Mayi] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCH.-EOLOOY. [1894.dim,dimma, haraSu,to plough ; and dim, to plough, presentsa
strikinghomophoneof dim, pig *
I had got thus far when, to my great satisfaction,I came across
the following piece of coincident evidence: " Callistratus (apud
Plutarch, Symposion iv, 5) suspected thatthe Jews did not use
swine's flesh for the same reason which he says influencedthe
Egyptians,viz., that this animal was sacred, inasmuchas by turning
up the earth withits snout it first taught men the art of ploughing
(see Bochart, Hieroz.,i, 806)." Smith'sDiet.Bibl.s.v., Swine.
If Tammuz was a god of agriculture becausethe pig roots up the
soil, he was also a Chthonian deity becausethat characteristic
actionmightbe interpreted as an effort of the Theanthropic animal
to make his way to the Underworld.
- The Accadiandim-rag,maljratti,plough,shareor coulter, agreeswith
old Chinese lag, lik, now lei, li, a plough, to plough.
As to the Ace. gumunsir,whichhas always beenassumed 10 be an artificial
derivativefromthe Assyrian hiiwsirn,insteadof its original, it is clear that gumu
maybe the g-form of dumu, answeringto the Chinese gian,kin,kien, boar,a
termusedin the Shi king ; and that nsir is to sig as sir, light, is to sig, light, or
as sar, to write, is to sag, id.