Such an elaboration of
the tale is exactly what we should expect as it passed down the ages.
Line 257. Our text shows that _irnittu_ (lines 257, 264, 265) means
primarily "endeavor," and then success in one's endeavor, or "triumph."
Lines 266-270. Do not appear to refer to rites performed after a
victory, as might at a first glance appear, but merely voice the hope
that Gish will completely take possession of Huwawa's territory, so
as to wash up after the fight in Huwawa's own stream; and the hope
is also expressed that he may find pure water in Huwawa's land in
abundance, to offer a libation to Shamash.
Line 275. _On s?-pa-as-su_ = _supat-su_, see above, to l. 115.
[Note on Sabitum (above, p. 11)
In a communication before the Oriental Club of Philadelphia (Feb. 10,
1920), Prof. Haupt made the suggestion that _sa-bi-tum_ (or _tu_),
hitherto regarded as a proper name, is an epithet describing the
woman who dwells at the seashore which Gilgamesh in the course of his
wanderings reaches, as an "innkeeper". It is noticeable that the term
always appears without the determinative placed before proper names;
and since in the old Babylonian version (so far as preserved) and
in the Assyrian version, the determinative is invariably used, its
consistent absence in the case of _sabitum_ (Assyrian Version, Tablet
X, 1, 1, 10, 15, 20; 2, 15-16 [_sa-bit_]; Meissner fragment col.
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