The possible etymology of Isimu(d)

What we know about this God are basically three things: He is the servant of the much more important God Enki. Other great Gods have such servants as well, sometimes described by modern authors as “messenger”, “vizier” or even “secretary”. On some Sargonic seals like the seal of the scribe Adda, a God with water streams with fishes arising from his shoulders is accompanied by a God with two faces in a serving position.Footnote ¹ The God with water streams is generally identified as Ea/Enki and the God with two faces is likely Isimu. From a much younger commentary we know that his Akkadian equivalent Usmû had two faces.Footnote ² The third thing we know about him is his name Isimu, with the longer form Isimud. Enki says to Isimu in Innana and Enki (passim): sugal₇ ^disimu-ĝu₁₀ mu du₁₀ an-na-ĝu₁₀ “my vizier Isimu, my good name of heaven”,Footnote ³ but this is not an analysis of his name.

The original writing is ^dPA₄.SIG₇.NUN.ME = ^disimu₄(-d). In this NUN.ME is a semantic marker, which had no consequences for the pronunciation. The lexical data are collected below:

The lexical lists do not confuse U.AD and GUL, which look very similar, but they are probably only graphic variants of the same sign. Like modern languages Sumerian and Akkadian use words for plants or parts of them also when describing family relations. The word per'u means “shoot, offshoot, loaf” and “offspring, descendants”, while ziqpu stands in this connection for “shoot, sapling” and riqqu is an aromatic plant, normally written Sumerographically ^(ĝeš)ŠEM. We can assume /isim/ as shortened /isimu/ or “growing offshoot” with mú “to grow”. A relation to isin(PA.ŠE) = išinnu “stalk (of grain)” (other readings isina, iši/en) seems probable.

The name of the God may thus have been “growing shoot” or “who lets the shoot(s) grow”. But there is a problem at the end. ^disimu ends with d before a vowel.Footnote ⁴ But mú “to grow” ends with a vowel and has a ḫamṭu participle in the name of the goddess ^d(nin-)a-zi-mú-a, ^dá-zi-da-mú-a. There are not many examples for divine names with a marû participle with -e(d). The author could only find ^dnin-u₄-zal-le TCL 15, 10, 70; An Anum I 239 and ^dur-bàd-da-gub-gub-bu An Anum I 143. A serious problem is that mú is reduplication class: é ḫur-saĝ-gen₇ im-mú-mú-ne “they let the temple grow high like the mountains” Gudea Cyl. A xxi 19; mú-mú-dè Lamentation over Sumer and Ur 10; 11; 38 passim.

An old name may deviate from the regular form, but this is a weak argument. It seems better to assume, that the verb mud is involved. Outside personal names mud is very rare and even in personal names it is not used in the Ur III period or later. Names with mud were investigated by Manfred Krebernik.Footnote ⁵ He shows that in many cases names with mud have parallels with è “to come out, to bring out”. With a cautious expression he concludes: “Man könnte vermuten, daß mud einst ein mit è in etwa synonymes Verbum mit der allgemeinen Bedeutung ,hervorkommen (lassen)‘ war, das sekundär auf das in dem Begriff enthaltene ,Gebären‘ eingeengt wurde” (Krebernik Reference Krebernik, Streck and Weninger2002: 46). He observes that many of the names with mud include a word related to water. Just these words are not used with è, among them Enki's cosmic dwelling place and temple name abzu.

There is a divine name ^dnin-ti-mud “the lady who brings life forth” and much more important the epithet of Enki ^dnu-dím-mud “who makes (and) creates”. Compare Enki and Ninmaḫ 12: ĝeštú daĝal mud diĝir šár-šár ĝál-ĝál “the one who is bringing forth wide understanding, who brought into existence the countless gods”Footnote ⁶ and the late interpretation: ^dnu-dím-mud : ^dé-a : ša nabnīte “related to the created beings”.Footnote ^{7 d}nu-dím-mud is not an epithet of Enki like others. It is old,Footnote ⁸ it is created in a very specific manner with the prefix nu-, normally used to create names for professions. It combines two verbs, which are very specific for Enki and it has a counterpart in the epithet ^dnu-nam-nir of the most important god Enlil, but no other god has an epithet like these two.

Since his master has such a strong relation to the verb mud, it seems likely that the name Isimu(d) is to be interpreted as “isim mud” “who brings the shoots forth” or the like. There is no big semantic difference to an interpretation that uses mú.Footnote ⁹ That Sumerian words can develop shortened forms can be demonstrated with several examples like zì/zíd = qēmu “flour”, but ZÍD-munu₄ > isimmānu “a malt preparation”, akán, kan₄, ká “gate”.Footnote ¹⁰ A reduction of mm to m is much harder to prove since si-mu can spell /simmu/ and /simu/. But it wouldn't be a surprise if such a reduction sometimes happened as well.

