PAX HETHITICA

STUDIES ON THE HITTITES AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS

IN HONOUR OF ITAMAR SINGER
 Studien zu den Boazky-Texten
Herausgegeben von der Kommission fr den Alten Orient
der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz
Band 51

Pax Hethitica
Studies on the Hittites and their Neighbours
in Honour of Itamar Singer

Edited by
Yoram Cohen, Amir Gilan,
and Jared L. Miller

2010

Harrassowitz Verlag . Wiesbaden

The Institutional Poverty of Hurrian Diviners and entanni-Women
Harry A. Hoffner, Jr. (University of Chicago)

In the course of my continuing work of revising drafts of dictionary articles for the CHD, I
came across a note I made in 1972 while I was a guest of Prof. Heinrich Otten at the Boazky
Archiv in Marburg, Germany. It referred to part of an unpublished ritual fragment at that time
in Berlin, but now returned to Turkey, where it is conserved in the Eski Anadolu Medeniyetleri
Mzesi in Ankara. After its return to Turkey, publication rights to Bo 4952 were assigned to
Prof. Sedat Alp. Upon his death, Alps share of the unpublished pieces was divided up, and it
is not known to me who now possesses the publication rights to Bo 4952. In any event, it is
not the intent of the present article to publish the fragment per se. No photo or cuneiform copy
accompanies this paper. What I hope to do is merely to transliterate and interpret its contents
based upon Ottens file card, itself based upon an old Ehelolf field transliteration provided to
me by Prof. Gernot Wilhelm, and two excellent photos made recently in Ankara by Prof. Jared
Miller, which will not be published here but merely used to establish readings.
Although one might think that a mere fragment of a ritual tablet would hold no special
interest for our honoree, it will become apparent that this one does. For not only does it
give information for the first time about the requirement of entry into the classes of Hittite
diviners and entanni-womenthe latter especially poorly understoodbut its interpretation
is greatly helped by legal documents from Emar that the honoree himself had a significant role
in clarifying. The text also supports the interpretation of the term (L/MUNUS)ianittar(a)- as
referring to a relative by marriage, but more specifically a parental relative by marriage. In
the process a new lexeme in the semantic range of poverty was discovered, a lexeme which
could have an Indo-European etymology.
May Professor Singer be pleased with this small token of my deepest admiration for his
many important contributions to the field of Hittitology and ancient Near Eastern history.
Bo 4952
i1 []x-x1 na-an LA[ZU?]
2 []x GIBANUR AD.KID da-a-i
3 [-i]a? ku-e A-NA MUEN
4 [] 1? NINDA.KU7-ia BA.BA.ZA tar-na-a
5 [GI]BANUR AD.KID-ia-a-a-an da-a-i

6 [o o o MUEN] 1? [NINDA.K]U7? A-NA EN.SISKUR pa-ra-a da-a-i

7 [nu?-u?-a?-an? ma]-a-a-an EN.SISKUR A-NA MUEN
8 [1 NINDA.KU7-ia] pa-ra-a a-li-ga-ri al-li-i-ma-an

1 Traces could be I.A.

 The Institutional Poverty of Hurrian Diviners and entanni-Women 215

9 [MUNUSen]-ta2-an-ni-i U-an e-ep-zi nu ki-i-a-an

10 [te-ez] -zi

11 [o o o (o) -i]-wa-za nu-wa-kn ma-a-an A-NA MUNUSen-ta-an-ni

12 [a-a-ar-a]-na-ta i-ia-an ar-i
13 [na-a-ma-w]a-kn A-NA LAZU a-a-ar-a-na-ta
14 i-ya-an3 ar-i az-za-ga-tal-li-i 4-wa-ra-at
15 [a-a-r]i ?-ia-tal-li-i 5-wa-ra-at

16 LAL-wa-za A-BI-U -UL i-ia-zi

17 nu-wa-kn me-na-a-a-an-da A DINGIR-L NINDA.GUR4.RA
18 u-ke-ez-zi i-nu-ra-an-za-wa-ra-a L GITUKUL

