Mar.4] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1890.We have already observed the curious connexion subsisting
betweenthe Accadian andChinese wordsfor the first and second
numerals,and the first and second personalpronouns. A great fuss
has been madeby some writersoverthe fact that the Accadian J^,
kur,is rendered by the opposed Assyrianterms ahu, "brother,"
and nakru, "enemy"; while the synonym Ehh e^> "$"'
"brother,"is likewise also equatedwithlimnu, "hostile," "bad."
But the familiar usesof the Latin hostis,"foreigner,stranger,enemy,"
andits cognate hospes, "foreigner, guest, friend" (cp. the Greek
feVos),oughtto have been enoughto restrain anyoneacquainted
withthe classics, from supposinguponsuch groundsthatAccadian
wordswere merelyarbitrary symbols, employed variously as the
fancyof theirinventors,the Assyrio-Babylonian scribes,mightdictate.
Thereis really no rational objectionto the combination of opposite
meaningsin the same term;and,as a matter of fact,the phenomenon
is not uncommon in philology. Is not the Hebrew "T"fl"to bless"
and"to curse"? and does not Arabic, in particular, supplya number
of instances of a similar character?
If the Accadian terms for " brother " mean " the other, the
second," " the man at one's side,"it is intelligible enoughthatthey
might be used in the senses of " alien, opposed,hostile,"as well as
" second, helper,comrade" ; cp. our own ambiguousterm" match,"
relatedto "mate," and used in an analogous doublesense. I dare
say all this will be called specialpleading; so I will say no more,
but content myself with the following little tabular comparison
of the Accadian and Chinese sounds in question, showingat a
glancetheircommonuses:
AccadianJ^- kur. Chineseku(r).- kur, "a brother" (ahu); kur, kiu,"a brother" (of one'smother
"a father," "parent" or wife); a husband's parents
(abu). were formerlyso called (kiu-
ku) ; kiu is an old term for a
wife'sfather. - kur, " an enemy " ; " to be kiu," to twist, to cabal, to head
hostile";"to alter," " in- a sedition"; kiu, "a fault,"
jure," "deface"(nakaru, " wicked acts " ; " evil" (limnu
nukkuru). =§es);kiu, "tohate"; kiu,
" to destroy, demolish."
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