inanna, though young and inexperienced, may be
called on to help as in TCL 16, 97. 4-10. d nanna
d"gakir-e gu he-em-me / dUgsakir nitalam-zu-ur
gu he-em-me dInanna<dUgsakir gu he-em-me>/
dUsgakir d<Dumu-zi-ra gu he-em-me>/ dlnanna
<dUgsakir gi he-em-me>/ dunx-dunx(BuR-BuR)
dUgsakir-ra ga-mu-ra-ab-zu (!?)/ dlnanna ur5-re
h&-mu-e-hil-e. "Inanna, may you have the churn
give voice!/ may you have the churn give voice for your
bridegroom!/ Inanna, may you have the churn give
voice/ may you have the churn give voice for Dumuzi!/
Inanna, may you have the churn give voice/ let me
teach you the churning of the churn/ and may you,
Inanna, have joy in that!" For the reading of the
somewhat cramped sign at the end of line 10 as zu cf.
the shape of zu in line 17.
Churning seems to have been considered joyful work
rather than a chore, and was done to songs or yodel:
ilulamma. Cf. "Enki and the World Order" 29-30.
[gi un]u3-de i-lu-lam-ma-na (var. -bi) du10-ge-eS
im-mi-ib-be/ [siba-]de dunx-dunx(BIuR-BuR)
dUgSakir-ra-ka-na (var. om.ka) ud im-di-ni-ib-zal-
e/ "The cowherd was giving voice sweetly in his (var. in
the manner of) ilulamma (yodel)/ the shepherd was
spending the day in his churning of the churn" and
"Lament for Ur and Sumer" (UET6/2, 124. 45). ril-lu-
lam-ma dunx-dunx(BsR-Bs R) dUgsakir-ra amas-a
nu-di- d "that ilulamma and the churning of the
churn be not sounded in the fold."
The infix -n.da- "was able to" indicates that by a
happy chance a traveller happened to pass by Dumuzi's
fold in the desert.
u. ia mu-da-gal ga mu-da-gal "I have butter, I have
milk" is here said by the shepherd, and so refers to
sheeps' or goats' butter and milk. It can also be said by
a cowherd and refers then to cows' butter and milk. Cf.
e.g. SK 68.10 where the cowherd Nanna sends a mes-
sage to Ningal beginning: ih mu-da-gal [ga mu-da-
gal] "I have butter, I have milk."
Usually however ia "butter" is used as characteristic
of the products of the byre-natural, since most butter
is from cows' milk-whereas ga "milk" serves to repre-
sent the sheepfold. Cf. the Nidaba hymn, Hallo, Actes
de la XVIIe Rencontre, 1969, 128 line 82: dNidaba
tuir-ra ia h6-me-en amas-a ga he-me-en "Nidaba,
in the byre you are verily the butter, in the sheepfold
you are verily the milk" and "Lament for Ur" AS 12, 62
lines 361-365. gud-zu thr-bi-a ba-ra-mu-un-gub
ia-bi nu-mu-ra-ak-e/ e-ze-zu amas(!)-bi-a ba-
ra-mu-un-dir-ru ga-bi nu-mu-ra-su-GfD-e/
ia-gur-ru-zu tfir-ta nu-mu-ra-diu n-tukum-se-
SAR/ ga-gur-ru-zu amas-ta nu-mu-ra-du en-
tukum-se-SAR. "Your oxen nowise stand in their byre,
their butter is not being made for you./ Your sheep and
goats nowise lie in their sheepfold, their milk is not
milked for you./ Your butter-carriers come not to you
from the byre .... / Your milk-carriers come not to
you from the sheepfold ...."
Characteristic of the byre rather than the sheepfold is
apparently also gar:lisdu "cream," specifically, one
guesses, the thick, firm buffalo cream. The sign for it
represents originally a milk jug (GA) with shading of the
neck where the cream would accumulate. It figures in
the name of the wife of the bull-god Nin-gublaga:
dNin --i -g r-ka "the lady of the house of butter and
cream" i.e., "Lady of the Dairy" (UET I, 10b ii. 4), and
Gudea mentions it and butter as products of Eninnu's
cowbarn e-gud-bi-ta ia-ku4 gar-ku4 "from its cow-
barn butter was coming in, cream was coming in."