19 MUNUSen-ta-an-ni-i-wa-za MUNUSi-a-ni-it-ta-ra-a -er

20 [-U]L i-ia-zi nu-wa-za-kn p-ra-an a-ra-a
21 [A DING]IR-L ud-da-a-ar ar-zi nu-wa-ra-a-kn UN-a ! u[d ?- 6 da-]7
22 [o o -]u?8-i-ke-ez-z[i i?-nu?-r]a9 -an-za-wa-ra-a MUNUS .GE4[-a]
(break)

iv 3' [ SG S]A5 SG ZA.GN la-ak-[ku?-a?-an?-za?-ni?-]

4' DUB.3.KAM QA-TI

5' [ma-a-]a?-an?-za? [SIS]KUR? en?-ta-a-i-ia-an-za
6' [o o a-an-t]e-ez-zi pal-i i-pa-an-[ti 10]
7' [EGIR?-U?-ma? o-]x-E-na LAZU
8' [i?-pa?-an?-ti?] 11

2 The field transcription (FT) indicates the -ta- was still visible. The photo shows it no longer is.
3 So the FT. The photo shows now only extremely faint traces in the subsurface which are compatible with
i-ia-an, but not definitive. In any event, this is the reading one expects.
4 This word was incorrectly copied by Jakob-Rost (1972: 60) from the FT as ar-za-ga-tal-li-i, leading to
others repeating the error; cf. HW2 : 1011 and Fuscagni (2007: 87). Both the photo and the Mainz file
card read correctly az-za-ga-tal-li-i, the nom. pl. of a nomen agentis in -(a)t(t)alla- (GrHL 2.32 and
2.55), based upon the imperfective stem azzake-, a permissible variant (see HED E: 318 and GrHL 6.2)
of the usual writing azzik(k)e-, to eat (GrHL 1.81).
5 The trace is a final vertical, allowing also the readings [o-o-o-l]i-ia-tal-li-i-, [o-o-o-k]i-ia-tal-li-i-, [o-o-
o(-)]u-ia-tal-li-i-, [-i-u-r]i-ia-tal-li-i, [opp]ressors.
6 Beginning of the intercolumnium.
7 Or: u[d-da-na-a -UL], if quite a bit more was written in the intercolumnium.
8 Or [o o (-)t]i ?-i-ke-ez-zi.
9 There is insufficient room in the lacuna for the single marker wedge which occurs above in line 18.
10 [-ti] written in the intercolumnium.
11 A final short line is possible, as there is room in a break, but very likely nothing more was written beyond
line 7'.
216 Harry A. Hoffner, Jr.

Translation
and the diviner [-s] him/her/it [] places [on] a wickerwork table and [the
(i 15)

-s] which [] to/for the bird [] and one sweet cake of BA.BA.ZA (weighing) a tarna
[] and deposits them on the wickerwork table.

(i 610) [] brings forth [a bird?] and one [swe]et [cake] to/for the sacrificer. [And] when the

sacrificer reaches out for the bird [and the one sweet cake?], the chief [en]tanni-woman
seizes him by the hand and [say]s the following:

(i 1115) You are [wrong?] if you have [made fu]n of an entanni-woman, [or if] you have

made fun of a diviner (by saying): They are freeloaders! They are [accumula]tors ?!

(i 1618) The diviner does not make for himself (i.e., acquire by inheritance) the house (i.e.,

estate) of his father. He inspects? the sacrificial loaves of the deity. He is a TUKUL-man
deprived of normal inheritance (literally, poor ?).

The entanni-priestess does not make for herself (i.e., acquire) the house of her bride.12
(i 1922)

She is preoccupied with??13 the affairs of a deity. She is [unconcerned? for the] af[fairs?]
of humans (literally, of a human). She is a [dau]ghter-in-law [without succession ri]ghts
(literally, poor?). (Rest of obverse broken away.)

