samullu
2Attestations
SBSB: Standard Babylonian (ca. 1000–0 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) muṣaʾʾirāna [arraqa ša] ina muḫḫi úsa-am-mal-lu urull[u izzizzu] AOAT 43, 117 BM.56605 7 “a [very green] frog [which sat] on top of a s .-plant (or) urullu -reed”. Heeßel 2000, 120 transcribes differently samallû. Cf. the parallel Sakikkû XXIX 22′ (52′–54′ in Heeßel 2000; see also Schmidtchen 2025, 183) (with both probably as alternatives for elpetu; partially restored). new
SBSB: Standard Babylonian (ca. 1000–0 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) (comm.) aššu gišsa-mul-l[u] [x]-su-šú namer? SpTU 5, 272: 19 “because s. -plant, its ... is bright(?)”. new
Discussion
The plant has been understood as a kind of tree since all known attestations add the determinative giš and it is once mentioned in an OA source beside terebinth (buṭnu) and box tree(?) (taskarinnu). We may note, however, the new attestation in the Sakikkû XXIX 22′ parallel AOAT 43, 117 (BM 56605): 7, which adds instead ú. It remains unclear if the 1st millennium sources refer to the same plant/tree as the OA. Note that the term seems to be an Akk. lw. in Sum., visible in mainly lex. attested spellings like gišsa-ma-LUM (|| gišsa-mul-lum, gišsa-ma-ná, gišsa-ma-num, gišsa-ma-nu-um; see CAD S 112 samānu B lex. section.