Cyl. A xxviii 3-4. The dairy goddess is also mentioned
in line 205 of "Lament for Ur and Sumer" (PBS 10/4,
no. 6 rev. 43) and in TCL 15, 10. 159 as wife of
dLugal-har and in An:Anum (CT 25. 19.4 and 24.
21.71) as dNin-ia-gara and dNin-iiga-raga-raS wife
ofd H a r, various names of the same bull-god.
In Cyl. B x 3-6 where the goatherd En-lulim is to
ia-sar-a-da gar sar-a-da/ 6z-kiu uz-ga-nag mas-
lulim/ ama dNin-gir-zu-ka/ ia ga-bi es l-ninnu-
a mus nu-tim-da "to make butter abundant, to make
 JACOBSEN: Lad in the Desert
cream abundant, not to allow the butter and milk of the
holy goat, the suckling goat, Ningirsu's mother's hind,
to cease in the estate Eninnu." (We assume that the
writing dNin-gir-su-ka in line 5 is short for dNin-
gir-su-ka-ka which in turn stands for a quadruple
genitive) the writing gar for ga in line 3 is probably a
mistake, as suggested by the ga of line 6 which would
seem to refer back to it.
v. The meaning "churn" for sakir, Akkadian sakiru, is
well established by Hg II 70 (MSL 7, 110) dug a-ki-ir
URUxGU:sa-knaki-ru:n-ma-su d iz-bi "churning imple-
ment for milk" and passages like SBH, 130, 12f. umun
dMu-ul-lil-la ga nu-du9-du9 dU,sakir-ra i-bi-in-
de:be-lum dMIN fi-zib la ma-si ina sa-ki-ri ta-as-pu-uk
"Lord Enlil, after you had poured into the churn milk
that would not churn (you were installing over the
country a herder who does not sleep" i.e. you are
relentlessly driving the country at an impossible task).
The usual sign with which the word is written is
sakir:uRuxGu but a variant sakir:uRUXGA is also
attested (see MSL 14, 442 43-44). If one may be
allowed to assume that sakir originally pictured a
churn with sides tapering upwards (cf. the vessel above
the seated figure in Frankfort's Cylinder Seals, pl.
xxiv. g) but was early merged with the URU sign, the
inscribed GA "milk" to indicate content would make
good sense. More difficult is sakir URUXGU, where the
inscribed sign seems to be part of a syllabic combination
gu.uru, representing the sign's other value guru5 of
quite different meaning. Here again, however, if we
may assume that URU originally was a picture of a
churn, the inscribed GU probably belongs above it
rather than in it, and represents a crude picture of the
funnel through which milk was poured into the churn.
An early form of sakir such as LAK 602, thus modi-
fied, would compare not too badly with the representa-
tion of the act of filling a churn through a funnel on the
dairy frieze from Obeid. For the use of a funnel to fill
the churn cf. also TuMHnF 4/2 no. 7 iii 90-95 ab
tuir-ra um-m[i]-rx' [....]/ ga sakir-rkfi-gal bi(!?)-
i,?-tu
za u-mu-un-[d6]/ dSu-ni-dud kin-ga u-mu-run1-
[i-n]a ma-a-si-im
ni -[til]/ lu-ki-sikil amar(!?)-tur-ra-gu,0-se ga u-
si-iz-ba-am
rnagl/ [du]g-a ga luh-[h]a-gu1, ba-[til-le-en]/
- [ ..-]
dNin-gal &-zu-s gA- e ga-mu-ra-d[a-du]/ "When
I have milked(??) the cows in the byre/ and have
poured milk through a funnel into the pure churn/ have
made Shunidu finish the work (Akk. "from churning")/
and fed, O maiden, milk to my young calves/ then I
shall finish my rinsing the milk off in(side) the jugs/
199
and, Ningal, I would come to you to your house."