There is still a problem with the d, since it seems stable in mud but not in Isimu(d). But mud was not visible in writing and for a long time a rare expression, while isim-mú seems the interpretation of the lexical lists mentioned above.

It seems that the sign PA with the reading pa = ḫaṭṭu “staff, stick, branch, twig” (from which ^gidruPA = ḫaṭṭu “sceptre” is of course derived), artu “foliage”, larû “branch, fork”, aru “frond, leaf of the date palm” is derived from PA₄. VAT 15003 (Uruk IV Archaic Lú A, P000006, here fig. 1) writes PA as PA₄.PA₄ three times (like in Uruk IV P001031, P001213 passim). The graphic is clear and cannot be interpreted as one trunk with two twigs, since the twigs are not on different sides. For PA = PA₄.PA₄ in Uruk III compare for example AOST 109 (006438, here fig. 3), CUSAS 1, 48 R; 49 R; 51 R iii, passim. In an abbreviated graphic the twigs can be made in one stroke (for example W 22102,3 = P004525, and here fig. 2). If not carefully written it may look like PA₄.AŠ and by changing the angle it takes the form of later PA. Both graphics can be used on the same tablet (MSVO 4, 62). Beside this there is another graphic for which the author could not find any example earlier than Uruk III. Perhaps influenced by RAD the twigs are on different sides and form right angles with the trunks.Footnote ¹¹ This graphic could be seen as one trunk with two twigs or branches on different sides. But it is much more likely that this form developed from PA₄.PA₄ than the other way round.

Fig. 1:

PA.RAD Uruk IV (Archaic Lú A) VAT 15003, detail. Photo: Staatliche Museen Berlin - Vorderasiatisches Museum / Olaf M. Teßmer

Fig. 2:

PA.EN / PA₄ Uruk III, VAT 16758. Photo: Staatliche Museen Berlin - Vorderasiatisches Museum / Olaf M. Teßmer.

Fig. 3:

AOST 109, Uruk III, obverse. The third box from left to right: ŠU.PA.RAD.GÁNA. It shows how PA₄.PA₄ is merging in one graphic for PA. AOST 109 is a permanent loan of the University Foundation, donation Dr. C. Pelling and Dr. M. L. Zarnitz. Photo by H. Jensen, University of Tübingen. AOST means Altorientalische Sammlungen Tübingen. By courtesy of Wiebke Meinhold, thanks to Konrad Volk.

PA₄ is the picture of a trunk with a branch, twig or foliage, but this meaning went to the sign PA developed from PA₄.PA₄.Footnote ¹² That a new sign is formed by the reduplication of another sign is not unique. Compare for example NUN.NUN = NIR, MU.MU = DAḪ. In the case of PA₄ we assume that since twigs are normally seen in greater numbers this meaning was expressed by PA₄.PA₄, while PA₄ remained for the derived meaning pa₄/pab “elder brother” or the like.

Another example may be AN, the picture of a star used for an “sky, heaven”, the god An and diĝir “god”. But “star” mul is AN.AN.AN. That three stars are used may be due to the fact that AN.AN = NAB came in between.Footnote ¹³ The sign MUL is used in Uruk III in the names for an aquatic animal MUL^ku₆ (“starfish”?) and a cow áb-bar-MUL.Footnote ¹⁴ The meaning “star” is without doubt attested in Tell Fāra.Footnote ¹⁵

From the picture as from the relation with PA, we may conclude that PA₄ could have the meaning “twig” and PA₄.SIG₇ “green twig” = “shoot” or “growing shoot”. There is a problem with this reasoning. If we assume that PA was created for the meaning “twig”, “branch” already in Uruk III, then PA₄ like AN had another meaning as already stated. Perhaps in combination with SIG₇ the doubling of PA₄ was not seen as necessary since the combination was clear enough.

Isimu in the Early Dynastic period

PA₄.SIG₇.NUN.ME is not attested in the completely reconstructed list Archaic Lú A, from Uruk III.Footnote ¹⁶ The combination appears for the first time in ED I/II Ur:

The rest of UET II 300 is broken, but it can be seen, that it followed the version of ED Lú A where between DU.EZEN and GAL.ZÀ SIG₇.PA₄.NUN.ME, GAL.NAR, GAL.BALAĜ and GAL.KA׊U are added. This makes our restoration of the second line very probable.

Peter Calmeyer dated a copper vessel and a similar alabaster vessel (fig. 4) with two bearded faces looking in the opposite direction as from the earliest phase of the ED style.Footnote ¹⁷ Calmeyer cautiously identifies the figure as Isimu.

