Mar.4] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1890.Withthe determinative mul,"star,"the same ideogramoccurs
as the name of a star : mul-gam | mul-lugal, " the star gam| the
starof the king " ; 2 R 49, 10 c. ; and again,mul-gam| gis-ku sa
su yj D. Marduk, " the star Gam| the weapon of the handsof
Merodach," 5 R 46, 3 a. In Chinese we find anotheryen,the name
of a star in the Milky Way. Thecharacteralsomeansthe eaves
of a roof, andthe beams which supportthem(cp. gam, " to bow,
bend").
TheAccadianideogramalsomeansSupu," shining," as in men-
gam,aguSupii, " a glittering crown" ; cp. yen, " bright, as a gem " ;
yen," luminous, bright" ; yen, " brilliant" ; yen, " to flame, blaze" ;
yen," fire " {cp. gi in gi-bil, " fire ").
Thisideogramis also probablyto be read gamin the compound
Gam-lil, SakiiSu, " to destroy," " slay " ; cp. yen, " to grind to
powder"; yen, "to fall";yen,"to throw or push over,""to bend"
(=gam, kanaSu)';yen,"to repress"; yen,"tocut off or in two";
yen, readye, " to destroy entirely" (in the compound yen-tsiieh,
wheretsiieh= tsiit, tswat,dzih, Fuchauchibk,Chifuchie = zid, zig,
dim,dig,"to cut short a thread," "sever,""utterlydestroy").
Theother valueof the ideogram, zubu,whichis rendered by
the Assyrian gamlu," benefiting," is probably no morethana variant
formof zib = dug, "good."
The/ in li, etc., supra,appearsto represent an older d ; so that
tyyy^TTTEyili,*ila,naiu," to raise," ilu, "to go up," " high," very
naturallyhas also the value du, as well as the corresponding^-formGA,
whichalsomeans"to raise." Thatthisdu had a similar meaningis
likely,as it is only a dialectic variation (cp. du, tilu,"a mound").
Accadianpossesses another ili, written J^:,a character of which
the commonest syllabicvalueis ni, but which also stands for 1 and dig.
It is probably a synonymof the other, meaning" high"; for Jpfi J^:, ili,
is used as an ideogram for the like-sounding Assyriantermili, "gods,"
and evenfor the singular ilu, "a god." At all events, the value 1
recalls 1, nadu, "lofty," "exalted"; and ili may be a composite
word,viz., 1 + li (= di), as if, "High andLofty."
* In such casesthe former termis the class-prefix, or the more general
expression, which is restricted or defined more exactlyby the latter. The
changefromN to I. in the case of initials shouldbe compared withthe like
changein that of finals, din,dil,"male,"TIL,TIN,"life,"Sudul,iltouSi
"yoke."
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