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UZUÌ: In the Akkadian omens of the 2nd millennium the usual logogram is UZUÌ.UDU. This spelling without UDU seems to be restricted to Ḫattuša. tepu does not seem to be a varying attribute but is always there when the space after the logogram is preserved. While fat spots (lipû) on the liver are fortuitous marks, they are rarely observed on themanzāzu/naplastu, but there are Old and Neo-Babylonian examples (PIHANS 14 1, rev. 1‘-4‘; 14, obv. 42-49 (oB); CT 6.5, 16; 39 (nB)). Note that manzāzu 2, 30-40 has a parallel section with some overlap with KBo 10.7+ that speaks of erištu-marks, so UZUÌ.UDU tepu could also be a Hittite writing for erištu.
The reading of this line was kindly suggested to me by Sebastian Fischer (pers. communication). tageže is a known Hurrian adjective for ‘bright’, and the puguldanni appears in the Hurrian extispicy texts from Emar, but its meaning is still unknown (see Fischer S., forthcoming). The Winkelhaken between the two words is likely a word separator (cf. e. g. KUB 34.19 obv.? II 9′).
If the reconstruction is correct, the form wewakk- is an intensive/iterative of wek- with the meaning ‘to demand, to ask repeatedly’. Like the basic wek- it has the object of the demand in the accusative and the indirect object of whom the request is made in the dat.-loc. (HEG IV 549-550 with references), which supports the reconstruction ANA LUGAL in obv. II 5′.
The best reading following the sign traces seems to be nu D[MAŠ].TAB.BADIDLI: ‘some twins’ or ‘the twin deities’. The twin deities appear in the Akkadian oil omen KUB 34.5+KUB 37.198, 26-27 as bringers of sickness and in the Old Babylonian manzāzu-Omen PIHANS 64 1 obv. 19′ in which they are said to eat (i-ka-lu) as well as in the second manzāzu-tablet of the first millennium series (l. 38-39). In fact, the apodoses of manzāzu 2, 38-39 resemble this and the following omen.
Whether [ -k]a-re-e is Hittite or an akkadogram is unclear. The word karû, ‘granary’, features in apodoses of Babylonian omens, e. g. ka-⸢re⸣-e LUGAL-ri ŠÀ.TAM-mu i-ma-aš-ša-a-ú ‘the tax collectors will confiscate the granaries of the king’ (AO 7539, cf. Jeyes U.1989a: 112-113) but the meaning of this passage remains obscure. The reconstruction follows the proposal by HEG III, 391, which fits the sign traces. It means that the death of the client is close, cf. KUB 1.1, 14-15: A-NA mḪa-a[t-t]u-ši-li MUḪI.A.KAM ma-ni-in-ku-wa-an-te-eš Ú-UL-wa-ra-aš TI-a[n-na-aš] and comparable Akkadian apodoses with qerbû, wīṣu etc..
The gap is too short for both LUGAL and LÚ, but one of the two signs could have been dropped due to a scribal mistake. The construction of wewakk- or wek- with ANA LUGAL is supported by obv. I 8′-9′. To assume a lost LÚ or LUGAL better fits the syntax here, since otherwise É.EN.NU.UN has to be the direct object of the infinitive tarnumanzi in obv. I 8′ and function as a totum pro parte for ‘prisoner’ and the emendation provides a subject for the following apodosis.
The verb pēran arḫa tarna- is used intransitively and means ‘to flee from (before)’. Indirect objects can be people (e. g. KBo 5.8 ii 17-18) or situations/things, such as an epidemic (KBo 14.20, 20′-21′). If the reading -ši. after É.NU.U[N] is correct it could either be the D.-L. of the Hittite word for prison, refer back to the deity who demanded the release, or to the king of whom the demand was made, or even be a Hittite possessive pronoun: ‘He [sc. the prisoner] will run away from (his?) prison (on his command?/to him?).’ An akkadographic reading É.EN.NU.U[N]-LIM is as far as I can see not attested in Boghazköy.
This and the following omen are closely although not exactly paralleled by K.2340+ rev. 11′-12′ (manzāzu 2 or 3; eBl edition, (https://www.ebl.lmu.de/fragmentarium/K.2340, accessed 30.6.2024).
