Position in chronology
A hymn to Nisaba (Nisaba A)
Written in modern English
Nisaba blazes like the stars, holding a lapis-lazuli tablet. Born of Uraš, nourished on good milk among sacred alkaline plants, she opens her mouth to speak across seven reeds. Endowed with fifty divine powers, she is the most mighty presence in the E-kur temple — a dragon rising in splendor at the festival, a mother goddess shaped from clay, cooling the land and pouring fine oil across foreign countries, her wisdom fathered by Enlil himself. She is the good woman, An's chief scribe, Enlil's record-keeper, the sage of the gods.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLLady coloured like the stars of heaven, holding (3 mss. have instead: perfectly endowed with) a lapis-lazuli tablet! Nisaba, great wild cow born by Urac, wild sheep nourished on good milk among holy alkaline plants, opening the mouth for seven ...... reeds! Perfectly endowed with fifty great divine powers, my lady, most powerful in E-kur! Dragon emerging in glory at the festival, Aruru (mother goddess) of the Land, ...... from the clay, calming ...... (1 ms. has instead: the region with cool water), lavishing fine oil (3 mss. have instead: plenty) on the foreign lands, engendered in wisdom by the Great Mountain (Enlil)! Good woman, chief scribe of An, record-keeper of Enlil, wise sage of the gods!
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.16.1 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.4.16.1: A hymn to Nisaba (Nisaba A). 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.4.16.1.
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