(iv 3) [] blue wool, sh[eets? ]

Tablet three, (text) completed. [Wh]en? [the diviner?] offers the entai-sacrifice for
(iv 48)

the first time. [] x the diviner []

Commentary
Since it is not likely that such a lengthy section in a ritual text should be unrelated to the
rituals principal objective, we must conclude that the ritual of which this fragment formed
a part was for persons whose problems were believed to stem from an occasion when they
might have ridiculed a member of the cult personnel of one of the gods. This would quite
naturally offend the god as well, and might bring a reprisal in the form of illness or some
other calamity. When that happened, the afflicted person would need a ritual to purify him- or
herself from the offence.
It is perhaps a little unusual that such a ritual would require three tablets, whereas this
tablet is the third and last tablet of its composition (DUB.3.KAM QA-TI). Most compositions
requiring that many tablets are festivals, i.e., rituals for the royalty, and are not intended to
remove divine anger because of a single persons deed. But a few are so intended. From listings

12 Or: of (her) mother-in-law?; see commentary.

13 Literally, she holds up in front of herself the matters of the deity; cf. the English expression she keeps
foremost in her thinking.
 The Institutional Poverty of Hurrian Diviners and entanni-Women 217

in shelf lists (catalogues) one learns of mn UN-a U7-anza, If a person is bewitched (KUB
8.70+KBo 31.28 ii 12ff.), which required three tablets. Also the ritual mn antuan GAL-li
aniur aniyami, when I perform a long ritual for a person (KUB 32.9+KUB 35.21 rev. 3536),
required three tablets. From a fragment of a ritual containing only its colophon we learn of a
ritual of a man named Ilima-abi requiring three tablets and titled mn an[tui DINGIR-LU4
kuiki] / [INIM-]az kuzga kartimmiyauwanza, If [some deity] is angry [at] a pe[rson] on
account of some [matter/word] (KBo 12.116 rev. 24). Since this particular colophon is for
the third tablet and contains the entire colophon, it is obvious that it cannot be a join piece to
Bo 4952; and since the wording differs from what is preserved in Bo 4952, it is not even the
same composition. Its subject matter is similar, though, and it required three tablets.
The presence of the term MUNUSentanni- suggests that it belongs to the Kizzuwatnean or
North Syrian sphere, an area of significant Hurrian influence. The diviner (LAZU or LAL)
and the MUNUSentanni- co-occur elsewhere, in KBo 7.60, a festival for Teub and ebat (CTH
706.II; see Pecchioli Daddi 1982: 297).
The entanni- priestess is discussed by von Schuler (1971: 225), Laroche (1978: 82), Pecchioli
Daddi (1982: 384ff.) and Taggar-Cohen (2006: 384422). The word comes via Hurrian from
the Akkadian word entu, itself a feminine form of an Akkadian loanword from Sumerian,
EN, lord. Taggar-Cohen (2006: 387) in her chapter on the NIN.DINGIR priestess devotes
several paragraphs to the entanni-women. She distinguishes this class of female cult personnel,
which often occurs in the plural, from the (MUNUS)ENTU and the NIN.DINGIR, who are not
members of a group, whose status is much higher and who perform functions different from
those performed by the entanni-women. One is reminded of the situation in Mesopotamia,
where the Akkadian words ntu and ugbabtu both underlie the Sumerogram NIN.DINGIR, but
while the former denotes individual high priestesses, the latter denotes members of groups of
cult functionaries on a lower level (see CAD E: 173). The Hurrian > Hittite entanni-women
correspond more to the latter than the former.

i 6: The restoration [MUE]N is based entirely on the context, in which the word recurs in
line 3.

i 78: The verbal complex par alik(i)- (see CHD P: 114, sub 1 ll., and /1: 103104, sub
4 c) requires either -kan or -an.

i 11: The first word in this line would have been important to the interpretation of what
follows. The presence of -za shows it was a nominal sentence with a second person subject,
You are a []. The speaker is the chief of the entanni-priestesses, and the addressed person
is the sacrificer (EN.SISKUR). Given the overall context, it is likely that she called him a
slanderer, but what Hittite word or logogram would fit the space in the break and the traces
after it is difficult to imagine.

i 1115: The two conditional clauses, marked by mn, if, in line 11 and by restored nama,
or (if), in line 13, are not resumed by an expressed apodosis. There are if clauses in Hittite
without expressed apodoses (see CHD L-N: 155ff. [mn 7 e], and GrHL 30.31). These have
an implied apodosis, may the gods punish/destroy you. This would be one explanation for
218 Harry A. Hoffner, Jr.

