balītu
6Attestations
OBOB: Old Babylonian (ca. 2000–1600 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) eqel ba-li-tim FM 2, 38 no. 11: 19, 25 ARCHIBAB “field at the backwater”. new
OBOB: Old Babylonian (ca. 2000–1600 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) ba-li-tum šī FM 2, 71 no. 36: 5 ARCHIBAB “it is a backwater”. (in broken context). new
OBOB: Old Babylonian (ca. 2000–1600 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) ḫarrānum ša ba-li-tim ARM 22, ii 20 no. 328 ARCHIBAB “road (leading to) the pond”. in description of a field; ib.: 31 ba-li-tum(sic). new
OBOB: Old Babylonian (ca. 2000–1600 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) aššum miqqê u ba-li-ia-t[im š]a ana nūnī [ša] bēlī .[..] FM 16, 22: 61 “as for the pools and backwaters that ... for the fish [that] my lord ...” new
MB-EmarMB-Emar: Middle Babylonian texts from Emar (ca. 1500–1200 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) eqlum ina muḫḫi ba-li-tum ša GN Emar 6/3, 137: 22 “a field at the backwater of GN”. new
MB-EmarMB-Emar: Middle Babylonian texts from Emar (ca. 1500–1200 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) ba-[li?]-ti AN.TA / KI.TA CunMon. 13, 11: 2 “upper/lower reservoir”. new
Discussion
There is probably only one word balītu rather than two (balittu (CAD B 63 “reservoir, pond”), and balītu (ib. “desert land”)). t is never doubled, hence the form appears to be balītu, derived from the prep. balū. After Durand 2000, 545, the word has, at least in Mari, the mng. “backwater”. The Emar ref. are discussed in Westenholz 2000, 33, and Pentiuc 2001, 120f.; the latter prefers a reading ma-li-ti.