Position in chronology
The song of the lettuce: a balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana E): composite text
Translation · reference
High confidenceHe has sprouted, he has burgeoned, he is well-watered lettuce, my shaded garden of the desert, richly flourishing, his mother's favourite (1 ms. has instead:) he is well-watered lettuce; my grain lovely in beauty in its furrows, he is well-watered lettuce; my first-class fruitful apple tree, he is well-watered lettuce. The honey man, the honey man will make me sweet; my lord, the honey man of a goddess, his mother's favourite, whose hands are honey, whose feet are honey, will make me sweet, whose limbs are honey-sweet, will make me sweet. Navel! My altogether immediately sweet, my favourite of his mother! Beautiful thighs, raised arms! My ......, he is well-watered lettuce.
Source: ETCSL c.4.08.05: The song of the lettuce: a balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana E): composite text. 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.4.08.05
Why it matters
Transliteration
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.08.05 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.4.08.05: The song of the lettuce: a balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana E):
composite text. 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.4.08.05.
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