In Tell Fāra his relation to Enki becomes clear by SF 40 viii 4: ^den-ki SIG₇.PA₄.NUN.ME gù dé “Enki called Isimu”.Footnote ¹⁸ A long counsel-speech of Enki begins with dumu-ĝu₁₀ “my son” or lú-tur-ĝu₁₀ “my little one”.Footnote ¹⁹ But even if “my son” is correct, the later tradition speaks against the possibility that Isimu was once seen as a son of Enki. In Tell Abū Ṣalābīḫ Isimu is mentioned in IAS 133. Someone - most probably Enki - is speaking to him and Isimu is answering. Some lines in between are not clear to me:Footnote ^{20 d(U4)}en(G[AL])-[ki(UNU)] kaš mu(NUN)-naĝ kaš mu(NUN)-dù isimu₄ enim mu(NUN)-na₅-du₁₁ isimu₄(PA₄.SIG₇.NUN.M[E]) “Enki was drinking the beer, he liked (dù for du₁₀?)Footnote ²¹ the beer. He spoke to Isimu: ‘Isimu…’” IAS 133 ii 2’-6’. isimu₄([SIG₇.P]A₄.NUN.M[E]) enim <mu(NUN)?>-gi lugal(PA.NUN)-ĝu₁₀ “Isimu answered: ‘My lord…’” IAS 133 ii 10’. He appears at least once again at the broken end of a column where a boat-ride of ^dasar and Enki (U₄.GAL.UNU) is mentioned: isimu₄ enim na₅-mu(NUN)-na₅-du₁₁ [SI]G₇.PA₄.NU[N.ME …] “He (Enki) truly spoke a word to Isimu: ‘Isimu…’” IAS 133 v 8’f. In both texts we see Isimu in his typical role listening to the commands of his master Enki. In Ašnan and her Children Isimu speaks to his master called nun “prince” (IAS 283 v, 288 iii’). The context is again not clear.

The SIG₇.PA₄.NUN.ME in ED Lú A may stand for a human “priest”. But the author knows no text outside Lú A where such a priest is mentioned. It is not certain that all entries in this list mean human beings or their offices. Compare Archaic Lú A 99 = ED Lú 97: UŠUMGAL most probably the dragon-like mythical monster ušumgal. That is why the SIG₇.PA₄.NUN.ME in ED Lú A may indeed be the mythical servant of Enki. Even if it is a priest, this priest is very likely related to the mythical being. We can conclude that Isimu is attested roughly from the beginning of the ED time. But we have no proof for his existence in Uruk III.

The reviewer of this article doubted the expression “priest” since the name came after EZEN.DU perhaps “who stands/serves in the feast” and is followed by musicians GAL.NAR, GAL.BALAĜ. The objection is justified. Isimu is inserted in the list after three expressions with the sign EZEN: GAL.EZEN, MÙŠ.EZEN, DU.EZEN together with the two musicians and the GAL.KA׊U. If we see Isimu as the mythical servant of the god Enki, his connection with a feast is understandable. Enki likes beer, first attested in the passage from IAS 133 quoted above. The brewing goddess Ninkasi is his daughter.Footnote ²²

Fig. 4:

Louvre vase AO 29723. Author: Rama, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vase-AO_29723-IMG_1028-black.jpg, license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/fr/deed.en. Photo re-sized.

The two vessels published by Calmeyer come to mind. They have roughly the conical form of early dynastic cups. Calmeyer (Reference Calmeyer, Finkbeiner, Dittmann and Hauptmann1995: 49 n. 5) mentions for the copper vessel only the height 14.8 cm and the diameter at the bottom as 5.55 cm since he thinks that the vessel was distorted. For the other vessel, which is in the Louvre (AO 29723), the website of the museum gives the height 18.8 cm, width 17.8 cm, length 19.7 cm. Calmeyer Reference Calmeyer, Finkbeiner, Dittmann and Hauptmann1995: 50 n. 11: “H = 18,6 cm; max. Breite (mit Henkeln) = 19,7 cm; max. Öffnung 11,2 cm, Dicke des Randes 0,9 cm; Höhe des Gefäßinnenraumes 16; Öffnung der Henkelösen ca. 0,8 cm.” It is not possible to calculate exactly the volume. A cylinder with a diameter of 11.2 cm and a height of 16 cm would have a volume of 1.58 litres. Since the diameter gets smaller towards the bottom we may expect a volume of roughly 1 litre or a little more. This is a possible volume for a small soup tureen, but big for a cup. But with their extraordinary décor the two vessels may be for the ceremonial use of a god like Enki.

