Page 271 - Records of Bahrain (2)(ii)_Neat
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Topography and archaeology, 1878-1879 597
216 TIIE ISLANDS OF BAHREIN.'
Nidukki,” in B.M.I. vol. ii. p. 54,1. G6. This name of Inzalc,
however, is composed of two elements, In, “a Lord,” and
zak, “the-first or nearest,” a variant of the title, >->-y ^
TJzak, being thus given in B.M.I. vol. ii. p. 60,1. 30, among the
titles of Nebo, with the translation of >-JJ ^ >zyyj J^<y
bit asaridu, or “ Lord, the nearest.” This title of Asaridu
was probably given to Mercury, because lie was the nearest
planet to the sun.1 Another Accadian compound for the
same word asaridu was (see Smith’s Alphabet,
No. 94, 2), and we arc fully justified, therefore, in applying
to Mercury the planetary title of ^yy^Jz
(B.M.I. vol. ii. p. 49, 1. 42), which has hit lerto been usually
referred to Saturn ; this identification, again, leads to further
explanations, for £^y >->~y (literally “the
nearest star to the sun ”) is stated to be the samo as
—y or —y ^yy^fz “ tho dark God,” who is noticed
in B.M.I. vol. iv. p. 25, 1. 18, as the special God of Nidukki.
No doubt the title of >->~y ^pyyjjz “tho dark God” (Assyr.
Ilu zalmi, B.M.I. vol. ii. p. 49,1. 42, and vol. iii. p. 69,1.66), was
given to Mercury on account of its close propinquity to tho
sun, the star being, according to the Latin astronomers, “perus-
tus aut solatus” (and for the same reason Nebo is often styled in
the Inscriptions >->*-y ^I^^y or emuk UU, “steeped in
flame,” and is oven confounded with tho “spirit of fire,”
~-y -yy^, who seems, nevertheless, astronomically
to have been properly identified with the lightning);2 and
1 Asaridu, which is given in tho lists ns tho equivalent both of ^ nud
^yy^fz J^y (rend by Lenormnut ns Sag-gis)) usually means ‘ tho first * or
‘chief* or ‘oldest,* but ‘nearest* seems to bo also quito n legitimate rendering.
Tho etymology is unknown, but I coujccturo it to bo tho word from which tho
Arabs have derived their namoof A{drul, for Mercury, by substituting
tho ain for alif, and hardening tho sibilant, ns in )Alhlar for Jstar or Venus,
Aluvia for Assyria, etc. ..................... ... ,
2 Sco B.M.I. vol. ii. p. GO, 1. 38. Tho most direct identification of Nebo with
tho Fire God occurs in tho inscription on tho famous tablet which gives tho
numerical vnluo of tho Assyrian deities, and which, though often quoted, lias
nover, I boliovo, boon published in extenso. Hero tho Inst God of tho seeped
division, which must necessarily answer to Nobo, is named ►-^y £-|