kur tibni
A bird's name, read until now *$„t tibni. It is attested in [1] MSL 8/2 132:214 (Hh 8), [2] 169:282 (Hg), and [3] BIN 2 37:3 (Diri 6 B 2'); see AHw 1355a tibnu 8, and 1199a $„t 3. The Sumerian is missing in [1] and [3]; in [2] it is almost unrecognizable, see discussion below.
The improved reading results from Emar 4 no. 555:87' (p. 132):
- [b¡-za-za-ug]u-bi-BšR-di-kar-UD.DU.ZA.M™%é¨§ê¥ = ku-ur ti-i[b-ni]
with the Sumerian restored from the Ugarit parallel quoted in MSL 8/2 144, where one can find a representative, if incomplete, list of variants of this complex logogram (its analysis there, however, can be for the most part safely disregarded). The term is already known in ED: b¡-za-BALAG.GIRõ, as a fish name in Fara 2 10 v 1 (ED Fish List 63), and in the animal list TS% 46 right edge 2.
Hg B 280ff. to Hh 18:214 has chopped up the lengthy logogram and created three spurious entries out of it (281 and 281a are vars.):
- OB form from UM-29-13-512: b¡-za-za g— balaí-í• kar girõ za-na HAR-gud 280, 281a, 181: za-pi-t£ | kar | girõ-za-na,
with the translations $ap‹tu = a$kik‹tu (280), takäiä‹tu = a$kik‹tu peä‹tu (281a), kur tibni = a$kik‹tu äalmu (sic, 282).
The OB Bird List CT 6 14 ii 17 has gur-in-nu-daé¨§ê¥ as a Sumerian term; it must be considered a back formation from Akkadian.
The "straw basket" (gur in-u-da, or gur in-nu-da) is known in Ur III texts (SACT 2 197, 204; Atiqot 4 25; UTAMI 1608; MVN 16 782, 1036, 1177, etc.). Whether the name of the bird is in fact "basket (made) of straw" or is "basket (with a load) of straw" is not clear, but the second interpretation seems preferable. It was believed for a long time that the only Akkadian reading of GI.GUR was p„nu (MSL 7 36; WO 1 374; SbTU 2 199:1 to be read [hup-p]u! [mea culpa]), but Hh 9 starts with gi.gur = huppu; source Sññ (now in MSL SS 1 pl. vi no. 21) turns out, by comparison with SbTU 2 no. 51, to have the very beginning of Hh 9. So while p„nu is an acceptable reading, the basket by itself was called huppu. One could propose, as a working hypothesis subject to future testing, that p„nu means "basket" and "measure," huppu only "basket," and kurru only "measure." MC 1/79.
