« A License To Steal (From Thomas Jefferson)
Main
I Heart This Post »
August 4, 2009
Is There A Doctor In The House?
Not for me, I'm well, thank you. But this list of symptoms makes me think that one really old guy needed a doctor a lot more than he needed prayer.
- goose bumps
- dizziness
- paralysis
- vertigo
- joint pain
- in a daze
- and possession by a small assortment of demons that may themselves equate to specific symptoms
In an ancient Akkadian prayer, the supplicant asks Shamash for relief from these symptoms. Of course, he attributes their daily occurrence to the anger of a god or goddess. What I translate "paralysis" may be more like joint pain but then what I translate "joint pain" may be paralysis and there's reason for some uncertainty about the meaning of several other of the terms. Despite this uncertainty or perhaps because of it, the semantic ranges of several of the Akkadian terms seem to overlap considerably.
I am struggling with a couple of related questions. First, does this list represent a set of symptoms that are indicative of one or several diseases? If so, which one(s)? Could this describe epilepsy of some kind for example? Or does this list of symptoms stand as a placeholder for what ails an actual supplicant much like "so in so son of son in so," earlier in the prayer, stands as a placeholder for the name of the supplicant?
Posted by Duane Smith at August 4, 2009 12:27 PM | Read more on Akkadian |
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.telecomtally.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2962
Comments
A couple of aspirins, or perhaps some willow bark extract, would have helped.
Posted by: Aydin at August 4, 2009 4:55 PM
I think I'll play doctor today. Essentially we have chills, lightheadedness/dizziness, aches... general symptoms of a really nasty flu. However, these symptoms sound so general that I'm sure that even a qualified doctor would say that one cannot tell for sure from this alone whether it's a genuine flu or some other health issue. So, without X-Ray machines, I guess a prayer to Shamash would be the next best thing.
Posted by: Glen Gordon at August 4, 2009 5:18 PM
Post a comment
Please read Abnormal Interest's Comments Policy.