6.1419, Sum: Mesopotamian star/constellation names

[The Linguist List]

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-6-1419. Fri Oct 13 1995. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines:  85
 
Subject: 6.1419, Sum: Mesopotamian star/constellation names
 
Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. <aristar at tam2000.tamu.edu>
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---------------------------------Directory-----------------------------------
1)
Date:  Fri, 13 Oct 1995 12:33:17 -0101
From:  rscook at world.std.com (Richard S Cook)
Subject:  Mesopotamian Star/Constellation Names
 
---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
1)
Date:  Fri, 13 Oct 1995 12:33:17 -0101
From:  rscook at world.std.com (Richard S Cook)
Subject:  Mesopotamian Star/Constellation Names
 
Anyone with information on specific etymological studies of Mesopotamian
star/constellation names, or with titles of comparative studies of Greek
and Mesopotamian star/constellation names is still invited to respond to
this query.
 
I have assembled quite a long bibliography of things tangentially related
to Mesopotamian constellation names, and anyone interested may request it
from me.
 
Titles specifically related to my query with regard to Mesopotamian
star/constellation name etymologies were not forthcoming, directly.  But
working between several sources I have been able to work up the
beginnings of an analysis myself.
 
 
As far as I have been able to ascertain, for Mesopotamian star and
constellation NAMES there are two principal sources:
 
***Hermann Hunger and David Pingree.  MUL.APIN : an astronomical
compendium in cuneiform / by Hermann Hunger and David Pingree. PUB. INFO:
Horn, Austria : F. Berger, 1989. DESCRIPTION: 164 p., xxviii p. of plates
: ill. ; 30 cm. SERIES: Archiv fur Orientforschung. Beiheft
 
***Erica Reiner, in collaboration with David Pingree.  Babylonian
planetary omens  PUB. INFO: Malibu, Calif. : Undena Publications, 1975-
DESCRIPTION: v.    : ill. ; 28 cm. SERIES: Bibliotheca Mesopotamica ; v.
2, fasc. 1-2. SUBJECTS: *S1 Akkadian language--Texts. *S2 Astronomy,
Assyro-Babylonian. *S3 Omens.
 
For ETYMOLOGIES of these names one must consult the various Sumerian
dictionaries, some of which are more accessible than others:
 
The most accessible of these is in French, and is now in its seventh
edition, available from the publisher for about $75 in the US.  This
volume is a very adequate formal treatment of the Sumero-Akkadian signs
for beginners, and also contains an appendix of star/constellation names,
some of which lie outside the scope of the above cited sources:
 
***Labat, Ren, Manuel d' Epigraphie Akkadienne(Signs,
Syllabaire,Idogrammes) Sixieme Edition Augmentee d'Addenda par Florence
Malbran-Labat, Libraire Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, S.A., Paris 1988.
 
For more in-depth research one must consult the larger works, hopefully
in your research library.  One of these, a three-volume set, is in print
and available from Eisenbrauns (for example) for $700.  There are of
course other titles, longer and ongoing efforts, to which a specialist
will be better qualified to direct you.
 
***Soden, Wolfram von, 1908- TITLE: Akkadisches Handworterbuch : unter
Benutzung des lexikalischen Nachlasses von Bruno Meissner (1868-1947) /
bearbeitet von Wolfram von Soden. EDITION: 2., um Hinweise auf die
Nachtrage verm. Aufl. PUB. INFO: Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 1985.
DESCRIPTION: 3 v. (xvi, 1592 p.) 30 cm.
SUBJECTS: *S1 Akkadian language--Dictionaries--German.
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