the apparent absence of an apodosis. Another explanation, suggested by Melchert (personal

communication), is to restore line 13 as [ma-a-an-w]a-, creating a double mn construction and
construing them with the one-word clause immediately preceding: You are a [], whether you
[or] you . Of course, taking the two conditional clauses as dependent on what precedes
does not require preferring the restoration [ma-a-an-] to [na-a-ma-] in line 13, since the
force of mn nama is virtually the same (see CHD L-N: 159 sub mn 8 d).

i 1415: The Hittite writing system does not permit marking quotes within quotes. Contextually,
it appears that lines 1415 are such, relating what the sacrificer is to have said in ridicule, thus
requiring the present ritual to purify him of the sacrilege (maratarri-). The subject clitic
-at is plural, referring to the whole class of individuals holding each office. The first may
have been directed to the diviners as a class, the second to the entanni-women as a class. It is
also possible that both insults were directed to both groups. As one possibility, van den Hout
(personal communication) has suggested [a-a-r]i-ia-tal-li-i, rakers, accumulators (i.e.,
greedy people).

i 16: At this point the quote within a quote has ended, and the words of the chief entanni-
woman herself resume. This is not therefore part of the ridicule, but the chief entanni-womans
defence of these two classes of cult personnel vis--vis the two charges of freeloading and
[]. She summarizes what she feels is the diviners true relationship to the deitys sacrificial
loaves (A DINGIR-L NINDA.GUR4.RA) and the entanni-womans vis--vis the affairs of
the deity ([A DING]IR-L uddr). She addresses the two in reverse order compared to their
initial occurrence in i 1114: first the diviner, and then the entanni-woman.
The two logograms LAL and LAZU (i 13) are interchangeable in Hittite, both denoting
the diviner (Akkadian br).
There is a degree of symmetry in the opening description of the means of support of the two
functionaries in i 16 and i 1920. The expression -za iya-, to make for oneself, seems here
to mean something like to acquire, enjoy. When its object is , house, estate, it is also the
Hittite expression underlying the Akkadian calque bta epu in the Emar texts, which means
to inherit when applied to the cases of Kitta (dAlfonso 2005a; 2005b; Yamada 2006: 230
n. 28) and Zu-Ba la (Cohen 2005).
In the case of the diviner (i 16) the family estate which he cannot draw upon or inherit is
the house of his father (Akkadian bt abi-u). In the case of the entanni-woman (i 1920) it
is the house of (her) mother-in-law (MUNUSianittar-).
The Hittite word ianittar- was first interpreted as blood relative and derived from ar
(oblique stem e/ian-). Hrozns original translation of ianittar(a)- as blood relative
(related to ar), based upon VBoT 2, 12 ([k]a-a-a-mu ki-i te-et mKal-ba-ia-a[] [k]i-i
me-mi-i-ta ma-an-wa-an-na-a [i]-a-ni-it-ta-ra-a-tar i-ia-u-e-ni), was supported by Ben-
veniste (1962: 101102), Kammenhuber in Oettinger (1981: 388) and Neu in Taillardat et al.
(1984: 100), but rejected by Tischler (HEG 1: 381382), Puhvel (HED A/E-I: 338, 395396),
Koak (1990: 151), Melchert (1994: 111) and Rieken (1999: 284) in favour of a connection
with the verb ii(ya)-, to bind. Whereas Rieken claimed a similar meaning for the nouns
(MUNUS)ianattalla- and ianalli-, Groddek (2007) has demonstrated that ianattalla-
 The Institutional Poverty of Hurrian Diviners and entanni-Women 219

