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

[Lisa Liel]

On Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:29:06 EDT, T613K at aol.com wrote:
>From: "Lisa Liel" _lisa at starways.net_ (mailto:lisa at starways.net) 
>
>
>>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.
>
>Akkadian, Sumerian, Hurrian -- are these all Semitic languages?

Sumerian is not related to any known human language.  There are some
aspects of it that are similar to ancient Turkish (which is why the
field is called Sumerology in Turkey, rather than Assyriology, as
it's called everywhere else).  Hurrian is also of unknown provenance.
They appeared suddenly in the north during the Early Bronze Age, and
were probably the Horites who were displaced by the Ishmaelites
around that time, even if secular scholarship would prefer not to
make the connection.

Akkadian is Semitic.  The other two are not.

>Do you know or can you figure out what the cognate Hebew roots would
>be that might correspond to Nisanu - Nissan, or Ayaru-Iyar and so on?

It's hard to say.  A quick check of Wikipedia says this:

* Nisan is from the Sumerian Nisag, or "first fruits"
* Iyyar is from the Akkadian Ayyaru, or "rosette; blossom"
* Sivan is from the Akkadian Simanu, or "season; time", similar to
the Hebrew word "siman"
* Tammuz, of course, is from the Sumerian deity Dumuzi.
* Av is from the Akkadian Abu, but as much as it sounds like the
Hebrew for father, Akkadian for father is "addu", so there doesn't
seem to be a clear explanation for this.
* Elul is from the Akkadian Ululu, but again, I don't see a
translation.
* Tishrei is from the Akkadian Tashritu, or "beginning".
* Marheshvan is from the Akkadian Arahsamnu, or "eighth month".
* Kislev is from the Akkadian Kislimu.
* Tevet is from the Akkadian Tebetu.
* Shevat is from the Akkadian Shabatu.
* Adar is from the Akkadian Adaru.

I don't have access to an Akkadian dictionary, so I can't look the
others up.

For the record, though, cognates are tricky.  Kayitz means summer in
Hebrew, but kussu (the Akkadian cognate) means "cold" and "winter".

Lisa
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