Smearing the Drums

[Bjarte Kaldhol]

Dear listmembers,

In my first post on this subject there was probably a misunderstanding. I
thought somebody (Parpola?) had asserted that Akkadian kinna:ru was
attested in the third millennium, and wrote:

>Kinnaru is attested from Old Babylonian times (eighteenth century BC) and
later at >Ugarit. I do not know if it is attested earlier, perhaps at Ebla?


Kinna:ru is not attested until c. 1700 BC.
It now appears that what is attested at Ebla in the third millennium BC
might be the word for "musician" or "singer", na:ru (II), probably in its
Sumerian form, (LU2) NAR. If this word is Dravidian, or related to
Dravidian words, it is indeed an early attestation. There are several
derivations:

na:rtu (II) or nuartu or na'ratu - female musician, Sum. MUNUS.NAR
na:ru:tu - profession of musician, musicianship (with Akk. abstract suffix)
nargallu - chief musician, Sum. (LU2) NAR.GAL, attested in Old Akkadian

A plant name, narinnu, looks suspiciously like a Hurrian nominal derivation
in -inni, but might be totally unrelated.

Best wishes,
Bjarte Kaldhol