JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

258
fin.) or decision, must be combined with rnassor, saw; cf. Syr.
magzr, ax, saw, and gzrt, decree, from gezr, to cut. I n
Hebrew we have magzera, ax (also gar zen = gazrinn) and in
Dan. 4: 14. 21 Aram, gzer means decree. Cf. also Sum. kut
and tar (SGI 126. 155). I shall discuss the term Masora in a
special paper.
THE ORIGINAL MEANING OF SHEOL
Heb. se'01 should be written se'01 with er in the first syl-
lable: it is a form qittl (cf. the Ethiopie form S'01) from the
stem sa'al, derived from the root sal which we have in Arab.
ntala-'r-rak%iata and -^^. I n Syriac we have this stem
in tallii, damp, moist, wet, while Syr. tilla, hill, is an Assyrian
loanword. I n Assyrian this root tal appears in sal, to sink;
see Kings (SBOT) 175, 2 and cf. Heb. sh and saht, pit, from
sh, to sink (Arab, sxa, iasuxu). From the same stem we have
sln (= silunu) sunset (
3
636; cf. AJSL 33, 48).
1
Arab.
ntal is said to mean pit, and tillah signifies annihilation, death ;
so Heb. se'01 is a synonym of saht (GB
16
821
a
; cf. JBL 34, 81).
For the Aleph in se'01 cf. AJSL 21, 205 and the remarks on
Heb. nahg = Arab, n'aja = Assyr. naggu in Nah. 46. Hi t -
zi g' s combination of se' 01 with s'al
9
fox (see his J esaia, 1833,
p. 52) is not impossible : the original meaning of sii
6
al may be
burrow er, and the middle
6
Ain may be secondary (see AJSL
23, 245; contrast 34, 210).
TOBA = TAHBIBTU
Twenty-three years ago I pointed out in Chronicles (SBOT)
80, 48 that Heb. tor corresponded to Assyr. trtu, oracle (HW
51; AkF 68). For the Heb. 0 = Assyr. see Proverbs (SBOT)
33, 51 ; Est. 7 ; JBL 36, 90. Assyr. trtu, however, is not iden-
tical with Ethiopie temhrt, instruction (JBL 19, 58) : the
original meaning of trtu is entrails; cf. Syr. trt, internal
parts of animal bodies, especially midriff (see AJSL 4, 214, 1.
218) which is used also for mind (cf. Heb. me
(
m, Assyr. kabittu,
GB
16
333
b
). Assyr. trtu, oracle, denotes originally interpreta
1
Heb. sal, to be quiet, i s not connected with Assyr. sal, to sink; this
Hebrew stem has not a S
u
but a s
3
(JAOS 28, 115).
259 BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS
tion of the will of the gods, hosed on the inspection of the entrails
of sacrificial victims. The Assyrian equivalent of Sumer. uzu,
flesh, body, butcher-meat, sru (HW 635
a
) = Heb. sr (not
s'r) signifies also haruspication, prognostication (HW 655
b
;
AL
5
16, 124; 79, 7; cf. JAOS 35, 393, 1. 6; AJ P 17, 489, n. 3).
Syr. trt is not etymologically identical with Heb. sr (ZR 89,
. 3) but an Assyrian loanword. Syr. ta"r, to suggest, inti-
mate (cf. Heb. natn b-lbb) and tarr', to instruct, discipline,
are denominative Paels derived from trt; cf. also Syr. trt,
discipline; turr', erudition; mtarr(')n, instructor, and
the Talmudic atri, to warn, Heb. hitr. This Syriac stem can-
not be combined with (contrast Br ockel mann' s lex. 401
b
.
392
b
). I n Levy' s Talmudic dictionary hitr was derived from
tor.
I believe now that Assyr. trtu must be derived from the stem
of irru, intestines, and irr, opium, lit. intestinal medicine (JBL
36, 81). Assyr. arru harru (ZA 30, 63) and trtu =
tahrirtu, a form like tasqirtu, lie, or Arab, tdkirah, note (WdG
1, 115, B) . Tahrirtu tahriratu, fem. of tahriru, a form like
tamslu, likeness (BA 1, 38; AG
2
181). The prefixed t is the
feminine t (JAOS 28, 115). There is no causative prefix t
(JBL 34, 78). Tahrirtu became trirtu, trirtu, trrtu, trtu
(constr. trit, pl. trti) and this term passed into Hebrew as
tor. The synonym of trtu, Assyr. urtu, from which Aram.
rit and Ethiop. rt are derived, is syncopated from urratu
= hurratu (cf. martu, gall = marratu).
I shall show elsewhere that not only the Jewish bdqt (JBL
19, 80, n. 120) was derived from Babylonia, but also the Jewish
sht. The Assyrian name of the slaughter-house, where the
throats of the animals were cut, seems to have been manrtu or
manru = Arab, mrihar, a form like narmu, fem. narmtu,
love ( 1, 177) from rmu = Arab, rahima (cf. NE 45, 77
and above, p. 252) and the Assyrian name of the assistants of
the sht, who throw down the ox, so that he may cut the throat
of the prostrate animal, seems to be tallalu; cf. Arab, tall =
Heb. rab (e. g. Abod. zar. 54
a
; Hull. 40
a
!= BT 7, 987. 1. 6;
8, 923,1.10). The original meaning of Assyr. tillatu, grapevine,
vine (HW 707
b
) is prostration, procumbency, trailing.
PAUL HAUPT.
Johns Hopkins University.
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