Enki and the sign NUN

The second part of PA₄.SIG₇.NUN.ME is a semantic marker. NUN.ME has the reading abgal, a sort of priest or magician associated with Enki.Footnote ²³ NUN.ME is also part of the following complex writings:

The enkum and ninkum belong to the staff of Enki's temple. In the composition Innana and Enki they are among the mythical beings of Enki which attack the boat of Innana in vain from the water.Footnote ²⁵

The sign NUN is not exclusively but often associated with Enki. His cult place Eridu is written NUN^ki.Footnote ²⁶ Compare en-líl/É^ki for Nippur the cult place of Enlil, UTU.ÈŠ = Larsa,Footnote ²⁷ SES.ÈŠ = Ur (cf. SES^na = NANNA), perhaps [IN]NANA.ÈŠ = Zabalam,Footnote ²⁸ INNANA.ŠÉŠ (INNANA^šéš?) = Susa (Archaic Cities 30). Later IM(iškur)^ki = karkara^ki may be identical with Archaic Cites 26 IM×A = NÍ, which later merged with IM (Krebernik and Lisman Reference Krebernik and Lisman2020: 114 n. 352). From this it may be that Iškur was written NÍ in Uruk III. Archaic Cities 32f. NE.GI / KU₇/AB.SU is rendered as ^dNE.GI / ^dKU₇ in Tell Fāra.Footnote ²⁹ Compare also later NISABA^ki = éreš^ki, SÙD^ki = šuruppak^ki. The goddess ^ddam-gal-nun-na “great wife of the ‘nun’”, mentioned in connection with Eridu for the first time in the Zame-Hymns and probably mentioned in SF 1 from Tell Fāra,Footnote ³⁰ is Enki's wife. The list SF 7 begins with ^den-líl(É),Footnote ³¹ en-líl, ^dinnana, ^dinnana, nun, nun, ^dsùd, ^dsùd, ^dGIBIL₆,Footnote ^{32 d}GIBIL₆. SF 7 is not a god list, but mainly a list of signs in various combinations (Biggs Reference Biggs1974: 36). But the beginning is strikingly parallel to real god lists, with one exception. Compare ^den-líl, ^den-ki, ^dGIBIL₆ at the beginning of SF 5 and 6; an, ^den-líl, ^dinnana, ^den-ki SF 1 i 1–4. These and other texts show that in SF 7 nun is written for Enki, while other gods are not represented by an epithet.

That the god we know from later texts as Enki was known in Uruk III is probable from the fact that the text Archaic Cities mentions two times SU.AB, probably abzu, the name for temples of Enki and for his cosmic dwelling place beneath the earth.Footnote ³³ The notion of the Abzu and the relationship of Enki with the Abzu are very special concepts. It seems improbable that Enki has inherited the Abzu from another god. He is clearly mentioned for the first time in CUSAS 17, 104 a stone inscription from the beginning of the ED period. There he is mentioned several times and once between Enlil and Innana, which underlines that he was already a very important god.

Probably NUN was written for Enki in Uruk III. Whether nun was his old name or NUN could be read enki_x is not certain. Normally Sumerian gods have specific names not just “Lord”, “Lady”, “God” or the like. That is why it is less likely that “Prince” was written as a name.

ME can be read išib “purification priest” and is part of another sign for a priest: gudu₄.Footnote ³⁴ Standing alone NUN.ME can be read abgal. The word means a profession and can be used to designate a class of mythical beings. The abgals are often connected with Enki, Eridu, Enki's son Asarluḫi and are mentioned beside the enkum and ninkum.Footnote ³⁵ It is tempting to analyse the writing NUN.ME for abgal as a reference to the god Enki and the profession “priest” or better a professional for rituals concerning a deity. In this case it is not excluded that the profession can as well be performed in the realm of myths.

NUN.ME has its own line in Archaic Lú A and is used together with other signs four times. The sequence is very stable. There is no *ME.NUN and another sign is almost never inserted between the two.Footnote ³⁶

As a hypothesis we can explain combinations of NUN or ME with other signs in the same way in which we tried to explain NUN.ME. Compare Archaic Lú A 11 ÈŠ.ME, 58: MÙŠ.ME and 77: NUN.SAĜĜA where ÈŠ is probably a shrine or sanctuary,Footnote ³⁷ MÙŠ may stand for Innana or her temple and SAĜĜA for a high official, since at least later saĝĝa means the chief administrator of a temple. If we are right in comparing lines 58, 77 with NUN.ME, NUN seems to be interchangeable with a god or temple, ME with a sort of priest or a person with duties in a temple. If we compare EN.ME of line 63f. (engiz, endib) we have EN instead of NUN, which stands probably for a person of high rank, be he human or divine, perhaps Enlil. But since en/nin are separating enkum and ninkum another analysis seems more likely: ^enengiz_x(ME.GI), ^enendib_x(ME.MU). Since GI may be a phonetic markerFootnote ³⁸ and MU = muḫaldim “cook” a semantic marker, ME remains as a marker for “priest” or “personal of a temple”. That ME and NUN.ME are often used in Archaic Lú AFootnote ³⁹ points to a specific function as marker and in accordance with what we can say about nun and ME and about abgal, enkum, ninkum from later texts this may well be ME as a marker for a profession with connection to the divine or supernatural sphere and NUN as a marker for a relation to the more specific sphere of Enki. The only combination in which NUN is used without ME in Archaic Lú A is the mentioned NUN.SAĜĜA.

