June3] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1890.
"garden,park." TheAssyrian siru,siru, is probably related to
siru, "high";so that we have hereanotherreasonfor supposing
a real connexionbetween (g)AN, "heaven,"and(g)AN, "plateau,
terrace,field,"t'ien,"heaven,"andt'ien,"field"= din, £-din. It is
probablethatdingir,dimmJr,meant"heaven,"and then "heavenly
being," "god," upon the following grounds:—(1) We have the
equationgi-ir-ra (girra)= an-na (anna or ana) = Same, "the
heavens,"andthis girra (dialecticMf rra)maybe the second element
in dingir, dingirra;(2) Din, dim,the first element,answersto »-<
idim, I;dim,Samii,"heaven,"d/mma, "king"(sarru), andto the
Chineset'ien (tin, din), "heaven,"whichitself "though without
definitepersonality,is employed morethan any other Chineseterm
to indicate God,"much as the Rabbis usedshamdyim,and as we
speakof the will of Heaven: (3) the term dingirthusappearsto be
an ordinary combinationof two synonyms,suchas we have already
often met with, and of which a trace perhaps survives in the
Chinese 5C5l£t'ien-k'i,"theweather"(heaven+ air).
The second Chinesecharacter for t'ien, "heaven," ^~ij£,, in
volvesthe signs ts'ing,"blue,"and k'i, "air" or "ether." It at once
recallsthe Accadian J~J zikum, Samu,"heaven,"whichis doubtless
to be analysed intozig, zi (= sig, arku,which,likethe Chinese
ts'ing,meantbothgreenand azure) + kum. Whatwas kum? The
Chinese expression ^^ k'iiing-ts'ang, " the azure canopy, the
empyrean,the abode of the higher powers,"mayinformus. Ts'ang,
" the green tint of plants—the azure of the sky," is a synonym of
ts'ing(zag= zig);* cp. ts'ang-ts'ing (zag-zig), "thegreenish-blueof
distanthills" : k'iiing or k'iing (thesignis cavern + bow, as if arched
cave)is defined "lofty,highand vast as the sky, empty,a hole." It
is evident thatk'iiing-ts'ang(=kum-zag)is identical withthe Acca
dianzi-kum; the elements being reversed,as in zu-ab, ab-zu,and
other Accadian expressions, kum is concave (cp. rum=g'um, in
kirrum, " hole "). This agrees with the fact that >-*, idim,
meansa " hole " (nakbu), as well as " heaven " (s"amu).^* Here and elsewhere it will be noticed that Chinese ts, ts', = Accadian z.
Thisrule is as general as that Chinese ch, ch', = Accadian D (or T), or that
Chinesey = Accadian G, G' (or a lost initial G). I was not quite clearuponthis
headin my first paper. Strictly,ch = T, and j = D.
t The other valueof the Accadian sign read zikum, "heaven,"is ?u, afisH,
"theabyss." Cp. the Egyptian Xq, tna-1,"the nether-heaven." The
signs,as well as the words, correspond. Bothare star + house.
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