means murderer, and instead of a putative noun ianalli- there is a verb ianalli- be a
murderer.
It has also been objected that the word ianittaratar in VBoT 2 refers to a tie by marriage, not
blood. It was claimed by Yamada (1998), cited by Singer (1999: 68), that the prosopographical
evidence from Emar supports the earlier view, since in SMEA 45 1 and ETBLM 32 Zu-Ba la
inherits the estate of A(n)da-mali(k), suggesting to Yamada and Singer that the latter was his
father. But subsequent research on the Emar documents has shown that Zu-Ba las real father
was a man named uru, and that the A(n)da-malik whose estate he inherited was in fact his
father-in-law (Lianittar(a)-); see Cohen (2009).
The essence of the problem in 1922 is whether MUNUSianittara (19) and MUNUS.GE4-[a]
(22) are the same word or counterparts in a reciprocal relationship (mother-in-law and daughter-
in-law). In the former case, there is no mention of a bequeather, but merely the matrimonial
status not attainable by the entanni-woman. This first interpretation would fit with the claim
of Rieken that MUNUSianittar(a)- is the Hittite reading of MUNUS.GE4, bride, daughter-in-
law. It would make this clause asymmetrical to A-BI-U in line 16, where his father is
not the status of the diviner, but his bequeather-benefactor. Even if the bride interpretation is
adopted, the question remains: Does the characterization of the entanni-priestess as a [poo]r?
bride/daughter-in-law in line 22 mean that she was allowed to marry but could not enjoy her
husbands property like a full wife, or does it mean that she had to remain single? I am inclined
to believe the latter, but both interpretations of lines 18 and 22 are viable.
Both diviner and entanni-woman are described as unable to do the same action, -za iya-.
With only minor differences of nuance, this identical verbal expression ought to have the same
meaning. Literally, to make a house for oneself ought to mean to acquire one. A young male
typically acquired a house by inheritance, whereas a young woman did so by marriage.
But there is another question to be addressed. Did the requirement imposed on these entrants
into the cult that they forgo family inheritance and marriage income from the side of the cult
administration, or from the side of the entrants family? It could be that the family inheritance
and the provision of a dowry bypassed offspring supported by the temples, it being assumed
that these descendants would be taken care of without draining family resources from their
siblings.
But if it were left up to the individual families to decide whether or not to deny family
resources, the chief entanni-woman could not make a statement like this as something that
typically happened, covering all diviners and entanni-women. For this reason, I think we must
conclude that the rule came from the side of the cult administration. The status which these
two classes entered was voluntary poverty only in the sense that they could choose not to
enter the clergy. Once the choice to enter was made, their poverty was no longer elective,
but compulsory. Perhaps this is what being poor in the sense of inurant- (as opposed to
aiwant-, poor) implies.
The vigilance which operated toward personal possessions of Hittite clergy is illustrated
by the hypothetical case mentioned in the Instructions for Priests, in which the king gives a
valuable item to a cleric (see below). He must attest its receipt before witnesses. And he may
even be required to sell it! This is very similar to the limits on monks in the church, who can
receive gifts from outsiders only if the gift is designated as ad usum PN for the use of PN.
220 Harry A. Hoffner, Jr.

Further: Whatever silver, gold, clothing (and) bronze implements of the gods you hold,
you are (only) the custodians of them. (You have) no (right) to the silver, gold, clothing
(or) implements of the gods. What is in the house of the gods is not (for you). It is for the
god. Be very careful. There is to be no silver or gold for the temple official. Let him not
carry it on his own body. Let him not make it into an adornment for his wife (or) child. If,
however, they give him silver, gold, clothing (or) implements of bronze as gifts from the
palace, let them be listed: the king gave it to him. Let it also be set down what its weight
is. Further, let it be set down as follows: At such-and-such festival they gave it to him. And
at the end (of the document) let the (names of the) witnesses be set down (thus): When
they gave it to him, so-and-so and so-and-so were present. Further, let him not leave it in
his house. Let him offer it for sale. When he sells it, he must not sell it in secret (i.e., an
undocumented or unwitnessed transaction). Let the lords of atti be present and observe.
Let them set down on a wooden tablet whatever he buys, and let them seal it. When the king
comes up to attusa, let him take it (the tablet) into the palace. Let them seal it for him.
If he sells it as he wishes (i.e., not following this protocol), it is a capital offence for him.
But whoever is not selling the gift of the king on which the kings name is stamped, but is
nevertheless selling silver, gold, clothing (or) implements of bronze, whoever apprehends
him and hides him and does not bring him to the gate of the king (for trial), it is a capital
crime for both of them. Let them both be put to death. There is no [] from the god. There
is to be no pardon for them.14
i 1718: The construction menaanda au- was thoroughly treated in CHD L-N: 286ff. sub
10 a. Its literal meaning, look toward, look closely at, were correctly paraphrased as either
await or scrutinize/inspect. Although it is possible to assume an extended third meaning,
look after/care for, there would be no example of this usage outside of the present one.15
In either casewhether it means inspects, scrutinizes or awaits, receives, acceptsthis
statement refutes the charge that the diviner is an azzagatalla-, freeloader, an unworthy or
even illegal recipient of free temple food. The well-established meaning inspect, scrutinize
would refer to the diviners role as an inspector (and therefore custodian) of the loaves rather
than pilfering them for himself.

