2,
11-12) speaks in favor of Professor Haupt's suggestion. The meaning
"innkeeper", while not as yet found in Babylonian-Assyrian literature
is most plausible, since we have _sabu_ as a general name for 'drink',
though originally designating perhaps more specifically sesame wine
(Muss-Arnolt, Assyrian Dictionary, p. 745b) or distilled brandy,
according to Prof. Haupt. Similarly, in the Aramaic dialects, _se_bha
is used for "to drink" and in the Pael to "furnish drink". Muss-Arnolt
in his Assyrian Dictionary, 746b, has also recognized that _sabitum_
was originally an epithet and compares the Aramaic _se_bhoy?th?(p1)
"barmaids". In view of the bad reputation of inns in ancient Babylonia
as brothels, it would be natural for an epithet like _sabitum_ to
become the equivalent to "public" women, just as the inn was a "public"
house. Sabitum would, therefore, have the same force as _samhatu_
(the "harlot"), used in the Gilgamesh Epic by the side of _harimtu_
"woman" (see the note to line 46 of Pennsylvania Tablet). The Sumerian
term for the female innkeeper is Sal Gestinna "the woman of the wine,"
known to us from the Hammurabi Code ยงยง108-111. The bad reputation of
inns is confirmed by these statutes, for the house of the Sal Gestinna
is a gathering place for outlaws.
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