Cleaning out the vessels used for milk is a necessary
chore. It may be illustrated on the Obeid dairy frieze,
the man with his arm inside the pot is probably cleaning
it. Shunidu (as here written means: "His hand is appro-
priate," more usually the name occurs as su-ni-du,0(g)
"his hand is good/sweet") is a minor deity listed as a
chief herder (unu(AB+Ku)-mah) of Suen and one of
eight sons of dGaiu in An:Anu (KAV 179 ii.ll, 172
ii.10). "The Lament for Ur and Sumer" line 335 (UET
6/2, with parallel SET 403 rev. 8, dgu-ni-d[u7])
describes him as dgu-ni-dug ih-ga-hr-ra -du6-ul-
du6-ul-e ia-ga-hr-ra nu-du6-ul-du6-ul "Shunidu,
who wraps up the butter for (cottage) cheese, wrapped
not up the butter for (cottage) cheese." We assume that
du6-ul stands for dul (for other examples of this
singular writing see van Dijk, SGL II, 139 to line 7):
pussumu "to veil" gL 459.11 (the sign there is U+TUG,
not du6) and see the passage as a reference to wrapping
up butter and suspending it to drip to make cottage
cheese.
w. We read tux(TIUM)-tUx(TiM)for tutu.u<tutu.e since
a durative is called for by the context and the parallel
durative in-tag4-e in iv. 4. Both this and im-ra-ra are
"curtailing reduplications" of the roots tum and rah
with durative ingressive force. See AS 16, 96 and the
earlier statement about this kind of reduplication by
Poebel GSG 446 c-f. For the value of tux of TUM see a
viii. 3.13 (MSL 14, 506).
As to the meaning of tuim here it may be noted that
it is performed on the milk when it is already in the
churn, apparently by the use of both hands, as shown
by SRT 9. 32-34 (variants from TCL 15, 21) dealing
with Suen. ga-ab-sig7-a (var. ga-edin-za-a) dugsakir-
ra i-ni-in-de/ Su-zalag-zalag-ge ga na-tu8-t[u8]
(var. tux(TiM)-t[u(TUfM)])/ lugal-gu,0 kin-ga ti-la-
n i. "milk of yellow cows (var. "milk of your desert") he
poured in the churn/ was ready to ------ by (using) the
pure hands./ When my master had finished from work"
etc. The term can thus hardly refer to other than the
process of churning, and, as the last line shows, it
covers the complete churning operation. Line iv.3 which
follows in SK 123 "beat the milk like a buffeting wind"
must thus parallel and qualify the action. An easy-but
probably rather too easy-solution would therefore be
to consider tU,-tUx(TUM-TUM)a variant orthography
for du9-du9 "to churn."
The passage may accordingly be translated in the
following manner:
200 Journal of the American Oriental Society 103.1 (1983)
Unto him who walked along, unto him who
walked along,
a domain loomed up, came into view;
unto him who walked along, unto him who
walked along,
the "Bedroom" prefecture loomed up, came
into view;
unto the stag who walked along toward the desert
the Serail prefecture loomed up;
5 the prefecture of Uruk came into view,
the prefecture of Kullab loomed up,
the Serail prefecture came into view,
and into the vastnesses of the Arali (desert)
the sheep were passing for him.
The ewes left lambs with him on the ground-
for the lad in the desert,
the nanny-goats left kids with him on the
ground-
for the lad in the desert.
10 For milk without carob-powder in it,
the sh6q bore it for him;
for milk without its (needed) waters of lush
pasturage,
the fields made them flow for him;
for what was not the sturdy kids' (salted)
buttermilk,
cracks in the ground split open (with salt) for
him.
Small cheeses piled up high in heaps for him-
for the lad,
large cheeses were laid onto the rod for him-
for the lad in the desert,
15 milk was whipped as by buffeting winds.
The lad was made hot (from working)
in the pleasant desert-the lad in the desert-
and the lad managed to send a message
from there to the mother who gave him birth:
"Wayfarer! Speak to my mother, may she come
to the desert!
I have butter, I have milk.
She will be churning(?) my milk for me in the
churn,
will be beating the milk like a buffeting wind,
making the buttermilk leave butter
as were it clay (sediment after flood).
May she come to the desert to me!"