A Study of Women's Theophoric Personal Names in the Old Babylonian Texts from Mart
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A STUDY OF WOMEN'S THEOPHORIC PERSONAL NAMES IN THE OLD BABYLONIAN TEXTS FROM MART Ichiro NAKATA* An analysis of women's theophoric personal names in the Old Babylonian Mani texts shows that they favored a group of deities and name types different from those of men. Of course, they shared common features with those of men, but the differences are striking. 1. Preliminary Remarks The scope of this study is limited to the theophoric personal names culled from the personal names indexed in Archives Royales de Magi (hereafter ARM) XVI/1 (1979), XXI (1983), XXII (1983), XXIII (1984), XXIV (1985), XXV (1986), XXVI/1-2 (1988) and XXVII (1993). For con- venience's sake, we call the collection of these personal names our "corpus" in this study. We acknowledge our great indebtedness to the respective editors of these volumes.(1) We assume that the popularity of a deity among the men or the women in an area was reflected in the frequency of the deity's appearance in personal names of men or of women in the area,(2) though we still do not know the exact mechanism of choosing a deity for a theophoric personal name. The best way to measure the popularity of a deity would thus be to count the number of the individuals in whose names that particular deity appears. However, since it is often difficult to differentiate among individuals of the same name, we have to be content with second best, namely counting the number of different name types in which that particular deity is invoked. The piety and concerns of men and women of the world of Mani texts are reflected, we believe, in their name types.(3) It would be ideal if the popularity of a particular name type could be based on the calculation that each name type is found in the names of so many different individuals, but, again, this is not always possible because of the reason given above. We * Professor, Chuo University, Tokyo. 234 ORIENT A STUDY OF WOMEN'S THEOPHORIC PERSONAL NAMES IN THE OLD BABYLONIAN TEXTS...... therefore would like to take recourse to the concept of "productivity" of a name type.(4) The productivity of a name type is based on the number of the different deities that are invoked in that particular name type. In the following we would like to limit our discussions to the name types that appear with more than three different deities in the women's personal names of our corpus. Although this is a case study of women's theophoric personal names found in just the Old Babylonian Mani texts, it should be noted that some of the findings of this study will also hold true in the broader world of Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian period. For the sake of brevity, only one textual reference will be given for each of the personal names mentioned in this study. 2. Deities Popularly Invoked in Women's Personal Names The two most popular deities appearing in women's theophoric personal names are Annu (f[emale]) and Estar (f). Annu appears in forty-eight differ- ent name types,(5) while Estar appears in forty-one.(6) Etar is a well-known goddess of love and war(7) and, jointly with Ishara, seems to have been associated with marriage and midwifery in the Mesopotamian tradition.(8) However, Annu is still a deity of unknown nature, though there now seems to be a consensus among scholars about her sex.(9) Annu appears almost exclusively in women's names, while Estar is popularly invoked in men's names as well. The third most popular deity is the goddess Ishara, who is invoked in twenty-two different women's name types.(10) Ishara is known by various epithets,(11) but her popularity in the women's names of the Mani texts may be ascribed to her association with marriage and midwifery reflected in such literary texts as Atra-hasis I 301-304, an Old Babylonian version of Gilgamesh Epic(12) and an Old Akkadian incantation involving Ir'emum, "(personified) love-magic," which is to be recited in the names of manna/ Estar and Ishara.(13) Then come a group of three deities, namely Mamma (f), Admu (f) and Kakka (f). Mamma, who is spelled either dma-ma or dma-am-ma in the Mani personal names,(14) appears in sixteen different women's name types.(15) This Mamma should most probably be equated with the divine midwife, dma-mi/dma- Vol. XXX-XXXI 1995 235 ma(16) in Atra-hasis, 1193 and 246. Admu appears in fifteen different name types for women.