ṭabtum

Akkadian

Etymology

Possibly related to Proto-Semitic *ṭāb- (“good, pleasant, tasty, palatable”), either in the sense of taste or from the use of salt in preservation of meat allowing it to remain edible; other Semitic cognates suggest it is the former as they typically denote incense, spices, fragrances and scents, i.e. things pleasing to the senses. Compare also Arabic مَلِيح (malīḥ, literally “salty”) reversely developing to mean “well” in the dialects.

Pronunciation

• (Old Babylonian) IPA^(key): /ˈtˤab.tum/

Noun

ṭabtum f (pronominal state ṭabta)

1. salt

Alternative forms

• ṭabtu (non-mimated form)

Cuneiform spellings

Logograms	Phonetic
𒁵 (MUN)	𒁕𒀊𒌈 (ṭa-ab-tum)

Derived terms

• ṭabtiš

 

Related terms

• ša ṭabtim (“salt dealer”)