7.1.5.3.2 Among six Akkadian texts recording slave purchases, two^188
introduce a guarantor: (subject) (object) yuqìp.
MVN 3 102 is special in two respects: three witnesses are qualified
as ma“ka"en (“..) (see 4.2 above), and they are called “ìbùt
ki““àtim, marking the sale of the girl sold by her father and brother
as one of debt bondage caused by an offence.^189 The receipt of the
price by the sellers recorded in the document might therefore be
fictitious.7.2 Exchange
An exchange of a field for a garden is recorded once, with the oper-
ative clauses ab-“i-ºgar “he put it for it” and ba-§re 6 “he carried it
away” = “he took possession of it.”^190 Another exchange of landed
property is styled as a purchase: the “price” of a garden consists of
another (bigger!) garden, a house and ten shekels of silver. The “pur-
chaser” is again said to have carried away the “price.”^1917.3 Loan
7.3.1 Loans may either take the form of a receipt (using “u--ti =
ma¢àrum“to receive”) or that of a debt note acknowledging an oblig-
ation due to the creditor.^192 Rarely were they committed to writing
as witnessed contracts, despite the important role they played in eco-
nomic life.^193 Much more frequent are debt notes without witnesses.^194
The Sumerian term ur 5 “interest-bearing loan” is used in OS texts
from ΩGirsu and occasionally in Sargonic times;^195 texts from the(^188) MVN 3 102; Foster, “Business Documents.. .,” no. 1, plus another unpub-
lished document: MAD 3 222, quoted by Foster “Business Documents.. .,” 148;
CAD M s.v. muqippu.
(^189) See Steinkeller, “(z)a-á“-da...”; Wilcke, “Die Lesung.. .”; Westbrook, “zíz.da.. .”
(^190) SRU 21.
(^191) Grand document juridique, N (Wilcke, “Neue Rechtsurkunden.. .,” 60).
(^192) tuku with the ergative of the creditor and the comitative of the debtor: MAD
4 41:10–12; al (ittiin Susa)yi“û: MAD 5 21:3–5; or simply “it is
on ”: al yiba““i: BIN 8 125:6–8.
(^193) E.g., SRU 75 (ΩGirsu), 74, 77 (Adab), and 76 (Nippur); MAD 4 124 (Umma);
4 (E“nuna?); Gelb, Old Akkadian.. ., no. 15 (Diyala region); MAD 5 21 (Ki“).
(^194) E.g., SRU 72–73.
(^195) Bauer, “Darlehensurkunden.. .”; Steinkeller, “The Renting.. .”; MAD 5
71:17–21 (Umma): “The wife of the cook E. has received 16 heaped kor of bar-
ley from the house of the smith L. as an interest bearing loan. She has not paid
it back.”
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