[Avodah] How Bitter Can A Month Be? Bittersweet.

[Lisa Liel]

On Sun, 14 Oct 2007 11:57:02 EDT, T613K at aol.com wrote:
>Also, all the other months seem to be named after Babylonian gods,  
>powers, forces or whatever -- why would this month alone have a name 
>that is only a number?  Of course in the Torah ALL the months are 
>identified only  by number (plus sometimes an additional identifying 
>season, e.g., chodesh he'aviv.)  But if we are borrowing names from 
>other cultures, why would we  take just this one month from the 
>Akkadians and give it a number instead of a name?

It's a reasonable question: why did the Babylonians do it that way? 
But it's a fact.  The names of the months in Babylonia were:

Nisanu
Ayaru
Simanu
Du'uzu
Abu
Ululu
Tashritu
Arahsamna
Kislimu
Tebetu
Shabatu
Adaru

Some of these names are Akkadian, but some are Hurrian, and some may
be partially Sumerian.  Simanu is Sivan and Kislimu is Kislev.  Those
are other examples of the m/w metathesis in the late dialect of
Akkadian they spoke in Babylon in the time of Nebuchadnezzar.

In fact, we don't really know for sure that they pronounced the names
that way.  It may be that they said Marahsawna.  But it's transcribed
as Arahsamna because that's how it would have been read in older
times.

We know that Babylonian inscriptions name the son of Nebuchadnezzar
who succeeded him Amel Marduk.  We have it as Ewil-Merodach.  To me,
that indicates that the name was actually pronounced Awel Marduk, and
not Amel, despite the way in which it was written in Babylonian
inscriptions.

But asking why the 8th month is the only one called by its number is
like asking why September, October, November and December weren't
changed when the two months preceding them were (to July and August,
after Julius and Augustus Caesar).  Maybe if the Babylonians had
lasted longer, they would have gotten around to renaming the month.

This page has listings of month names found in various periods and
places in the ancient world:

http://www.angelfire.com/tx/tintirbabylon/caledarintro.html

Lisa
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