i 18: One has to assume, it seems, that the scribe has accidentally omitted the -ra-a signs
both here and in i 22, because the nominal sentence requires them.
The diviner is characterized here as a L GITUKUL, a status held by Zu-Ba la the diviner
( AZU) at Emar (see Yamada 1998; 2006). But the special status, which enabled him to
L

inherit landed property, although he was a diviner, was due to the special circumstances of the
Hittite mixed system of direct and indirect control at Emar. After citing the cases of Zu-Ba la
and Kitta, Yamada (2006: 231) summarizes the situation (italics mine):

14 KUB 13.4 ii 2551, edited in Sel (1985: 4047); English translation corrected from McMahon 1997:
218219.
15 It may well be that there is yet another extended meaning welcome, receive, admit to be seen in KUB
32.137 ii 36 and 2426, where the walls are commanded to keep evil from entering, but to welcome/admit/
receive (menaanda au-) the good deity. I would even suggest that this meaning is found in two or three
of the examples cited in CHD L-N: 287 sub 10 a 2'. The god is asked there not just to examine/scrutinize
the kings substitute, but to receive/accept him in lieu of the king.
 The Institutional Poverty of Hurrian Diviners and entanni-Women 221

Such Emaro-Hittites are found in other Syro-Hittite-type texts as well. In ASJ 6-T (= ASJ
14 47 = SMEA 30 6), Tili-arruma, prince of Carchemish, bestows the property of Abi-
Raap upon his nephew Awiru and imposes the GI.TUKUL-duty on him. In ASJ 14-T
46, a certain Ba la-umm gives her property to her son-in-law Abdi-u u (or M u?); and
Kunti-Teub, prince of Carchemish, promises her that the sons of Abdi-u u will perform
the GI.TUKUL-duty for the sons of his Subarian wife. In Iraq 54-T 1, a certain Itr-Dagan
adopts a man named Kutamru as his son, establishing that Kutamru will perform his GI.
TUKUL-duty and inherit his property. Although there is no reference to any member of
the royal family of Carchemish in this text, the fact that this text also is of Syro-Hittite
type suggests that his GI.TUKUL-duty was performed for the Hittite authority. In view of
these occurrences, it is to be noted that the performance of the Hittite GI.TUKUL-duty is
always linked with the inheritance of family property. This property must have been given
in return for the service.
i 19: See above in comments on i 16.

i 20: What is meant by nu-wa-za-kn p-ra-an a-ra-a [A DING]IR-L ud-da-a-ar ar-zi?

As the CHD made clear in its peran article, there are two ways to interpret the sequence peran
ar: (1) taking peran as a postposition dependent upon either a noun in the dat.-loc. or the
equivalent clitic personal pronoun and ar as a preverb, or (2) taking peran ar as a fixed
double preverb/adverb meaning in advance, beforehand. Option (1) seems preferable here,
and the use of before herself (-zaperan) seems similar in meaning to -za ZI-ni peran, in
the forefront of ones mind. The sole preoccupation of the entanni-woman is concern for the
affairs of the deity.

i 21: The clitic pronoun -a cannot be acc. pl. here, since the only antecedent it could have is
the neuter pl. collective uddr, affairs/matters. It should therefore be understood as a nom.
sg. pronoun referring back to the entanni-woman. The imperfective form of the verb whose
beginning is lost in the break would then have to be intransitive, yielding something like she
[is unconcerned with] the ma[tters] of a man.

