amurdinnum

Akkadian

Etymology

Unknown. Henry Ludwig Fr. Lutz opted to read the sign 𒄯 with the common value ḫar instead of mur, requiring one occurrence containing mu-ur- as referring to another plant, and deems the remainder to render Arabic *أَخُو أَرْضٍ (*ʔaḵū ʔarḍin, literally earth brother).[1] This seems out of question since we realize that the modern value [dˤ], now transcribed superficially similarly , was in antiquity a voiced alveolar lateral fricative [ɮˤ]. Neither afford مَرْد (mard, toothbrush-tree fruits) thorns, as behoves by the Akkadian descriptions, or Arabic in general any transferrable ending. The structure hints to an Anatolian loanword with a privative a.[2]

Pronunciation

Noun

amurdinnum m (El-Amarna, Standard Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian)

  1. The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:
    Synonym: 𒌑𒄉 (ašāgum)
    1. bramble, blackberry
    2. boxthorn
    3. manna tree, Alhagi maurorum
    4. jujube
  2. a disease of the eyes

Alternative forms

Cuneiform spellings
Logograms Phonetic
  • 𒄑𒃾𒄈 (GIŠ.GEŠTIN.GIR₂)
  • 𒄑𒃾𒄈𒊏 (GIŠ.GEŠTIN.GIR₂.RA)
  • 𒀀𒄯𒁷𒉡 (a-mur-din-nu)
  • 𒄯𒁷𒉡 (mur-din-nu)
  • 𒄯𒁲𒉡 (mur-di-nu)
  • 𒈬𒌨𒋾𒅔𒉡 (mu-ur-ti-in-nu)
  • 𒄯𒋾𒉡 (mur-ti-nu)

References

  1. Lutz, Henry Ludwig Frederick (1950) “The Name of the Jujube Tree in Babylonia”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, volume 70, number 2, pages 108–109
  2. Haas, Volkert (2003) Materia Magica et Medica Hethitica. Ein Beitrag zur Heilkunde im Alten Orient (in German), Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →DOI, page 244

Further reading

  • Thompson, Reginald Campbell (1941) Cyril John Gadd, editor, A Dictionary of Assyrian Botany, London: The British Academy, published 1949, page 330
  • “amurdinnu”, in The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD), volume 1, A, part 2, Chicago: University of Chicago Oriental Institute, 1968, pages 90b–91a
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.