Mar.4] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [189a
termfor ear (giS-tug, and ci, uznu). TheAmoyft" recalls gin,
" to hear " (magdru).
Themeaning "side"(whichappearsalsoin two otherhomo
phonesdenoting the sides of the mouth or face) agreeswith jTT*-,
UR, "side," "quarter,"(esidu,hamamu),and with ^^,UR, "a wall"
(usurtu),andwith J^£ryy,ur, " the loins, the flanks " (sunu), and
withgur,"heap,bank,side"{karfi): Sb 1, 3, 20. ir-ir,"softand
pliable,of reins,complying,"implies(C)ir= gin, " flexible."
(12)TheChineseir, "ear-ornaments," is obviously an extension
of ir, " the ear." In the sense of " a ring nearthe sun," " parhelion
or mock-sun," it reminds us of the signEjTTEy, gir, mer=men,
"a crown." Themoonis called in Accadian "lord of the bright
crown";an expression which seems to allude to the halo which
sometimessurroundsit. In Chinese yun(oldsound yin),dialectic
wan,hurt,yun (= men, gin),is a halo. The relationto Accadian
men, "a crown," on the one hand,and to gin in ni-gin, "to
surround," on the other, is evident. Cp. yuen, "round"(yum=
gin).
(13) TheChineseir, dialectic i,ji,ir, "to cut off a man's ears,"
recallsgur,"to cut off" (kasamu,frastisu,masaru).
(14) TheChineseir, "thou, you,"in the three dialectsi, fi",
ir, is another instance of (g)ir = gin ; cp. the Amoyft" = gin.
We have already seen thatgin and men mean both " I " and
" you " in Accadian.
A second use of this homophone is as an affirmative particle,
"so," "justso," "thus," "in that way." Thisimplies(g)ir= gin,
"thus,"(kiatri);andanswersto -^Ej=, ir (?), "like": videsupra.
A third meaningis " to remove " = the Accadian J^:, ir, " to
cause to go" (iuluku), "totakeaway" (tabalu);and the fourth
is "abundant," e.g.,ir-ir,"plentiful";withwhichwe may compare
jy, ur, "abundance" {baltu, bultu, root wabal; rendered by
Prof. Hommel, strotzende Fulle, Ueberfluss). Cp. also gur, "to
flow." Thisis, again, an instance of (g)ir = gin ; for we have gin,
malu," to be full."
(13)TheChinese ir, "to turnthe head or face towards.. ."
is, again, an instance of (g)ir = gin ; for gin is t&ru, " to turn,"
saharu, "to turn round" (p. 53); cp. gur, t&ru, sah&ru. In
Cantoneseit is mi or ni; in Amoy //', at Shanghai ir. In Cantonese
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