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November 6, 2011

Why Bother Tracking Down References?

The other day I listed several Akkadian personal names that begin with mut(u). One of those was Mu-ut-ša-DINGIR. At the time I couldn't find a good reference for the supposed name. But I decided, if I was going to use it in a paper, I’d better know where it came from. It turns out that there are three things wrong with this name.

First I should have written it mutu-ša-ili; second, it is not an Akkadian name; and third, it seems to have been written down in Akkadian for the first time in 1873 CE! The first problem is mine – an incomplete cut, paste and modify job. Over the years mutu-ša-ili has been cited in support of a Mesopotamian etymology for the Hebrew name מְתוּשָׁאֵל (Methushael in Genesis 4:18). For example BDB, 607 says, “Bab. form, mutu-ša-ili ‘man of God’.” Citing the phrase, Gunkel, 50, correctly I think, calls the etymology “meist sehr zweifelhaften,” “bull sh mostly very questionable.” Gunkel cites François Lenrnant’s, 262-63, more favorable disposition towards the etymology. Lennrnant got the idea from Hommel, 22, who, as far as I can tell, made it up in 1873.

References:

(BDB) Francis Brown; Edward Robinson; S R Driver; Charles A Briggs; Wilhelm Gesenius, A Hebrew and English lexicon of the Old Testament : with an appendix containing the Biblical Aramaic (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959)

Gunkel, Hermann, Genesis, (8. Auglage, Neudruck der 3, Auflage 1910 mit ausfūhrichen Registern; Göttinger Handkommentar zum Alten Testament., 1; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1969.)

Hommel, Fritz, Zwei jagdinschriften Asurbanibal's: nebst einem Excurs über die Zischlaute im Assyrischen wie im Semitischen überhaupt (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1873)

Lenormant, François, Les origines de l'histoire d'après la Bible et les traditions des peuples orientaux : 1, De la création de l'homme au déluge (Paris : Maisonneuve, 1880)

Posted by Duane Smith at November 6, 2011 7:48 AM | Read more on Akkadian |

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