A Cow of Sîn'A Cow of Sîn' is an Akkadian incantation for a woman in childbirth. It contains a small mythological narrative (about 20 lines) about the moongod and his beloved cow, Geme-Sîn. Sîn falls in love with his cow and impregantes her. When at the end of her pregnancy the birth-pangs begin, Sîn hears her cries in heaven. Two helping spirits descend to earth and perform a ritual to ease the birth. The incantation ends with a supplication: may this woman give birth as easily as Geme-Sîn. Veldhuis presents the various versions of the text and offers a literary analysis which takes into account the poetic and pragmatic aspects of the incantation. This study is meant both for the Assyriologist and for anyone interested in Akkadian literature. |
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Common terms and phrases
adverbial clauses Akkadian AN-e ardatum arhu Babylonian būru calf comparison Cow of Sîn cuneiform daughters of Anu Dijk DIŠ-et dittography double entendre dXXX ekdu EN.ZU.NA gave birth normally Geme-Sîn GEME2 Gi-Sîn girl in labour grammatical gud AB2 heard her screaming heaven herd boys herdsman i-na ilida ilput šaman pūri īmuršima incantational structure irāmši išši ištamme kala zumrīša kima labour give birth Lamassus Lamaštu Lambert lexeme lilid littu logographic lushest grasses magical ceremony manuscript me-e ha-li Mesopotamian mounted the cow namru Nannāru narrative našât Neo-Assyrian nu-ru-ub oil-from-the-jar pa-an paradox of birth parallel phonemes present preterit reading repetition ritual ša Sîn ša₂ šaman pūri screaming in labour sentence šerra Sîn saw šitta sound pattern sprinkled her whole stative Stol story subsection Sumerian supplication tablet texture touched her forehead translation ūmēša ušappala verb phrase verbal forms versions water-of-labour wild bull mounted woman in childbirth woman in labour word