Kuttamuwa Inscription Update: Pardee’s transcription
Yesterday I attended Dennis Pardee and David Schloen’s paper “A New Alphabetic Inscription from Zincirli.” Here’s a rough cut of Pardee’s transcription of the Kuttamuwa Inscription. I need to stress, this is Pardee’s work not my own.
Pardee is unsure how to differentiate ד and ר in the text on any other criteria than contextual. That is to say, when he doesn’t recognize the word, he isn’t sure. (For picture click the link at DailyHebrew.com, or any of the other sites that have the image.)
Text:
- ʾnk.ktmw.ʿbd[.]pnmw.[zy].qnt.l[y].nṣb.b
- ḥyy.wšmt.wth.bsyr/d.ʿlmy.wḥggt.s
- yr/d.zn.šwr.lhdd.qr/dpd/rl.wybl.lng
- d/r.ṣwd/rn.wybl.lšmš.wybl.lhdd.krmn
- wybl.lkbbw.wybl.lnbšy.zy.bnṣb.zn.
- wʿt.mn.mn.bny.ʾw.
- mn bny.ʾš.wyhy.lh.
- nsyr/dg.znn.wlw.yqḥ.mn
- ḥyl.krm.znn.šʾ.
- ywmn.lywmn.wyh
- rg.bnbšy
- wyšwy
- ly.šq
So there you have it. In interest of intellectual property, I won’t put Pardee’s translation up as well. Besides, I expect most of my readers can read Aramaic to begin with.
Some of the deities are interesting. I think this inscription points to an interesting interchange of deities reminiscent of Hittite practices in the Late Bronze Age. Definitely a cool little rock.
Update: Doug Magnum has posted his notes from the same presentation here.
In line 8 I think it should by znn, not snn. I assume its a typo, not a misreading. Did he really read the end of line 10 as wyh? I see wyd/r, and I read as wydrg (wrapping to the next line) “he should step up to my NB$” or something like that. He reads, “he should kill my NB$”? Looking at the picture I can perhaps see a he.
Pete
Oh I see, the object of hrg is the lamb/goat from line 9, so the slaughter is done at the NB$.
Pete
I think in lines 3-5 there is a clear y(l “mountain goat”.
Shouldn’t line 1 read (bd not (db?
At line 1 is surely (bd
Ah, the joys of typing on the fly! Corrections have been made, typos have been corrected.