The chthonic character of Enki and Ea

But how can we connect the God Enki and his servant with two faces to someone “who is bringing the shoots forth”?

There is a god with a similar name: Pabilsaĝa < pa₍₄₎ (gi)bil saĝ-a(k) “first new twig”? He is the son of Enlil who was married – officially or not – to goddesses who had a connection with birth and fertility or with grain: Ninḫursaĝa/Nintur, Ninlil, daughter of Nunbaršegunu, Sud, daughter of Nisaba. From the Old Babylonian period onwards Pabilsaĝa merged with Ninurta, another son of Enlil who had a strong relation to agriculture.Footnote ⁴⁰

Isimu never developed a personality as a god independent from his master. That is why his characteristic and his name should be connected with Enki. That a god who is connected with knowledge, knowing everything has a servant who can look into two directions at the same time, is no surprise.Footnote ⁴¹ This fits Enki's character as the wise and tricky god. On the other hand we may also connect the two faces with the enigmatic god Enki whose character and intentions aren't always clear. A third explanation will be mentioned later.

In Innana and Enki the servants and monsters of Enki cannot attack the boat of Innana since Innana has advised her vizier Ninšubur to avoid contact with water. This and other texts show Enki as the god of water. But this is not precisely correct. He never brings the rain or commands the waves of the sea. He is connected with water on earth, in the earth and coming from the earth like the water coming out of his shoulders on some Sargonic seals. His Eridu was situated in the very south of Mesopotamia within the marshes where land and water are intertwined.

His name ^den-ki-(k/g) means “lord of the earth”.Footnote ⁴² This was obscured to modern scholars by the development /ki + ak/ > /kik/ > /kig/, which led to the idea that a word ki(-g) must be involved or that the name may not be Sumerian, since k of the genitive normally resists the development k > g in final position. But /kik/ must be an exception from this rule (which is itself an exception from k > g). This can be demonstrated with the example of the god ^dnin-MAR^ki(-k/g). As shown long ago the ki is not a determinative, but must be a phonetic indicator (Attinger Reference Attinger1995). There is no place-name MAR^ki attestedFootnote ⁴³ and a determinative ki is normally dropped if a place name is used in the name of a god. Compare ^dnin-ĝír-su, ^dnin-ì-si(-in)-na. One exception is ^dnin-ša^!-bu-nun^ki only mentioned once in IAS 83 iv 2’. In the following line the scribe wrote ^dnin-MAR^gi4 as did his colleague in IAS 84 ii’ 1’. IAS 83 and 84 are the only texts where the name is written with gi₄ and most probably this was intentional done to avoid confusion with the determinative ki.

A god who is providing water is of course also sustaining plants. On some seals this aspect is visualized by plants coming out from the water running from Enkis shoulders.Footnote ⁴⁴ But water is not the only element connecting Enki with the growth of plants. The other element is earth.

In Ur-Nanše 49 Enki provides a hole in the earth for the root of the reed.Footnote ⁴⁵ In Enki and the World Order the god is planting a tree in the Abzu.Footnote ⁴⁶ Enki also had a connection with burials. Irikagena describes the costs for a normal burial and a burial “in the reed of Enki” (gi ^den-ki-ka-ka).Footnote ⁴⁷ In Ebla ^den-ki is mentioned next to the chthonic god Rasap and a tradition sees even Nergal associated with Enki and Abzu.Footnote ⁴⁸ At least in texts about the local cult in Ebla the name stands probably for Ḥajju(m)/Ḥajja.Footnote ⁴⁹ The tertium comparationis between Enki and Ḥajju(m)/Ḥajja/Ea is very probably the chthonic character of the god combined with his general importance. The name comes from the Semitic root ḥjj “to live”.Footnote ⁵⁰ There is no verb at least with the meaning “to live” from this root in Akkadian,Footnote ⁵¹ but most probably the word ejum/eûm “grain”, “barley” has this root.Footnote ⁵² But the god made it as Ea to Mesopotamia. His partial identification with the great Sumerian god Enki may have helped him. He was also borrowed into the Sumerian pantheon as ḪajaFootnote ⁵³ and married with Nisaba, whose name was analysed as nin še-ba(-k) “lady of the grain allotments” (Selz Reference Selz, Behrens, Loding and Roth1989).

