NIN (cuneiform)
The Sumerian word NIN (๐ฉ๐), later borrowed into Akkadian, was used to denote a queen or a priestess, and is often translated as "lady". Other translations include "queen", "mistress", "proprietress", and "lord".[1] The word EREล , also meaning "queen" or "lady",[2] is written using the cuneiform sign for NIN as well.
Many goddesses are called NIN or EREล , such as DNIN.GAL ("great lady"), Dร.NIN.GAL ("lady of the great temple"), DEREล .KI.GAL, and DNIN.TI.
The compound form NIN.DINGIR ("divine lady" or "lady [of a] god"), denotes a priestess.
In writing
NIN originated as a ligature of the cuneiform glyphs of MUNUS (๐ฉ) and TรG (๐); the NIN sign was written as MUNUS.TรG (๐ฉ๐) in archaic cuneiform, notably in the Codex Hammurabi. The syllable nin, on the other hand, was written as MUNUS.KA (๐ฉ๐ ) in Assyrian cuneiform. MUNUS.KU = NIN9 (๐ฉ๐ช) means "sister".
Basic cuneiform MUNUS sign ("woman")
Basic cuneiform TรG sign (syllable ku)
Occurrence in the Gilgamesh epic
Ninsun (DNIN.SรN) as the mother of Gilgamesh in the Epic of Gilgamesh (standard Babylonian version), appears in 5 of the 12 chapters (tablets I, II, III, IV, and XII). The other personage using NIN is the god Ninurta (DNIN.URTA), who appears in Tablet I, and especially in the flood myth of Tablet XI.
Of the 51 uses of NIN, the other major usage is for the Akkadian word eninna (nin as in e-nin-na, but also other variants). Eninna is the adverb "now", but it can also be used as a conjunction, or as a segue-form (a transition form).
The two uses of NIN as the word for "sister" (Akkadian ahฤtu), for example, are used in Tablet 8 (The Mourning of Enkidu), line 38:
- "Mayโฆ
- "May the brothers go into mourning over you like sistersโฆ"
See also
References
- โ J A Halloran โ Lexicon โ Retrieved 2012-06-07 & ISBN 0978642902
- โ J A Halloran โ Sumerian Lexicon Version 3.0. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
- Parpola, Simo, with Mikko Luuko, and Kalle Fabritius (1997). The Standard Babylonian, Epic of Gilgamesh. The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project. ISBN 951-45-7760-4.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (Volume 1) in the original Akkadian cuneiform and transliteration; commentary and glossary are in English