maʾraštu
2Attestations
OBOB: Old Babylonian (ca. 2000–1600 BCE) kīma ina GN ina birīt ás-di-ka u ma-a-ra-aš-ti-ka ṣeḫertum šī ana nadānim irreddû ARM 34, 20: 8 ARCHIBAB “(take heed) that this girl will be led to GN among your warriors and your maternal family in order to give (her hand in marriage)”.
OBOB: Old Babylonian (ca. 2000–1600 BCE) [atta šu]m ma-aḫ-ra-áš-ti-ia [ul tīdē] ARM 26/2, 189 no. 377: 32 ARCHIBAB “[do you not know the na]me of my lineage?”
Discussion
Charpin in ARM 26/2, 190 derives the word from ḫarāšu “to be in labor” and therefore suggests the mng. “famille maternelle”. However, the contexts favor a more general mng. “family ties, lineage”. We suggest to derive the word from the NWSem. cognate ḤRŠ of Akk. ḫarāšu II (AHw. 324) “to bind”; cf. the maPRaS noun maḫrašu “mooring post”. Either the spellings ma-aḫ- and ma-a- both render /maʾ/ ＜ /maḥ/ (see Streck 2000a, 244 for Ḫ- and 0-spellings for Amor. /ḥ/, cf. the writing ma-a- SAD maḫanû 6 and 7.), or Amorite /ḥ/ is rendered by both /ʾ/ and /ḫ/ in Akk.