i 22: See above in comments on i 16 and below on iv 48.

iv 3: Perhaps restore la-ak-[ku?-a?-an?-za?-ni?-], sheet(s); or perhaps rather a form of

the verb laknu-.

iv 48: This is a colophon fairly typical of Hittite ritual texts. I owe to van den Hout the
suggestion to read the sign before -ta-a-i-ia-an-za in line 5 as [e]n-. I then read the sign
before en-ta-a-i-ia-an-za as SISKUR (it is completely compatible with HZL no. 156.4). The
word before LAZU in line 8 appears to be a personal name. He might have been either the
scribe and simultaneously a diviner, or the scribes supervisor. This would require restoring
[I-UR] in the following line; but we know of no scribe at attusamuch less a supervisor
of scribeswho was a diviner. Furthermore, if he is only the supervisor, where is the name of
the real scribe? There is insufficient space to fit it into the left-hand side of line 8. The diviner
would have had a Hurrian name ending in -ina; cf. mZAG.E-na (Benteina).
222 Harry A. Hoffner, Jr.

A more risky alternative would be to emend the E sign to SISKUR!, in which case the
complement -na might be a Hurrian (plural?) ending. Instead of being part of a personal name,
this would be part of the characterization of the composition.
Lines 56 appear to contain the incipit or name of the ritual. And since incipits usually
begin with mn or maan (GIM-an), when(ever), line 5 is tentatively restored accordingly.
The word SISKUR entaianza would be an accusative singular Luwian form, the object of
the verb ipant-.
For the sequence antezzi paliipanti in a Hurrian-influenced ritual see KBo 15.52 i 11;
but note that here another word intervenes between antezzi pali and its verb i-pa-an[-ti].
Usually antezzi paliipanti alludes to the first libating or offering in a sequence of such
within the same ritual (the first timethe second timethe third time). But why in an incipit,
the title of a ritual, would one use this expression? A possible explanation would be that in
this case for the first time refers to the officiators inaugural service in the role.
It is unclear if the broken line 7 and possibly 8 contain a continuation of the incipit or give
additional information about the text or its personnel. Much depends on whether or not the
reading [o o o o]x-E-na is correct, a reading which suggests a personal name. In iv 5 and
7 the colophon contains allusions to the same two cult officials (MUNUSentanni- and LAZU)
mentioned in the preserved parts of column one.

Comments on inurant-
Obviously, a key term in this passage is the word inurant-, which twice is used in the
conclusion of the justification for the temple support given to the diviner and the entanni-
priestess. I have translated it without succession rights (literally, poor), but now must
justify that translation.
Were these lines a continuation of the characterizations of the two cult officials by the
sacrificer which are called ridicule (aarnata, 12, 13), one would have to assume that
this key term which appears at the climax and end of each is pejorative in nature. But since it
is suggested here that the quote of the sacrificer was short (i 1415) and that lines 1622 are
the defence of the two cult offices by the chief entanni-woman, they are not pejorative.
How does the term inurant- qualify the terms L GITUKUL and [MUNUS.]GE4[-a]? It
seems to be an unavoidable conclusion that it refers in both cases to lack of access to funds and
resources of their families: in the first case the male diviner cannot inherit, and in the second
case the female entanni-, even if she marries, cannot succeed her mother-in-law as the one in
charge of the household affairs. The entanni-woman can be called a MUNUS .GE4[-a?], bride
(or daughter-in-law), only in the sense that she is married to the god, perhaps in the same
way that the entu-priestess in Mesopotamia was the bride of the god. The force of the adjective
inurant- is therefore that the person lacks the usual rights of the status noun that follows.
A TUKUL-man would normally have inheritance rights from his father. A daughter-in-law
( MUNUS .GE4[-a?]) would normally have the right to succeed her mother-in-law as blet bti,
lady of the house. But in the case of these two cult officials they do not possess these rights:
they are poor or deprived.
 The Institutional Poverty of Hurrian Diviners and entanni-Women 223

