June3] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [189ak
coincidence of sound with the Egyptian Asari or rather Uasar
( Wdsari) is evident enough; but that mightbe the result of mere
chance, wereit not for the fact thatthe Accadian and Egyptian
ideograms also coincide: H (a seat + an eye) is the common
hieroglyphfor Osiris. Uasis a seat; cp. Uas-t, Thebes, for the
natural transferto the meaning of city, dwelling-place. But the
reason of this ideogram does not appear from the Egyptian.
WhetherAccadianthrowsany light uponit we shall see.
It is obvious thatthe name tff>-C^*,mar-dug,is non-Semitic ;
and as each of its elements admitsof various meanings,e.g.,dug
is " good " (^), and dug is " head " (C^f tfyj^),and dug is " to see "
(do.),anddug(^ ^) is " to melt," we can understand thatvarious
interpretationsmightbe put upon the entire nameby the Babylonian
literati. Hence,as mar means" to sit," " dwell" (al&bu), anddug,
"to see" (p. 414 infra), the god might be indicated by a combination
of eye + seat, without necessitating the assumption that the old
Accadianswerescientificetymologists,eitherin this or in any other
instance. Yet,at the remote periodwhenthis curious ideogramwas
originallyinvented,the meaning of Mardug as an appellative maystill
havebeentransparentto the ancient peoplewhousedthe name. And
whenwe consider that the forms uru (gur),gal(whenceAssyrian
alu),"^>"13?2ttf>yfyERi.on the one hand, and the forms gan,kar
(JJwT)>andunu(gunu),gun(t<2<<lT>Subtu,"seat,"sedes)on the
other, really implythat in Accadian the oldest terms for "seat,"
"city,"weregar(gan,gal, etc.),gur(gun,un),andmar(m£r,
£r) ; and, further,thatthe ideas of seeing and living (tin,hatu,tin,
baldtu),eye and spirit(shi), wereexpressed by the same terms,
in that ancientidiom; we may be disposed to think that Mardug
was originally thought of as the eye or guardian spirit of man's
seator dwelling-place.*
Thetitle of a god, «-|►tfT-JT^( = Hf --TT<H»which
seems to mean "Spirit of the City"(3 R 66, 29 e.), and the
designation of Merodach as --] 4^-«-y<|,"the Bird thatsees"* Cf. TIN-TIR, tubalbaldti,perhapsrathertubatnapiftior nilli. On the
otherhand,as tin meant"a seat" as well as "life" (^EfS^H£K kiS-tin,
kussli= Kl-l8-<^> Kli-DU? = ^TET dd» lubtu), it is possible thatthe ideogram
»-t'|<,f>-|wasoriginallyteatwith the determinative or defining spiritadded
thereto. To live and to dwell are naturally connectedideas.
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