Edzard, Hymnen, p. 259. Attention to details reveals the risks of those linguistic leaps. For example, in the fourth line Pettinato translates three cuneiform signs (zu-ur5-ra, variants zi-ur5-ra, zu-u9-ra) as “morning light.” Pettinato treats this as a Semitic, rather than a Sumerian, word. He identifies it with Hebrew zoµhar (splendor), or shahar (morning light) or soµhar (window). These are all different words, with different Semitic consonants, whose forms might be written similarly in the cuneiform of Ebla. Pettinato chose “morning light” because this seemed best in view of his translation of the previous line (“the light of the day was not, you created it”). The translation “morning light” was not based on any linguistic logic. But the previous line also involves a linguistic leap. Pettinato takes the name of the sun-god’s wife and translates it “light of the day.” If the name of the sun-god’s wife were certain, the translation “light of the day” might not be impossible. But it is not. Her name is Aya, written with the two signs a-a. Edzard, however, divided the signs of die line differently. Thus separated, the name Aya disappears.
