The Meaning of EN-MU.MU

EN-MU.MU is usually said of the king, occasionally of the crown prince (e.g., no. 196), and only rarely of his highest officials (no. 88, just quoted, and no. 98, both referring to the chief eunuch). EN-MU.MU is also attested in the ezibs.[[23]] The meaning and reading of MU.MU in these contexts cannot be determined with absolute certainty, because it is never written syllabically. The traditional translations, such as "the person referred to in the query (der genannte)" or the like, are far from certain.[[24]] In the tamītu texts, the client is referred to as "the owner of this (black) wool and hem (of the garment)" (EN SÍG u TÚG.SÍG),[[25]] and indeed, we find in Craig ABRT 81 r.1 ezib ša BUL.BUL EN SÍG u [TÚG.SÍG ...] "Disregard that NN, the owner of the wool and hem [ ...]." The ikribus, i.e., the rituals of the haruspex, speak of ikrib SÍG u TÚG.SÍG ṭuhhi (BBR 75-78 and passim). These designations may have something to do with the identification of the client. We do know that nail-marks and the hem of a garment served as marks of identification of diviners and prophets, as well as clients on whose behalf an oracular query or an extispicy was made. This was apparently the purpose of sending the lock of hair and the hem of the garment of the mantics described in the prophecy texts from Mari. In the rituals of the diviner, the latter is described as "the owner of this fingernail" (bēl ṣupri ubāni annî), and, indeed, nos. 142 and 172 display impressions of nail-marks. Impressions of nail-marks side by side with, or in place of seals, are quite common in contracts.[[26]]

Ownership, of course, need not be physical, it may also refer to an abstract concept, so that bēl MU.MU may stand for bēl zikir/zakār šumi, bēl šumāti, or the like.[[27]] The rendering adopted in the present edition ("subject of [this] query") takes MU.MU as a synonym of tamītu "query," referring to the invocation of the god Šamaš at the beginning of the query. Note that the assumed reading and meaning is actually attested in no. 43:9, in the phrase adê zakār šumi ili "treaty by (lit., 'invocation of the name of') a god" replacing the more common adê tamīti (SAA 2 2 i 15).



23 For the occurrences, see Klauber PRT, p. xv.

24 See ibid. p. xvi.

25 bēl šipāti u ulinni, also bēl atê,(SÍG.MI) u ulinni; cf. CAD A/2 s.v. atû C).

26 See CAD A/2 251f s.v. ṣupru. It is almost invariably the practice in contracts from Nimrud, as the following representative example shows: ku-um NA4.KIŠIB-šú ṣu-pur-šu iš-kun ṣu-pur PN, "instead of his seal he impressed his nail - Nail(-mark) of PN (followed by nail-marks, passim in Postgate GPA).

27 See Aro CRRAI 14 (1966), p. 111.

Ivan Starr

Ivan Starr, 'The Meaning of EN-MU.MU', Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria, SAA 4. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1990; online contents: SAAo/SAA04 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2020 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa04/formularyandterminology/meaningofenmumu/]

 
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