Fig. 5:

Ashmolean Cylinder Seal 1964.744, drawn by Diane Gurney, reproduced by editor (mw) from R.W. Hamilton, “A Sumerian Cylinder Seal with a Handle in the Ashmolean Museum”, Iraq 29/1 (1967) p. 35 fig. 1.

The sign NUN is the picture of a twig with fruits. A bowl from Ur,Footnote ⁵⁴ a trough and several seals from ḪafāǧīFootnote ⁵⁵ show a reed hut from which calves are emerging decorated with the sign NUN (compare fig. 5). All these artifacts are dated to Uruk III.Footnote ⁵⁶ The reed hut with NUN but without the calves is most probably the origin of the sign TÙR with the meaning tarbaṣu “cow pen”. It also found its way into the combination šà-tùr = šassūru “womb”. A similar sign, in which the NUN-emblem is replaced by something which might reflect an ear of corn TU_b and TU_c, was later used for writing the verb dú(-d) “to give birth”. The sign TU was also used in the name of the mother goddess but with the reading tur₅ as ^dnin-tur₅.Footnote ⁵⁷

In connection with the “birth-hut” NUN seems to be a symbol for fertility which is adding the fertility of plants to the fertility of animals. A possible assumption is that the word nun was already a common epithet of Enki or a forerunner of this god when writing was invented and that Enki was connected with growing plants and that this was the reason why a twig with fruits was chosen to write the word nun.Footnote ⁵⁸

Fertility means life but is connected with the earth where the dead are buried. In Greek mythology Demeter, Persephone, Hades and Gaia were connected with fertility and with the netherworld. In Mesopotamia a god may have had these two very different aspects as well. A clear example is ^dnin-ĝeš-zi-da “lord of the true tree”. He has to travel to the netherworld, that is to say he was not always there. But he is the son of the god of the netherworld Ninazu and takes the role of the ^(ĝeš)gu-za-lá kur-ra “chamberlain of the netherworld” and is associated with snakes and dragons. His wife in the Gudea tradition is ^dĝeštin-an-na “grapevine of heaven”, the sister of Dumuzi, who like Ninĝešzida is living in the two worlds.Footnote ⁵⁹ The name of his other wife is ^d(nin-)á-zi-mú-a translated by Jacobsen as “Branch grown out straight”.Footnote ⁶⁰ Sumerian á has the meaning “arm”, “wing”, “horn” etc. But the combination á-an(-na) (zú-lum-ma) means the branches of the date palm and brooms made from it.Footnote ⁶¹ She became the dub-sar-maḫ a-ra-li “chief scribe of the netherworld”Footnote ⁶² and the same is said of Ĝeštinana.Footnote ⁶³ The zi(-d) in the name may stand for “true”, “just”.

No text shows Enki dwelling among the dead in the netherworld and if he helps Innana and Enkidu to escape from the netherworld he does it from outside. But for the chthonic part of his character Enki does not have to go to the netherworld. He lives in his Abzu in the underground water.

For a god that helps the plants to grow a servant named “who brings shoots forth” is a good choice. Enki is connected with life and plants and that means with food. But his earth is as well the place where the dead are buried. This may explain the plot of the Adapa-Myth.Footnote ⁶⁴ Enki helps his servant Adapa, but he prevents him from consuming the heavenly food and water of life, so that Adapa doesn't achieve eternal life like the gods, but remains in the sphere of Enki: An explanation of why human beings are mortal.Footnote ⁶⁵ Seen in this way Enki is on both sides in the most important conflict with which mankind is confronted: life and death. And this may be another explanation why his servant has two faces.

Isimu and the Enkum, Ninkum were seen as somehow related at least from an Old Babylonian perspective. The writing of the Enkum, Ninkum take the PA₄ from Isimu and EZEN×KASKAL is added from their writing to Isimu while in ED Lú A the different writings stand side by side. In ED Lú A the writings have two elements in common the NUN.ME probably a general marker of a priest or a priest of Enki and SIG₇.

Above we have discussed the possibility that PA₄ stands for “twig”. But there seems to be a striking parallel, the name Papsukkal the vizier of Zababa (later of Ištar), which is obviously a combination of pab “oldest brother” and sukkal (Old Babylonian Sumerian more likely sugal₇) “vizier”, “messenger”. Papsukkal is the servant of a god, like Isimu. Isimu seems to be the most important of Enki's servants, the one next to his chief, and pab could express just this. But “who brings the shoots forth” has the stronger evidence on its side, since it explains not only the writing but the spelling of the name as well and can be connected with the chthonic character of Enki.