As it happens, the word inra[-] occurs in an entry of the lexical text KBo 1.31 obv.
1415, the Boazky version of the series IZI = itu, which was transcribed without translation
in MSL 13:144, ll. 1516 and referred to in the entry mak (fem. maktu) in CAD M/I: 140.
As restored by Gterbock for MSL, the lines in question read:
14 Sum. [BU.]LU.U.I.L = Akk. ma-ku- = Hitt. i-nu--ra[-a]
15 Sum. [vacat?] = Akk. ma-ku--tum = Hitt. MUNUS-za [i-nu--ra-a]
Neither Gterbock nor his successors tackling these entries were confident enough to interpret
this rare Hittite word.
A first draft of the CHD article for this word, which I was given to critique, read as
follows:
. is part of and immediately follows a series of entries with Sum. bu-lu-u rendered by
Akkad. gilittu, galtu, gitallutu, and Hitt. weritem[ma] fear, fright, weritenum[ar] to
frighten respectively (KBo 1.31 obv. 1113, ed. MSL 13:143). However, since Akkad.
mak A poverty, want, mak to be lacking (see CAD M s.vv.) are not easily reconcilable
with this (but see AHw: 591 s.v. mak I, and HEG : 1053), following CAD M: 140 and
PSD B: 168b, we prefer to keep the Akkad. mak, maktu attested here separate and assign
Hitt. . no meaning.
But the understandable caution of the CHD draft author is no longer justified in view of
the context of Bo 4952. Regardless of what Akkadian word was intended by the original
Akkadian translator of the Sumerian, the scribe who added the Hittite column understood the
Akkadian writings ma-ku- and ma-ku--tum as poor, impoverished. The two classes of cult
personneldiviner and entanni-womanwere characterized as having no claim upon their
familys wealth and property and as being dependent upon the perquisites of their cult offices.
Although they appeared to the imaginary critic as freeloaders (azzagatalli), they were in
fact rightfully dependent upon the temples for support, since the rules of entrance into that
post appear to have required the candidate to renounce family inheritance rights.
The word inura(nt)- then occupies the same general semantic range as aiwant-, poor, but
must not have been completely synonymous with it. There is insufficient evidence to determine
if it differed from poor by having a related meaning such as disinherited or deprived. But
clearly in the case of the diviner it describes a person without the entitlements that persons
outside the cult enjoyed. And since one of the established meanings of Akkadian mak is
poor, it may be assumed that inurant- also had that meaning. In Akkadian texts mak and
its related forms (ak, mek) designate persons who are deprived in more ways than simply
monetarily. Akkadian ak can indicate the lack of strength of the powerless (versus the strong)
and weaklings (paired with fools and cripples) (CAD A/I: 283284), while mk can refer to
a shortage or lack of soldiers (CAD M/I: 140). And this semantic breadth accords with the
extended meaning of inurant- required in our ritual fragment.
It is uncertain if the MSL restoration of the word as i-nu--ra[-a] is to be preferred to
i-nu--ra[-an-za], which can appeal to the two occurrences in Bo 4952. Both restorations are
possible. The meaning in both texts would appear to be the same.
Although Bo 4952 is a Hurrian-influenced (perhaps Kizzuwatnean) ritual text, the occurrence
of the same word in the lexical text shows that its usage was not restricted to Hurrian-influenced
224 Harry A. Hoffner, Jr.

cult texts. Nor does its form indicate a loanword from Hurrian. The use of the single-wedge
marker preceding inuranza in Bo 4952 i 18 need not indicate the word was a loanword, but
merely that there was something unusual that the scribe wished to call attention to. There is
even a possibility that it is an inherited word from PIE *sen(H)u-,16 which might be compared
to Latin sine, without, and Sanskrit sanutr, far away, the latter suggested by Melchert
(personal communication).

16 The H is the standard way that Indo-Europeanists indicate a so-called laryngeal in the proto-form whose
precise identity is indeterminate. It is enclosed in parentheses to mark that the very existence of a laryngeal
in this form is uncertain.
 The Institutional Poverty of Hurrian Diviners and entanni-Women 225

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