The "Babel of Tongues": A Sumerian Version

Abstract

whatever, it is the normal, not yet contracted, name for the Sea. The possibility of still later arrival of the story is, however, not excluded; the uncontracted ti'amtum is still fully alive in Old Babylonian, and one cannot help thinking of the Western Semites that founded the First Dynasty of Babylon, the Dynasty of Amurru as the Babylonians themselves called it. Which word these invaders used for sea is not known, but there is nothing to exclude the possibility that they used the term tihilmatum-in status indeterminatus for use as proper name: Tihamat. The occurrence of teh5m in Hebrew and tihnmat in Arabic shows that it is entirely possible-one can only hope that new evidence will one day allow us to see more clearly on this point. Until then our personal preference is for assuming that the motif was brought to Babylon late, with the Amorites.