Part 49 (2/2)

Sumerian. Semitic Translation.

Babylonian.

U umu day.

U-ma-am [miil] umu half a day.

U-gi-kam [umu] kal first day (Sum.), the whole day (Sem.).

U-mina-kam i-na [umu] second day.

U-ei-kam ela[tu umu] third day.

U-lama-kam irbit fourth (day).

U-ia-kam ?amil[tu] fifth (day).

U-aa-kam e[itu] sixth (day).

U-imina-kam sib[itu] seventh (day).

U-ussa-kam saman[atu] eighth (day).

U-ilima-kam tilti do. ninth day.

U-?u-kam eirti do. tenth day.

U-?uia-kam apatti fifteenth day (Sum.), Sabbath (Sem.).

U-mana-gi-lal-kam ibbu twentieth day less 1 (Sum.), the wrathful (Sem.).

U-mana-kam eru twentieth day.

U-mana-ia-kam ar?u bat[tu] twenty-fifth day (Sum.), festival month (Sem.).

U-ea-kam elaa thirtieth day.

U-na-am bubbulum rest-day (Sum.), (day of) desire (Sem.).

U-?ul-gala u-?ulgallum evil day.

U-?ul-gala umu lim[nu] evil day.

U-u-tua umu rimku libation-day.

U-elene umu teliltum purification-day.

From the above it will be seen, that the _apattum_ or Sabbath was the 15th day of the month, and that only. That it was a day of rest, is shown by the etymology, the word being derived from the Sumerian _a-bat_, ”heart-rest,” which probably has, therefore, no connection with the Semitic root _abatu_, which, as far as at present known, is a synonym of _gamaru_, ”to complete.” It was the day of rest of the heart, but being the 15th, it was also the day when the moon reached the full in the heart or middle of the month, and its name may, therefore, contain a play upon the two ideas which the word _libbu_ contains. In accordance with the general rule, the consonants of words borrowed from the Sumerian were often sharpened when transferred to Semitic Babylonian, hence the form _apattum_ instead of _abattum_, though the latter is also found.

The nearest approach to the Sabbath, in the Jewish sense, among the Babylonians, is the _u-?ulgala_ or _umu limnu_, ”the evil day,” which, as we know from the Hemerologies, was the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, and 19th day of each month, the last so called because it was a week of weeks from the 1st day of the foregoing month. It is this, therefore, which contains the germ of the idea of the Jewish Sabbath, but it was not that Sabbath in the true sense of the term, for if the months had 30 days, the week following the 28th had 9 days instead of 7, and weeks of 8 and 9 days therefore probably occurred twelve times each year. The nature of this original of the Sabbath is shown by the Hemerologies, which describe how it was to be kept in the following words:-

(The Duties Of The 7th Day).

”The 7th day is a fast of Merodach and Zer-panitum, a fortunate day, an evil day. The shepherd of the great peoples shall not eat flesh cooked by fire, salted (savoury) food, he shall not change the dress of his body, he shall not put on white, he shall not make an offering. The king shall not ride in his chariot, he shall not talk as ruler; a seer shall not do a thing in a secret place; a physician shall not lay his hand on a sick man;(299) (the day) is unsuitable for making a wish. The king shall set his oblation in the night before Merodach and Itar, he shall make an offering, (and) his prayer(300) is acceptable with G.o.d.”

For the 14th, 21st, 28th, and 19th, the names of the deities differ, and on the last-named the shepherd of the great peoples is forbidden to eat ”anything which the fire has touched.” Otherwise the directions are the same, and though generally described as a lucky or happy day, it was certainly an evil day for work, or for doing the things referred to. It is to be noted, however, that there is no direction that the day was to be observed by the common people.

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