amurdinnum

Akkadian

Etymology

Unknown. Henry Ludwig Fr. Lutz opted to read the sign 𒄯 with the common value ḫar instead of mur, requiring one occurrence containing mu-ur- as referring to another plant, and deems the remainder to render Arabic *أَخُو أَرْضٍ (*ʔaḵū ʔarḍin, literally “earth brother”). This seems out of question since we realize that the modern value [dˤ], now transcribed superficially similarly ḍ, was in antiquity a voiced alveolar lateral fricative [ɮˤ]. Neither afford مَرْد (mard, “toothbrush-tree fruits”) thorns, as behoves by the Akkadian descriptions, or Arabic in general any transferrable ending. The structure hints to an Anatolian loanword with a privative a.

Pronunciation

• (Old Babylonian) IPA^(key): /a.murˈdin.num/

Noun

amurdinnum m (El-Amarna, Standard Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian)

1. The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:

   Synonym: 𒌑𒄉 (ašāgum)

   1. bramble, blackberry
   2. boxthorn
   3. manna tree, Alhagi maurorum
   4. jujube
2. a disease of the eyes

Alternative forms

• amurdinnu, murdinnu (Standard Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian)

Cuneiform spellings

Logograms	Phonetic
𒄑𒃾𒄈 (GIŠ.GEŠTIN.GIR₂) 𒄑𒃾𒄈𒊏 (GIŠ.GEŠTIN.GIR₂.RA)	𒀀𒄯𒁷𒉡 (a-mur-din-nu) 𒄯𒁷𒉡 (mur-din-nu) 𒄯𒁲𒉡 (mur-di-nu) 𒈬𒌨𒋾𒅔𒉡 (mu-ur-ti-in-nu) 𒄯𒋾𒉡 (mur-ti-nu)

Further reading

• Thompson, Reginald Campbell (1941) Cyril John Gadd, editor, A Dictionary of Assyrian Botany‎^[2], London: The British Academy, published 1949, page 330
• “amurdinnu”, in The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD)‎^[3], volume 1, A, part 2, Chicago: University of Chicago Oriental Institute, 1968, pages 90b–91a