A verb ḫaḫliliya- would be only attested here. A translation ‘to be yellow’ (from ḫaḫḫala-/ḫaḫla-) is plausible, since fat spots and other small anomalies on the liver can be yellow or green ( Koch-Westenholz U. 2000a: 42), wherefore I suggest emending the first -li- into -ḫa-. The syntax is ambiguous. From obv. II 28′ a-pa-a-aš GIŠTUKUL ŠA DUMUMEŠ É-TI we can see that this construction is parallel to asyndetic nominal sentences in the apodoses of Akkadian liver omina with weapon marks ( kakku mār bīti, kakku bārti, etc., cf. Richter T.1994a). ‘That is the king’ could refer to the spot on the cross mark. ‘The king’, however, is usually not a known phenomenon on the liver and despite the parallel construction with the weapon mark in this text, the closest Akkadian equivalents may rather be sentences that refer to the client: awīlu šū, šarru šū, etc. I assume the nom./acc. pl. neut. talūga is used adverbially here (HG §16.30) and that it means ‘lengthwise’ (also HEG III 62 with regard to this passage) and not ‘long’. This would be an equivalent of the Akkadian phrase ‘(m)īšariš eṣir/eṣret’, ‘it is incised lengthwise’, that is found in Babylonian liver omens (e. g. KAL 5.86, rev. 13-14 (mB, foot marks)). It is contrasted with parkiš eṣir/eṣret, ‘it is incised crosswise’.
The ‘weapon of the children of the house’ also appears in the first millennium commentaries (AO 6474 i 8′) and perhaps in Middle Babylonian manzāzu-omens from Emar (Emar 6.4 671, 8), but its meaning remains unclear.
For the meaning of ḫataḫi- see note 17 below.
KÁ.GAL/ abullu is a variant for KÁ É.GAL/ bāb ekalli already found in oB (YOS 10.26), cf. Jeyes U. 1989a: 60-61.200.
Likely a translation of nakrum ummānam ina šinā ilette, ‘the enemy will split the army in two’ (cf. the Tigunānu-omen CUSAS 18.10 III, 16-17).
The meaning of ḫataḫi- is unclear. Watkins C. 1975d: 186-187 proposed a link to ḫat-, ‘to be dry’, but its appearance in Hurrian omen text (e.g KUB 47.93 (=ChS I/7 24) rev. 12′) proves it is of Hurrian origin ( Riemschneider K.K. 2004a: 32; Fischer S. forthcoming). Because weapon marks are already limited in size, it is rather rare in Mesopotamian omen texts that something lies on top ( ina muḫḫi) or above ( eli) a weapon mark; both can be expressed by the Hittite postposition/preverb sēr. The only marks that are said to lie on top of a weapon occasionally are holes ( šīlu), cysts ( ṣ/ziḫḫu; e.g. CUSAS 18 25 rev. 5′.7′ (mB); YOS 10 46 iv 38-42), and crosses ( pallurtu, e. g. CUSAS 18 25 rev. 6′ (mB); YOS 10 46 iii 38-39 (oB). CUSAS 18.25 rev. 6′ also records an UB on a weapon). Wilhelm G. 2010b: 634 made a plausible equation of Hurrian za-aḫ-ḫa with ṣ/ziḫḫu, which in turn makes identification of ḫataḫi- and ṣ/ziḫḫu unlikely. Thus, the meanings ‘hole’ and ‘cross’ remain. A group of Neo Assyrian fragments that join a manuscript of tablet two of the chapter manzāzu( Koch-Westenholz U. 2000a: pl. 6 ms. C/K 3748), namely K 2340+, contain a parallel to KBo 10.7: obv. 4' BADSAG[N]AGIŠTUKUL⸢MEŠsà⸣-ḫi-irNUN⸢ina⸣[U]KKINḪI.GARMEŠ-šúobv. 5' BADSAG[N]AGIŠTUKULMEŠsà-⸢ḫi⸣-irinaUGUGIŠTUKULMEŠBÙRMEŠŠ[UB?]MEŠNUNinaUKKINba-iri-šúi-bar(K.2340, eBL edition (K.2340: eBL fragment edition (lmu.de)), accessed 5.3.2024): ‘If the top of the [‘po ]sition’ is surrounded by weapons: They will revolt against the king in the assembly. If the top of the [‘po ]sition’ is surrounded by weapons (and) on top of the weapons li [e ] holes: His soldiers will revolt against the king in the assembly.’ I therefore want to propose a meaning ‘hole’ for ḫataḫi-, perhaps related to ḫath-, ‘to breach’, which corresponds to Akkadian palāšu ( Richter T. 2012a: 143b), although the word formation is yet unclear (S. Fischer, personal communication). For a detailed analysis of ḫataḫi in the Syrian omen texts in the Hurrian language s. Fischer S., forthcoming. The general meaning of pēran, ‘in front’, does not really fit here: The ‘position’ is usually only separated along the lines top-middle-base and left-center-right ( Koch-Westenholz U. 2000a: 52-53). While the simplex is equated with the D stem of palāšu in KUB 4.1 rev. IV 22-23, maybe pēran ḫattai- is used to describe a less deep perforation as opposed to a full breach. A common verb used with the ‘position’ is paṭāru, ‘to be split, notched, to have a cleft’ etc. ( Leiderer R. 1990a: 28). Clay liver models and the actual sheep liver ( Leiderer R. 1990a: 5) offer visual examples for this phenomenon, which could be reasonably described as ‘being pierced in front’, i. e. ‘to have a cleft.’ One may thus tentatively see pēran ḫaddariyettari as a rendering of ipṭur or paṭer. Note, however, that the oracle tablet KUB 22.70 obv. 70 seems to use the verb lā- for paṭāru. The meaning of aiwant- is uncertain. Riemschneider K.K. 2004a: 32 thought of it as a color or surface scheme, since it can also be used to describe the moon disk (KUB 8.8, 3′; KUB 8.9, 6′), and his assessment is probably correct (contra Soysal O. 2004a: 104-105; Maier M.G. 2013a: 14). It must be a feature observable on the moon disk as well as the liver, likely on the ṣ/ziḫḫu-pustle (cf. note 18). This leaves the options black, green/yellow, red, and white, for which Hittite words are known, however. For a discussion of the term see the comments on KUB 8.9. I assume the logogram SUḪUR stands for ṣ/ziḫḫu, ‘cyst, pustule’. In extispicy protases, the sign SUḪUR is so far only attested in Boghazköy (also KBo 42.1 rev. III, 4′.6′.IV, 5′; KUB 37.179 rev., 1.4.6.10.12; KUB 37.180 r. col., 2′.5′). The logogram can either be explained by the use of SUḪUR/SÚḪ to express ṭēḫi, ‘(it is) near, next to’, attested in Middle Assyrian ( Saporetti C. 1966a: 275-278; Heeßel N. 2012a: 94). Considering the original affricate pronunciation of ṣ and z ( Streck P.M. 2022a: 176-178.227-229), we may imagine a development SUḪUR/ ṣ/ṭiḫḫu < SUḪUR/ ṭēḫi (idea D. Schwemer, personal communication). Alternatively, we follow R. Borger and understand SUḪUR as an allogram for SÙḪ (MZL nos 646 and 892). Based on MSL 4 798 ( sùḫ-sùḫ-àm = zi-iḫ-zi-ḫi, cf. Lieberman S.J. 1977a: nos 722.724) we may assume a reading ziḫ and hence an accrographic writing. Note that the attestations in Ḫattuša are mostly concerned with water, rain, the storm god, and military misfortune, typical for Babylonian z/ṣiḫḫu-omens ( Nougayrol J. 1945a: 81; Nougayrol J. 1969a: 81; Meyer J.W. 1987a: 83; Winitzer A. 2017a: 86). Only here does the scribe use the Hurrian loan word for ‘position’, šintaḫi-, known from the Hurro-Hittite SU-oracles.
This scribe is also found on the astrology fragment KUB 8.29, where the land of Nuḫašše is mentioned as well.
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