Editing Enki (section)

=== Enki ===
The name Enki is usually translated as “Lord of the Earth” in [[Sumerian language|sumerian]].<ref name=":11" /> This explanation is not universally accepted.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Lambert |first=Wilfred G. |date=1989 |title=Reviewed Work: Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language. Vol. I by Cyrus H. Gordon, Gary A. Rendsburg, Nathan H. Winter |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/617916?read-now=1&seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=116 |jstor=617916}}</ref> Several scholars argue that it does not seemingly fit the functions of the god.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Galter |first=Hannes D. |url=https://www.academia.edu/45092567/Der_Gott_Ea_Enki_in_der_akkadischen_%C3%9Cberlieferung_Eine_Bestandsaufnahme_des_vorhandenen_Materials_Dissertationen_der_Universit%C3%A4t_Graz_58_Graz_dbv_Verlag_1983 |title=Der Gott Ea/Enki in der akkadischen Überlieferung: eine Bestandsaufnahme des vorhandenen Materials |date=1983 |publisher=dbv-Verl. für die Techn. Univ |isbn=978-3-7041-9018-5 |series=Dissertationen der Universität Graz |location=Graz |page=8}}</ref><ref name=":32">{{Cite journal |last=Kramer |first=Samuel Noah |date=1960 |title=Sumero-Akkadian Interconnections: Religious Ideas |journal=Genava |volume=8 |page= |pages=276 |issn=0072-0585}}</ref> It has been proposed that Enki could have been an epithet of the deity that eventually replaced his original name.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Galter |first=Hannes D. |url=https://www.academia.edu/45092567/Der_Gott_Ea_Enki_in_der_akkadischen_%C3%9Cberlieferung_Eine_Bestandsaufnahme_des_vorhandenen_Materials_Dissertationen_der_Universit%C3%A4t_Graz_58_Graz_dbv_Verlag_1983 |title=Der Gott Ea/Enki in der akkadischen Überlieferung: eine Bestandsaufnahme des vorhandenen Materials |date=1983 |publisher=dbv-Verl. für die Techn. Univ |isbn=978-3-7041-9018-5 |series=Dissertationen der Universität Graz |location=Graz |pages=8–9}}</ref> [[Samuel Noah Kramer]] argued that the epithet <nowiki>''Lord of the Earth''</nowiki> was given to the god by the theologians of [[Eridu]] in order to elevate his position in the pantheon and make him a rival of [[Enlil]].<ref name=":32" /> However, [[Thorkild Jacobsen]] points out that there is no conclusive evidence of a rivalry between Enki and Enlil in Sumerian texts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Thorkild |title=Shaʾarei Talmon: studies in the Bible, Qumran, and the Ancient Near East presented to Shemaryahu Talmon |date=1992 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-0-931464-61-4 |editor-last=Fishbane |editor-first=Michael A. |location=Winona Lake, Ind |pages=415 |chapter=The Spell of Nudimmud |editor-last2=Ṭalmon |editor-first2=Shemaryahu}}</ref> Jacobsen interpreted Enki as a personification of the power of sweet waters. He explained his name ‘’Lord (productive manager) of the Earth’’ as a reflection of the role of water in the fertilizing of the earth.<ref name="Jacobsen 1978 111">{{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Thorkild |title=The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion |date=1978 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-02291-9 |location=New Haven, CT |pages=111}}</ref> He proposed that Enki’s original name was [[Abzu|Abzû]], later regarded as his under-earth sweet water domain and living place.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Thorkild |title=Toward the Image of Tammuz and Other Essays on Mesopotamian History and Culture |date=1970 |publisher=Harvard University Press |others= |isbn=978-0-674-89810-3 |series=Harvard Semitic Series |location=Cambridge |pages=22}}</ref> However according to Peeter Espak there is no conclusive proof that Enki was regarded as an ancient personification of water in the available sources of the old sumerian period.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Espak |first=Peeter |title=Ancient Near Eastern Gods Ea and Enki; Diachronical analysis of texts and images from the earliest sources to the Neo-Sumerian period |date=2006 |degree=master |publisher=Tartu University, Faculty of Theology, Chair for Ancient Near Eastern Studies. |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28581203_Ancient_Near_Eastern_Gods_Enki_and_Ea_Diachronical_Analysis_of_Texts_and_Images_from_the_Earliest_Sources_to_the_Neo-Sumerian_Period |page=26}}</ref> Despite the similarity between their names, Enki of Eridu and [[Ancestors of Enlil|the primordial god Enki]] were separate figures.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Thorkild |title=The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion |date=1978 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-02291-9 |location=New Haven, CT |pages=252}}</ref> Jacobsen proposed that their names had slightly different meanings and he translated the name of the primordial god as “Lord Earth”.<ref name=":12" /> The forms of their names in the [[Emesal]] dialect are different; the name of Enki of Eridu is written Amanki, while the name of the primordial god is written Umunki.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Babylonian creation myths |date=2013 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-1-57506-247-1 |editor-last=Lambert |editor-first=W. G. |series=Mesopotamian civilizations |location=Winona Lake, Indiana |pages=414}}</ref>

[[Edmond Sollberger]] and [[Wilfred G. Lambert]] have proposed a different translation for the name of Enki of Eridu. It has been remarked that an omissible g appears at the end of the second element of his name, which does not appear in the name of the primordial god.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Babylonian creation myths |date=2013 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-1-57506-247-1 |editor-last=Lambert |editor-first=W. G. |series=Mesopotamian civilizations |location=Winona Lake, Indiana |pages=417}}</ref> For this reason they interpret this second element not as ki, ‘’earth’’, but as ki(g) of unknown meaning.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Espak |first=Peeter |title=Ancient Near Eastern Gods Ea and Enki; Diachronical analysis of texts and images from the earliest sources to the Neo-Sumerian period |date=2006 |degree=master |publisher=Tartu University, Faculty of Theology, Chair for Ancient Near Eastern Studies |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28581203_Ancient_Near_Eastern_Gods_Enki_and_Ea_Diachronical_Analysis_of_Texts_and_Images_from_the_Earliest_Sources_to_the_Neo-Sumerian_Period |page=27}}</ref> Sollberger understood an element ki(g) meaning ‘’favour, benevolence, love’’ in Sumerian. Therefore he translated Enki(g) as ‘’Lord Love’’,<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last=Sollberger |first=Edmond |title=The Business and Administrative Correspondence under the Kings of Ur |date=1966 |publisher=J.J. Augustin |location=Locust Valley |pages=141}}</ref> or ‘’Lord Benevolence’’.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sollberger |first=Edmond |title=Inscriptions royales sumériennes et akkadiennes |date=1976 |isbn=9782204035736 |edition=CERF |location=Paris |pages=301}}</ref> He argues that this translation reflects Enki’s well attested role in myths as a friend of mankind.<ref name=":22" /> However, this explanation is not generally accepted. It has been remarked that it is possible that the omissible g developed via [[dissimilation]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lisman |first=Jan J. W. |title=Cosmogony, theogony and anthropogeny in Sumerian texts |date=2013 |publisher=Ugarit-Verlag |isbn=978-3-86835-095-1 |series=Alter Orient und Altes Testament |location=Münster |pages=128}}</ref> though similar examples of dissimilation are so far not attested in Sumerian.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Espak |first=Peeter |title=Ancient Near Eastern Gods Ea and Enki; Diachronical analysis of texts and images from the earliest sources to the Neo-Sumerian period |date=2006 |degree=master |publisher=Tartu University, Faculty of Theology, