May.i] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1894.Thisnewtranscriptionis proved by two other reasons. In the
fragment of the list of Babylonian kings, published at first by
Mr. George Smith,andafterwardsby Winckler, " Untersuchun-
gen,"p. 153, we read
I-a-mu-kin-shumisharIm-gi.
Thisking is the third of the dynasty of the sea-land, i.e., of the
most southernpart of Babylonia ; Winckler gave, p. 50 of his
bookcited,the right explanationof this Im-gi (otherwiseIm-gi-da,
whichI would readKalda,Im-gibeingherea mere ideographfor
Kashdaor Kalda). In my opinion, thisIm-giwas originally a
phoneticvariantof Ingiin the expression Ki Ingi.
But I have stillanothermoredecisive prooffor the transcrip
tionKi Ingi (insteadof Kingi in one word). If we compare the
Babyloniannametj$E^ (Dur-ku) for the moon-god andits gloss
Dumu-gu, W.A.I.,II, p. 48, I. 33, there canbe no more doubt
that also Ki Imi-ku, " land of the holytongue" (or tongue of
priests),becamein a later (but still veryearly) time Ki Imi-gu,
Ki Imi-gi (comp.the Neo-Sumerian i for old Sumerian u), Ki-Im-gi
.(or Ki-In-gi, in only graphicaldifference).
Theoldestformof this name seems to have been Ki-Im(or
In)-gur,becausethe Hebrews borrowedfromit their "li^tl? (origi
nally Shinghar), and the Babylonians of the time of Hammu-
rapaltutheirShuntir. Indeed,the first valueof JEJ was gush,gur,
out of which developedush,ish, on the one side, anddush,dur,on
the other ; also ku is only a secondary hardeningof an older gu(r).
Concerningki to shi, the trilingual vocabulary,line 105, sh't-mur=
ki-[$wr],line 106,shi-bil=\k-h\\ etc.,maybe compared; comp.
Zimmern,'^Busspsalmen,"p. 77. Finally,if we consider the fact
that many Sumerianwordsendingoriginallyin -r became afterwards
endingin -d (comp., e.g.,Ku-nir-da, 4^ -da. lig-bar-ra, "jackal,"
besides lig-bad-da,etc.),I think it not impossible that the above-
cited Im-gi-da is to be read Im-gi(dyda, instead of being an
ideographfor the synonym Kashda.
§2. By the kindness of the author, Prof. H. Zimmern, in
Leipzig,I got, even beforethe publication of the first number of
Vol.IX of the Zciischrift furAssyriologie,a copy of his valuable
littlepaperon "Ass. mindema=Aram,minda'am,meddem"(p. 104-
1 1 1 of the volume named). Thelearned Assyriologistshowsthere
that the real significance of mindima, mindi, is "perhaps," "if
perhaps," and that the etymology is a root 3H^?, "to know"
210