Sumerian Hymns
from
Cuneiform Texts in the British Museum

Note

The so-called “Sumerian Question” as to the genuine linguistic character of the ancient Non-Semitic Babylonian texts has agitated the Assyriological world for more than twenty years. The new Sumerian matter from the monuments which is constantly coming to hand demands, in the interest of all those who can look upon this discussion with impartial eyes, a most rigid and unprejudiced examination. Dr. Vanderburgh in the following monograph has adhered to the views expounded in my “Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon” (J. C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung, 1905-1907), that the so-called Sumerian was originally a Non-Semitic agglutinative language which, in the course of many centuries of Semitic influences, became so incrusted with Semiticisms, most of them the result of a very gradual development of the earlier foreign sacred speech of the priests, that it is really not surprising to find the theory that Sumerian was merely a Semitic cryptography set forth and vigorously upheld by so eminent a scholar as Professor Halévy (MSL., pp. VIII, IX).

The study of the more ancient Non-Semitic texts, more particularly of the Sumerian unilingual hymns, cannot fail to shed additional light on the nature of this peculiar idiom, besides furnishing a valuable addition to the study of the Babylonian religious system.

The texts of the hymns in Vol. XV. of the Brit. Mus. Cun. Texts are not always in good condition and present many difficulties, a solution of some of which, it is hoped, has been suggested in this work with at least approximate correctness.

John Dyneley Prince

To the
Rev. Edward Judson, D. D.,
in recognition of his friendship to the author
and of his interest in Oriental studies

Preface

Vol. XV. of the “Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum, printed by order of the Trustees”, was published in 1902. Plates 7-30 of this valuable volume contain hymns addressed to Bêl, Nergal, Adad, Sin, Tammuz, Bau and Ningirgilu. Of these, besides the translations given in the present work, the following have been translated and commented on; viz., J. Dyneley Prince, Jour. Amer. Or. Soc., xxviii, pp. 168-182, a hymn to Nergal (Pl. 14); and a hymn to Sin (also rendered and explained in this thesis) by E. Guthrie Perry, in Hymnen und Gebete an Sin (Pl. 17). In press at present are also translations by J. D. Prince, a hymn to Bau, Vol. XV. Pl. 22 in the Harper Memorial Volume (Chicago); and, by the same author, a hymn to Ningirgilu, Vol. XV. Pl. 23, in the Paul Haupt Collection to appear in 1908.

All these hymns in Plates 7-30 stand by themselves as distinct from anything hitherto published. They are unilingual, a fact indicating that they are very ancient and furthermore adding materially to the difficulty of their translation. This Thesis ventures a transliteration, translation and commentary of four of the hymns which are peculiarly difficult owing to their unilingual Non-Semitic character. Of the history of the tablets in question, which are all in the Old Babylonian character, we have no information. They must tell their own story.

The writer of this Thesis wishes to acknowledge with much appreciation the aid given him by Dr. John Dyneley Prince, Professor of Semitic Languages in Columbia University, in the preparation of this work.

New York, Oct. 1st, 1907

F. A. Vanderburgh

List of Abbreviations

AL:Assyrische Lesestücke, von Friedrich Delitzsch. Vierte durchaus neu bearbeitete Auflage.

ASK:Akkadische and Sumerische Keilschrifttexte, von Paul Haupt.

BN:Das Babylonische Nimrodepos, von Paul Haupt.

Br:A Classified List of Cuneiform Ideograms, Compiled by Rudolph E. Brünnow.

CDAL.:A Concise Dictionary of the Assyrian Language, by William Muss-Arnolt.

CḤ:The Code of Ḥammurabi, King of Babylon, by Robert Francis Harper.

Cler:Collection de Clercq. Catalogue. Antiquités Assyriennes.

CT:Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum.

Déc:Découvertes en Chaldée, par Ernest de Sarzec.

EBH:Early Babylonian History, by Hugo Radau.

EBL:Explorations in Bible Lands during the 19th Century, by H. V. Hilprecht.

HBA:A History of Babylonia and Assyria, by R. W. Rogers.

HW:Assyrisches Handwörterbuch, von Friedrich Delitzsch.

IG:The Great Cylinder Inscriptions A and B of Gudea, by Ira Maurice Price.

JA:Journal Asiatique.

JRAS:The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.

MSL:Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon, by John Dyneley Prince.

N:Nippur, or Explorations and Adventures on the Euphrates, by John Punnett Peters.

OBI:Old Babylonian Inscriptions, chiefly from Nippur. By H. V. Hilprecht.

OBTR:Old Babylonian Temple Records, by Robert Julius Lau.

R:Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, prepared by Sir Henry Rawlinson.

RAAO:Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archéologie Orientale.

RBA:Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, von Morris Jastrow, Jr.

RSA:Recueil de Signes Archaiques de l’Écriture Cunéiforme, par V. Scheil.

SSD:Les Signes Sumériens derivés, par Paul Toscanne.

SSO:A Sketch of Semitic Origins, by George Aaron Barton.

SVA:Die Sumerischen Verbal-Afformative nach den ältesten Keilinschriften, von Vincent Brummer.

TC:Tableau Comparé des Écritures Babylonienne et Assyrienne Archaiques et Modernes, par A. Amiaud et L. Mechineau.

TEA:Der Tontafelfund von El Amarna, herausgegeben von Hugo Winckler.

TR:Travels and Researches in Chaldaea and Susiana, by Wm. K. Loftus.

Table of Contents

Page

Introduction 1

Chapter I 21

Transliteration, Translation and Commentary, Hymn to Bel

Chapter II 42

Transliteration, Translation and Commentary, Hymn to Sin

Chapter III 55

Transliteration, Translation and Commentary, Hymn to Adad

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