(17) However, Admu's appearance in the Mari texts is limited to personal names except in one offering list (T. 142)(18) dated to the sakkanakku period and is very rarely attested elsewhere. Not much can be said about the nature of the deity apart from her sex. Among the various suggestions regarding her nature,(19) we note with special interest W. G. Lambert's comment, based on the lexical text, AN=Anum vi 13, that Admu is a spouse of Nergal, a Netherworld god.(20) The view that Admu is a female deity can further be supported by her appearances in such personal names as Admu-ummi ("Admu is my mother"), Admu-halsa ("Admu is the fortress [feminine]") and Admu-isha ("Admu is the help [feminine]"). Kakka is invoked in fifteen different name types for women.(21) In the Old Babylonian period Kakka rarely appears outside the world of the Mari texts. Even in the Mani texts the deity's appearance is limited to personal names. We think that Kakka is also a female deity because of the deity's "equation" with such goddesses as Ninkarrak (CT 25, 3:55)(22) and Ninsubur (CT 24, 20:21).(23) This is further strengthened by Kakka's appearances in such personal names as Kakka-asiya ("Kakka is the〔female〕physician") and Kakka-isha ("Kakka is the help [feminine]").(24) The use of himtu employed with Kakka to form a personal name sheds some light on another aspect of the deity, because himtu ("glowing of fire/fever") is used, in Mani personal names of our corpus, only with Irra, Malik, Samas and Addu, the first two of which are associated with the Netherworld.(25) Next to these six deities in popularity come another group of five, namely Aya (f), Dagan, Samas, Tabubu (f), and Ea. Tabubu aside, all the deities are well-known members of the Babylonian pantheon. Aya, spelled da-a, da-ia or a-ia, is the divine consort of Samas and appears in ten different women's name types.(26) It is quite possible that Aya may be hidden in some of the names in which Ea, which can be pronounced 'a-a, is in- voked.(27) Dagan, the supreme deity of the Middle Euphrates region, appears in ten different women's name types(28) Samas, the solar deity of justice, also appears in ten different name types for women.(29) About Tabubu not much is known, but names such as Tabubu-bahla ("Tabubu is the lady"), Tabubu-lamassi ("Tabubu is my female guardian angel"), Tabubu-sarra ("Tabubu is the queen") and Tabubu-ummi ("Tabubu is my mother") show 236 ORIENT A STUDY OF WOMEN'S THEOPHORIC PERSONAL NAMES IN THE OLD BABYLONIAN TEXTS...... that Tabubu is a female deity. Tabubu is invoked in nine different name types for women.(30) Ea, the god of wisdom, is invoked in eight different name types for women.(31) This group of five deities are in turn followed by three other deities, Nan(n)a (f), Nunu (f?) and Sin. Nan(n)a, variously spelled na-an-na (cf. Si- na-an-na in ARM 13, 1 i 19), na-na (cf. ma-at-qu-na-na in RA 65, p. 60, B iii 33), dn[a-a]n-ni (A. Parrot〔ed.〕, Studia Mariana, Leiden, 1950, p. 43) and dna-ni (ARM 7, 43, 2), probably appears in six different name types for women.(32) The exclusive appearance of this deity in the women's personal names including Nanni-sarra ("Nanni is the queen") shows that deity is feminine, as was suggested by J. J. M. Roberts.(33) Nunu, always spelled dnu-nu in the Mani texts, appears in six different women's name types.(34) This divine name is known in Mani and elsewhere but only through its appearances in personal names.(35) A view was expressed by J. J. M. Roberts that this deity is a deification of the power of the fish of the sweet-water lagoons, but this view still has to be confirmed.(36) Judging from the deity's popularity in women's names, though her popularity is not limited to women's names, and her appearance in,the name-type D[ivine]N[ame](f)-usri ("Watch〔me〕, O DN 〔f〕"),(37) Nunu is probably a female deity. Sin is also invoked in six different women's name types.(38) For the remaining deities, thirty-five in all, that appear in the women's personal names, see Chart 1. 3. Comparison of the Deities Popular in Women's Personal Names with Those Popular in Men's First, women's theophoric personal names in the Mani texts show a clear preference for female deities. This confirms the earlier observations made by A. T. Clay(39) and J. J. Stamm on Akkadian personal names in general.(40) Of forty-nine deities appearing in women's personal names twenty-six (53.1%) are female deities, while of one hundred sixteen deities appearing in the men's personal names twenty-seven (23.3%) are female (See Chart 2).