There remains one unexplained element in the writing of the name Isimu: SIG₇, which is used in the writing of enkum, ninkum as well. There is a profession SIG₇ probably “plucker”,Footnote ⁶⁶ but this does not help.

Just before the entry enkum ED Lú A has NIĜIR.SIG₇.Footnote ⁶⁷ It may be read niĝir-úgur “field herald”. It may be the older title of the niĝir-MAR.TU “the herald of the nomads” contrasted by niĝir-sila “herald of the streets”.Footnote ⁶⁸ The Ebla Sign-list (Archi Reference Archi1987) gives the sign name of SIG₇ as ù-ga-lum. In Ebla [l] may be used instead of [r] and with later readings úgur, ukur₅ we come to ugar_x as already proposed by Archi.Footnote ⁶⁹ The Ebla Sign-list takes the signs from ED Lú A but the entries are not meant as commentaries explaining ED Lú A. There are no translations and the readings are with Semitic suffixes as it is the common praxis for the names of simple signs from Old Babylonian onwards.Footnote ⁷⁰ Combinations of signs which are essential for the understanding of ED Lú A are normally not explained and it is doubtful if the scribes of Ebla understood a list with Sumerian terms most of them not used in Ebla and many even out of use in contemporary Sumer. From the composite writing for enkum and ninkum (= EN/NIN.SIG₇.NUN.ME.EZEN×KASKAL) the sign EZEN is rendered as ì-zi-núm and NIN as ù-ru-šúm according the reading ereš/urus in the Ebla Sign-list. This does not help the understanding of the combination, even if we suggest that the later interpretation as ninkum is wrong.Footnote ⁷¹ In the case of NIĜIR.SIG₇ the sign name from Ebla could deliver the right reading and understanding of the second sign. Compare ^a-gàrLAGAB×SIG₇ = ugāru “field” Ea I 76; Aa I/2, 252 (MSL 14, 180; 215).

A “field herald” may be deduced from a confusing entry in the canonical Lú Ša: niĝir-a-šà-g[a], niĝír-si = susapinnu “paranymph” (MSL 12, 126, 66f.). The paranymph is written niĝir-si already on the Ušumgal Stela (ED IIIa or older).Footnote ⁷² The first entry may be the result of some confusion of SIG₇ = si₁₂, úgur and NIĜIR.SIG₇ and niĝir-si (niĝír instead of niĝir is not problematic).

But a better solution exists. There is a god ^dniĝir-sig₇ mentioned as captain (énsi) of Enki's boat in Enki and the World Order 113; 184. There is a big gap of time between Archaic Ur ED Lú AFootnote ⁷³ and Old Babylonian EWO. But the field herald is not attested beyond doubt and NIĜIR.SIG₇ is mentioned in Archaic Cities and ED Cities,Footnote ⁷⁴ where some deities are mentioned and ED Lú A mentions after NIĜIR.SIG₇ two priests, both later connected with Enki and all three have the sign SIG₇ as does from ED I/II onwards Isimu. There is no other explanation for the unique name ^dniĝir-sig₇ in EWO. Even if we deny a relation with NIĜIR.SIG₇ in Lú A, the name of Enki's captain strengthens the hypothesis that the sign SIG₇ can express something related to Enki.

The sign SIG₇ = IGI-gunû is derived from igi “eye”. Like its Akkadian equivalent warqu(m) it can mean the colour of things which we would describe as blue, green or yellow. The colour green is in the middle. Green is often the colour of eyes and of course the colour of green fields and of new shoots.

Richter (Reference Richter2004: 94f.) discusses some divine names with the sign SIG₇ connected with Enki, including ^dnin-sig₇ used for Ea/Enki himself.Footnote ⁷⁵ We may also allude to: nam-^ĝešĝešpa galam-ma-na ^den-ki-ke₄ é-e ul ba-ni-in-sig₇-ga “Enki has let blossoms blossom at the temple by his cunning spell”Footnote ⁷⁶ Ur-Namma B 19; en sig₇-ga ^den-ki “the lord who lets blossom, Enki” Hymn for Šu-Suen 25. This shows that sig₇ can be used as a causative or factitive respectively “to let become green”, “causing to thrive/blossom”. And the acting god is Enki. Therefor SIG₇ can be linked to the meaning of the name Isimu. And we may assume that the enkum and ninkum are meant as other servants of Enki connected with plants. There seemed to be a festival EZEN_b SIG₇ NUN mentioned in two texts.Footnote ⁷⁷ It is tempting to see it as a festival of Enki like Innana had her festivals. But the evidence currently still seems insufficient for a conclusion like this.

