ummedu
2 Lexical
Lexical Lists
OB-LexOB-Lex: Old Babylonian lexical texts — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) níg-zi-ga-mu = um-me-tu-ú-a CUSAS 12, 158: xii 20 (Ugumu) DCCLT “my outgrowth(?) = my u .-skin condition”. After bubuʾtī “my boil” and followed by išātī “my fever/inflammation.” Diff. Civil 2010, 158 (translating “my fever”). new
Commentaries
SBSB: Standard Babylonian (ca. 1000–0 BCE) (comm.) UD.A GE₆meš : um*-mi-ṭu ṣalmūtum CunMon. 49 2, 284 o. 5 “(the logogram) black UD.A (refers to) black u. -conditions”. Commentary Sakikkû XXI/XXIIa (unknown entry). For the interpretation of the skin condition see also Stol 1998, 351.
1Further Attestations
SBSB: Standard Babylonian (ca. 1000–0 BCE) — new attestation (not in AHw/CAD) um-me-di [q]āt E[a] Sakikkû XXXIII 109b “u .-skin condition – (this is caused by) the [ha]nd of E[a]”. new
Discussion
For an interpretation of the term as a skin condition, see Stol 1998. The word likely refers to a general skin condition (note the mentions in physiognomic sources as well as the commonly used comparative term), such as “rash” (which encompasses phenomena such as hives and eczema, but excludes boils, blisters, and vesicles, which are designated by the term bubuʾtu, which also frequently appears in connection with ummedu/ummēdu).
The problematic (LB commentary) var. um-mi-ṭu (formerly understood as the otherwise unattested term ra-mi-ṭu; see CAD R 126, thought of being connected with rimṭu, which is attested in NA treatise once, see Parpola/Watanabe 1988, 6: 470, and might be etym. connected with Arab. rmd/ḍ “to burn”) may be influenced from Aram./Syr. ḥmṭ “to kneel; (Dt) to be infected” and ḥmṭ, ḥmṭʾ (*ḥmeṭ, ḥemṭā) “pustule, sepsis” (see Sokoloff 2009, 462 and 468 and Jastrow 476 as well as Drower/Macúch 1963, 145).