G206 C iv 25 J ana-ku OV – C has VCV against V-CV in J.
1 iv 21 a-na-ku
G207 C iv 25 e[p OV(l) – Possible difference in pronuncia-
J b obv. 9’ 1 iv 21 ap-ta-a a]p-ta-a tion.^624
G208 C iv 27 J š]u OV – The possessive pronominal suffix is written with the sign ŠU in C.
1 iv 23a mi-lik-šú
G209 J 1 iv 23b d IDIM HV – Different proper nouns given in the
b obv. 12’ ˹d˺ é-a LUGAL sources. 625
G210 C iv 28 ˹a-na˺ OV – The preposition ana is written logo-
J 1 iv 23b ana graphically in J.
G211 J b obv. 13’ 1 iv 24 ul-te-la-an-ni uš-te-la-a[n OV(l) – Difference in pronunciation.^626
(^) lar to the scribe. C has: Erra litbamma māta, “Erra may destroy the land;” this is against J: Erra litbamma
nišī, “Erra may destroy life.” In context the sources essentially agree in their meaning, namely that the
eradication of all life is potentially at hand. Even though, strictly speaking, the two nouns, māta and nišī,
have significantly divergent semantic ranges when divorced of this particular context, the contextual setting
must be taken into account. C maintains the poetic repetition begun in line 193 (according to the line num-
bering in A.R. George, Gilgamesh, 714-15), and we therefore read J as clarifying the meaning implied in C
- all forms of life are at risk. 624
The form in C has the verb preformative /a/ > /i/ for the 1cs I/1 preterite of √petû, “to open, reveal.”
A.R. George, Gilgamesh, 428, lists this among possible differences in dialect. See also the references in
notes , and. 625
A.R. George, Gilgamesh, 717 n. 44 notes that b is corrupt. In this source “King Ea” takes Ūta-napišti
from the boat following the subsidence of the Deluge, whereas J has Enlil. If not a corruption, the reason
behind the substitution of Ea for Enlil in b is unclear. Perhaps there is some geo-political or socio-religious
impetus for the change, as is suggested for a similar change in the manuscripts of the Laws of Hammurabi
(see H2 and H132). 626
The expected consonantal shift /š/ > /l/ before dentals, reflecting Standard Babylonian (J. Huehnergard,
Grammar, 596), is not applied in b. The same shift is generally expected in Neo-Assyrian before voiced
velar plosives, though this is probably a Babylonianism (J. Hämeen-Anttila, Neo-Assyrian Grammar, 22 n.
30, and see also G82 and G231). The form in b is therefore archaic, or perhaps more correctly a phonologi-
cal archaism.