bātu II
REVIEW
Variant: bādu
Meanings:
vigil, night's rest
2Attestations
OB-LitOB-Lit: Old Babylonian literary texts adī nūram tukallamušunūti aj uttēr ba-⸢at⸣ ilī aḫḫīka AnSt. 33, 148 BM 78962 33 SEAL “until you (Girra) show them the light, may the vigil of the gods, your brothers, not be restored”.
NANA: Neo Assyrian (ca. 1000–600 BCE) nadbāku ša ba-te SAA 12, 69: 18 “the expenditure for the vigil”.
Discussion
From SAD: The words NA bādu “evening” CAD B 27 = bâde “abends” AHw 95 and SB/NB bajātu “nocturnal ceremony” CAD B 34 = bajjātu “nächtlicher Opferkult” AHw 97 are later variants of the same word. Since we would expect uncontracted forms in OB and NA, the word does not derive from the inf. bīʾāt/du, but is a diff. noun from the same root.