Position in chronology
A balbale to Nanna (Nanna D)
Written in modern English
The cattle are as countless as blades of grass pushing up through the soil. Nanna's herds are that vast. Their — something, the surface is damaged — shines like translucent lapis lazuli; something else about them is the color of the rising moon. The cows with their calves are precious as cuba stone. He who loves the cows drives them into the pen and rounds up the herd. He has dedicated his great cows to her, and seven churns — one manuscript adds the word 'small' — ring out with sweet butter made for her. Their butter is holy butter; their milk is holy milk.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLThey are as numerous, as numerous as the grasses which break through the earth. Nanna, in the ...... they are as numerous as the grasses which break through the earth. Their ...... are translucent lapis lazuli. Their ...... are the colour of the rising moon. The cows with their calves are numerous and are precious cuba stone. ...... built and ...... together. In their ...... he chooses ....... He who loves the cows herds them into the pen. ...... who loves the cows rounds up the cows. He has ...... his great cows for her, and their butter ....... Seven (1 ms. adds: small) churns resound with ...... and sweet butter for her. ...... their butter is holy butter, their milk is holy milk.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.13.04 in the ETCSL catalogue. Sumerian literary text reconstructed from multiple cuneiform manuscripts, the great majority Old Babylonian (c. 1900–1600 BCE). Translation reproduced from the ETCSL edition.
Attribution
Image: .
Translation excerpted from ETCSL c.4.13.04: A balbale to Nanna (Nanna D). Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E. & Zólyomi, G. (eds.), The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.4.13.04.
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