sikkatu II
2Attestations
OB-LitOB-Lit: Old Babylonian literary texts — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) sí-ik-ka-tum imtaqut elī kalī būlim AML, 44: 3 SEAL “s. -disease has fallen over the entire herd”. new
SBSB: Standard Babylonian (ca. 1000–0 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) [..]. di-kiš* isīmu šakin lā em sik-ka-tum šumšu Sakikkû XXXIII 63 eBL “[if (a lesion?) ..]. there is a swelling that turned red(?), it is not hot – sikkatu is its name”. new
Discussion
The disease term seems to refer to a rather common ailment since it appears regularly in enumerations of diseases, often beside other skin afflictions since OB time. When referring to humans, sikkatu may refer to acne, in the case of pregnant women, to pregnancy acne in particular. The befall of sheep with sikkatu could, beside other afflictions, refer to Orf (contagious pustular dermatitis) or scabby mouth, which is caused by poxvirus (and can resemble serious acne) whereas similar ailments could be caused by several kinds of bacteria. Given the Sum. spelling gag-šub, ú-gag-šub-ba, and log. uzuGAGmeš, it is etym. perhaps identical with sikkatu I (Sum./log.: gišGAG) “peg; nail”. As so often, the term may refer to several modern diseases affecting the skin.