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January 5, 2006

To Muzzle or Capture Yam? That is the Question

On the last day of 2005 I posted a translation of KTU 1:3 III:37 - 42 as the center piece of my new year's greeting. I half expected to be called out on at least one part of that translation. Since no one questioned it, (and at the risk of being accused of talking to myself) I will now call myself out.

Here is my translation of the whole passage:

What foes have risen up against Ba'al?
(What) enemies against the rider of the clouds?
Indeed, I have struck down Yam, beloved of El,
made an end of Nahar, the might god.
I have even muzzled the dragon, I decreed his fate and
struck down the slippery serpent,
the cursed one with seven heads.

I do have some explaining to do with regard to my translation of line 40. The text reads,

l ištbm . tnn . ištm . lh

which I translate, "I have even muzzled the dragon, I decreed his fate . . ."

Many older translations read this "Behold, I have muzzled the dragon, muzzled him . . ." or the like. See for example, Driver, (1956), 87. They understand the word ištbm as based on the root šbm and reference an Arabic word with a similar range of meanings. Barr (1978) questioned this understanding. And Sivan (2001), 168, among others, sees the root as šby, "to capture." But Gordon (1965), 487, Driver, and several more recent scholars (e.g. Renfroe [1992], 144-145; Lete, Sanmartin and Watson [2003], 805) see the root as šbm, "to muzzle." And Greenstein, (1982) appears to understand the root as šbm and translates it "harness."

I'm not overly impressed with the support for any of these positions. Therefore, on its own, I could read this word as "muzzle," "capture," or even "harness." I see the key to understanding the line in the word ištm. I take it to be a Gt stem on the root *š’m. The root is known from Akkadian šāmum (CAD Š p 1, 358 - 364) which in certain contexts can mean "to decree the fate" of someone. The same root, but with a somewhat different meaning ("will") and form (i-ši-im) occurs in an Akkadian text from Ugarit (RS 17:36:3). With this meaning in mind, I looked at the whole phrase and saw a kind of "parallelism." In the first part of the line, Anat causes the dragon (Yam) to shut up. In the second part of the line, she does the talking, decreeing Yam's fate. I see no such structure if I accept šby as the root of ištbm.

Greenstein (1982) 215, and others who see a repeat of ištbm here must restore a b in the word išt[b]m. The reason for the proposed scribal error is not clear. I think it more likely that the scribe would have erroneously added a b by dittography rather than to have omitted it. For this reason, I prefer to try to make sense of the text assuming it is sound. If I am correct that the unreconstructed word ištm means something in the range of "decree fate," then understanding ištbm to mean "destroy" does not fit as well as taking it to mean "muzzle."

How sure am I of my translation? Not very. One would certainly like considerable more cognate or even Ugaritic support for any interpretation, including mine. It just isn't there. Many of Baar's (1978) arguments against seeing the root šbm in ištbm can also be applied to my understanding of ištm. For example, I could not find a single example of *š’m in any Northwest Semitic text; nor does there seem to be an Arabic cognate. However, I think my interpretation has two advantages over others. First, it does not depend on any emendation of the text. There is no need to see a scribal error. Second, it offers a smooth transition from Yam who was once in charge to Anat who now gives the orders.

I'm still rounding up secondary sources so it may be a week or two before my next post on the texts in short cuneiform alphabet. I'm sure you can hardly wait.

References

Barr (1978): Barr, James, "Ugaritic and Hebrew 'ŠBM'?," JSS, 39, 1998, 17-39

CAD: (Chicago Assyrian Dictionary) Gelb, Igance J. et al, The Assyrian dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1956-

Driver (1956):Driver, G. R., Canaanite Myths and Legends, Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1956

Gordon, (1965): Gordon, Cyrus, Ugaritic Textbook, Analecta Orientallia, 38, Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1965

Greenstein (1982): Greenstein, Edward L., "The Snaring of the Sea in the Baal Epic," Maarav, 3, (1982), 195-216

Lete, Sanmartín and Watson (2003): Lete, Gregorio del Olmo and Joaquín Sanmartín, A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition, translated by Wilfred G.E. Watson, Leiden: Brill, 2003.

Renfroe (1992), Renfroe, Fred, Arabic-Ugaritic Lexical Studies, Abhandlungen zur Literatur Alt-Syrien-Palastinas, 5, Munster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1992

Sivan (2001): Sivan, Daniel, A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language, Leiden: Brill, 2001

Update: January 11, 2006
Added reference to Lete, Sanmartin and Watson (2003)

Posted by Duane Smith at January 5, 2006 8:48 PM | Read more on Ugarit |

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