— The world of Babylonian countrysides —Table 2.3 Old Babylonian Sumero-Akkadian varietal terms for countryside places
CIVIL SETTLEMENTS
a ̄l pa ̄t.i “border town”
a ̄l-PN “village of PN”
dadmu ̄ “settlements (and inhabitants)”
du 6 -GN “ruin-mound of GN”
é / é-PN / é-DN “house (of PN/DN)”
é.duru 5 (adurû / edurû) “hamlet”
é.duru 5 -PN (kaprum-PN) “village/outfit of PN”
é.há / é.há Kasˇsˇî “encampments”
kar-GN / urukar-GN / urukar.há “harbor(s)”
kusˇta ̄ruCAD K 601 d “tent (encampment)”
masˇkan-GN / masˇkan-RN “farmstead (of GN/RN)”
(lit. “threshing floor”)
nammasˇsˇûd(~ á.dam) CAD N^1234 “settlement, habitation”
uruGN / uruGN
1 sˇa
uruGN
2 “town, town 1 of (larger) town 2 ”
uru.ki(-PN) (kaprum(-PN)) “farms (of PN)”
uru.mesˇ / uru.didli.didli /
uru.didli.ma.da / a ̄lı ̄s.ih
̆
rutiCAD S.181a ~ “little towns”ROYAL/MILITARY INSTALLATIONS
a ̄l h
̆
als.i/ hals.uc “fortress (town), district” é kaskal “caravanserai”
birtumc “fortress, fortified district” é-RN / uru.ki-RN “royal household”
dimtu/ dimat-PNc “tower, (fortified) district” Isˇkun-DN/-RN “emplacement
(of DN/RN)”
dunnumc “fort, fortified area” (uru.)izi.gar “watch-tower”
du ̄r-GN / du ̄r-RN “fortress (of GN/RN)” (lit. “torch-place”)
DISTRICTS/AREAL UNITS
a.gàr / a.gàr-PN “irrigation district le ̄tu “nearby region”
(of PN)”
abunnatud “center of the country” libbu ma ̄ tim “countryside, heartland”
aburru “pasture by the city wall” limı ̄tuc “adjacent region”
ah
̆
ât a ̄li “side of the city” ma ̄tu/ ma ̄tGN “land/territory (of GN)”
bal.ri / gú íd.[FN] “bank of the river FN” me ̄resˇtu sˇaGN “cultivated land of GN”
bamâtu “open country, plain” namû(é/a.ri.a) “pasture, steppe”
ers.etGNb “land (lit. earth) of GN” pan s.e ̄ri “before-the-steppe”
isˇru / isˇra ̄tu “rural district(s)” pilka ̄tu(sˇaPN) “district (of PN)”
kı ̄du ̄/ kı ̄da ̄tu “outskirts, countryside s.e ̄ru(edin) “steppeland”
DELIMITATIONS
itûc “boundary, territory”
kisurrû(ki.sur.ra) “boundary”
pa ̄t.uc “border (district)”
pilku(in.dub) “boundary”
a This list is illustrative, not exhaustive. Excluded here are terms in use only at Mari (e.g., h ̆as.a ̄ru, h ̆amqum
sˇaGN, namlaktu) and those which only later had one of the substantial meanings above (e.g., mis.ruin the
OB is only used in the sense of the edge of a field, not a territory).
b Attested at multiple, overlapping levels of administrative geography; i.e., an ers.et-GN may include dozens
of uga ̄ru ̄, but individual plots of land within those uguarumay also be called ers.et(sˇaa.gàr).
c Denotes areal and local units in context.
d Use limited to literary contexts.