Kuttamuwa Inscription Lines 1-5: Image, Text and Translation

What fun! A new 8^th cent bce inscription from the fantastic site of Zincirli (for details, go here). Here is a high-resolution image (HT Chip Hardy). Click on the image again to enlarge it. Jim Getz provides a copy of Dennis Pardee’s transcription based on the latter’s SBL presentation.

Alas, Jim does not provide a translation. After all, he implies, he blogs for those who will be able to translate it on their own. But Jim: that is no way to keep your stats high. Caution is the true explanation for his non-translation. Ed Cook, Duane Smith, and everyone else also choose caution and deference to Pardee over a translation attempt of their own. However, if I were Pardee, I would welcome alternative translation attempts.

Below, I throw caution to the wind, provide the text in transliteration and in sense-unit by sense-unit format. I also translate the first five lines. Note that d and r are virtually indistinguishable in the script; I transliterate with one rather than the other based on lexical and semantic, not paleographical considerations. The transliteration is best viewed after the font Gentium Alt is installed on your computer; it can also be converted to other fonts like Charis SIL.

1. ʾnk.ktmw.ʿbd[.]pnmw.[zy].qnt.l[y].nṣb.b
2. ḥyy.wšmt.wth.bsyr.ʿlmy.wḥggt.s
3. yr.zn.šwr.lhdd.qrpdl.wybl.lng
4. d.ṣwrn.wybl.lšmš.wybl.lhdd.krmn
5. wybl.lkbbw.wybl.lnbšy.zy.bnṣb.zn.
6. wʿt.mn.mn.bny.ʾw.
7. mn bny.ʾš.wyhy.lh.
8. nsyrg.znn.wlw.yqḥ.mn
9. ḥyl.krm.znn.šʾ.
10. ywmn.lywmn.wyh
11. rg.bnbšy
12. wyšwy
13. ly.šq

אנך כתמו

עבד פנמו

זי קנת לי

נצב בחיי

 

ושמת ותה

בסיר עלמי

וחגגת סיר זנ

 

שור להדד קרפדל

ויבל לנגד צורנ

ויבל לשמש

 

ויבל להדד כרמנ

ויבל לכבבו

 

ויבל לנבשי

זי בנצב זנ

I am Kuttamuwa,

servant of Panamuwa,

 

I who acquired for myself

the stele while I was living.

 

I placed it

in my permanent chamber

and feted this chamber:

 

a bull for Hadad of QRPDL;

produce for opposite the depictions,

produce for Shamash;

produce for Hadad of the vineyards,

produce for his vessel;

 

produce for my life-breath

that is in this stele.

 

The translation, of course, is no more than a first stab. I imagine that (the ashes of?) the named food-offerings would have been placed before the appropriate objects in the permanent funerary chamber in which the stele was displayed.

For comparison purposes, a reformat of Pardee’s partial translation of lines 1-5 as quoted and cited elsewhere (Univ of Chicago news release and Doug Magnum) follows. Regrettably, I was unable to attend Pardee’s SBL lecture. I am unaware of his motivations for translating some vocables as he does.

I, Kuttamuwa,

servant of [the king] Panamuwa,

 

am the one who oversaw the production of this stele for myself while still living.

 

I placed it

in an eternal chamber [?]

and established a feast at this chamber [?]:

 

a bull for [the god] Hadad . . .

a ram for [the god] Shamash . . .

and a ram for my soul that is in this stele.

Comments

[Jim Getz]

Actually, I've got Pardee's complete translation from the presentation as well....

[John Hobbins]

If you email it to me, Jim, I would appreciate it.

At this point, beyond a limited number of details, I do not even know where Pardee and I agree and disagree.