liʾbu
2 Lexical
Commentaries
SBSB: Standard Babylonian (ca. 1000–0 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) (comm.) [di-i]ḫ DIḪ : le-e-bu : ⸢x⸣ [... zi]-i-pu : le-e-bu : ⸢x⸣ [...] CunMon. 49 2, 270: 10. Commentary Sakikkû XIX/XX 30′. new
SBSB: Standard Babylonian (ca. 1000–0 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) (comm.) qāt lilî [la]ʾbi : ša lilû izzi[b]uš [la]ʾbi : le-e-bu : ziʾpi CunMon. 49/2, 125 o. 6f. “hand of an [infe]ctious lilû -spirit (refers to) what a lilû -spirit left behind for him, [infec]tious (refers to) l .-fever (referring also to an) impression”. Commentary Sakikkû IV 21. new
3As symptom
SBSB: Standard Babylonian (ca. 1000–0 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) [šumma] ⸢umma⸣ DIḪ ukāl Sakikkû XIX/XX 30′ “[if] he has (lit.: holds) l .-fever”. See also Sakikkû XIX/XX 31′f. (perhaps to be restored until at least 35′). Cf. also the copy in Schmidtchen 2025, 169. new
SBSB: Standard Babylonian (ca. 1000–0 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) umma li-iʾ-ba īšu Sakikkû XXVI 47′ “he has l .-fever”. Corresponds to 64′f. in Heeßel 2000. See also Sakikkû XXVI 48′ (66′–68′ in Heeßel 2000) and Sakikkû XL 38 (51 in Scurlock 20214). new
SBSB: Standard Babylonian (ca. 1000–0 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) šumma šaptāšu li-⸢ʾ⸣-bu ukallā Sakikkû VI 86′ “if his lips have (lit.: hold) l .-sickness”. Corresponds to 82′ in Schmidtchen 2021. See also Sakikkû VI 87′ (corresponds to 83′ in Schmidtchen 2021; ditto). new
Discussion
Contrary to the view that the word denotes a specific medical term relating to a skin condition in CAD L 34f. laʾbu 1, the attestation Sakikkû IV 21 (ardat-lilî laʾbi; cf. also further examples from therapeutic contexts in Stol 2007, 12), shows that, even outside lexical lists of synonyms, it could function as a kind of attribute (adj.) indicating a potentially recurrent and/or contagious (note the tentative meaning of laʾābu “to bother”) fever (ummu la/iʾbu). Stol 2007 distinguishes the following phenomena: 1. laʾbu = adj. “contagious; contagious substance (n.)”, 2. laʾbu (see adj.; rarely also liʾbu) = a skin condition or contagious skin disease(?), 3. liʾbu = a high fever with the subtype 4. liʾbu/i (ša) šadî = a kind of tertian fever, perhaps similar to a mild form of malaria = diʾu, which may be a Sumerian lw. derived from the logogram for liʾbu/laʾbu, DIḪ(DUB). In the case of ummu liʾbu (which always occur in the same case), we can assume an appositive use of liʾbu, which is likely to be a noun in its own right, but in these instances is not in the genitive case.