134),
_[d_En-ki-du wa-si-ib] ma-har-s?.
Line 44. The restoration of this line is largely conjectural, based
on the supposition that its contents correspond in a general way to I,
4, 16, of the Assyrian version. The reading _di-da_ is quite certain,
as is also _ip-ti-[e]_; and since both words occur in the line of the
Assyrian version in question, it is tempting to supply at the beginning
_ur-[s?]_ = "her loins" (cf. Holma, _Namen der K?rperteile_, etc.,
p. 101), which is likewise found in the same line of the Assyrian
version. At all events the line describes the fascination exercised
upon Enkidu by the woman's bodily charms, which make him forget
everything else.
Lines 46-47 form a parallel to I, 4, 21, of the Assyrian version. The
form _samkatu_, "courtesan," is constant in the old Babylonian version
(ll. 135 and 172), as against _samhatu_ in the Assyrian version (I,
3, 19, 40, 45; 4, 16), which also uses the plural _sam-ha-a-ti_ (II,
3b, 40). The interchange between _h_ and _k_ is not without precedent
(cf. Meissner, _Altbabylonisches Privatrecht_, page 107, note 2,
and more particularly Chiera, _List of Personal Names_, page 37).
In view of the evidence, set forth in the Introduction, for the
assumption that the Enkidu story has been combined with a tale of the
evolution of primitive man to civilized life, it is reasonable to
suggest that in the original Enkidu story the female companion was
called _samkatu_, "courtesan," whereas in the tale of the primitive
man, which was transferred to Enkidu, the associate was _harimtu_, a
"woman," just as in the Genesis tale, the companion of Adam is simply
called _ishsh?_, "woman.
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