EZEN×KASKAL is the better documented but probably younger writing for EZEN+ŠE.Footnote ⁷⁸ The same sign EZEN_b, looks like a knotFootnote ⁷⁹ or one pearl on a string and stands for “(religious) festival” (Englund Reference Englund, Bauer, Englund and Krebernik1998, 127). EZEN_b is also used in the three entries after which at the beginning of the ED period Isimu and the two musicians were inserted (see above), which strengthens the argument for the meaning festival or feast. Festival + grain and the supposed later meaning of enkum as “treasurer of a temple”, may lead to the idea that they gave something out during or for the festival, but there is nothing in the economic texts that could prove such an idea. Starting in some Old Babylonian texts EZEN×KASKAL was added to the name Isimu probably taken from enkum, ninkum. There are a lot of variants like BÀD “wall” instead of EZEN×KASKALFootnote ⁸⁰ showing that many if not all scribes did not understand the reasons behind the complex writings, but were only confused.

Enki appears depicted together with Isimu for the first time on Sargonic seals. While Enki is sometimes depicted with plants growing from his water streams, Isimu shows no affiliation with plants. The only other attendants of Enki depicted there are the Laḫama of the Abzu holding screen posts.Footnote ⁸¹

Isimu and Ara and the divine status of Isimu

According to An Anum (cited above) there is another vizier or another name of the vizier of Enki: ^dara(ŠA). He is first mentioned in Proto-Lú as the last one in a row of priests connected with Enki and written with NUN.ME etc.: enkum, ninkum, abgal, ^ábabrig(NUN.ME.DU), ara˹^us-mu˺, MUNUS ara, sáĝĝa, sáĝĝa-maḫ Proto-Lu 245–52 (MSL 12, 41f.). But ara is written without divine determinative and not among gods and there is a female ara.Footnote ⁸² Both are mentioned in the much later canonical Lú Ša IV 114f. ^{d a.ra}ŠA, MUNUS ^dŠA = us-mu-u, us-mi-tu (MSL 12, 132), after u₆-di(-gal) and before maḫḫû “ecstatic”. Before u₆-di, which may mean something like “seer”, mēzû a rare expression for “brewer” is mentioned. We may cautiously conclude that u₆-di is one who makes prophecies after drinking alcohol or taking other drugs and that the male and female Ara are depicted with a second face since they can see hidden things or things in the future. But the association must not be very close, it could be triggered by the equation “4 eyes = good sight” without a more specific relation between u₆-di and Ara. Isimu is not mentioned in Proto-Lú and Lú Ša. It seems that Ara is not just another name of Isimu but designated another group of persons or supernatural beings at one point associated with Enki and Isimu. There is no clear solution which could explain the name Ara and its writing.Footnote ⁸³

The word usmû is probably a loan from Isimu. There is a god ^dus-mu-u (Litke Reference Litke1998: 102) and a nisba with -ī, fem. -īt: usmû/usumû, usmītu “someone who has two faces”. That the final d is not preserved in Usmû, is no surprise since it is also missing in glosses to the Sumerian name. One can compare anzu(d) > anzû, ^ddumu-zi(d) > Tammūz. Vowel harmony is more common in Sumerian than in Akkadian and a change from isimu to *usumu may have taken place in spoken Sumerian. If a series of three syllables begins with two short syllables the reduction of the middle vowel is with some exceptions normal in Akkadian.Footnote ⁸⁴

The names of Sumerian as of Semitic gods in Akkadian contexts are normally attested in the absolute state. There are a few exceptions like Anum, Antum, Nabû, but normally a case ending means that this being isn't seen as a god or seen as a god of very low status. The god Usmû is not found in the absolutive. Compare [a-n]a ^dus-mi-i Enūma eliš V 83. The heads on the above-mentioned ED I/II vessels probably showing Isimu or Ara do not wear the horned crown of the gods, but the horned crown was possibly developed later (Calmeyer Reference Calmeyer, Finkbeiner, Dittmann and Hauptmann1995: 51). When mentioned in ED I/II, IIIa and in ED Lú A from Ebla (ED IIIb) he is written without the divine determinative. On Sargonic seals and on the fragment of a stela of the time of Gudea he wears the horned crown of the gods.Footnote ⁸⁵ In texts he appears again in the Old Babylonian period and is from that time onwards written with the divine determinative. But he isn't mentioned in any real god list earlier than An Anum, where his name is found among more than two thousand names. No priest or temple of his is known, his name is not attested as theophoric element in personal names in MesopotamiaFootnote ⁸⁶ and no family relation with any other god or goddess is mentioned. With his two faces he is not fully anthropomorphic and his physical appearance evokes his role in the service of Enki/Ea. This may have contributed to his low status, while the vizier of Enlil, Nuska, and the vizier of Innana, Ninšubur, had a higher rank. Thus it is no surprise that even his name reflects only something he may do on command of his chthonic master, i.e. allowing the growth of green shoots, and not an individual quality peculiar to him.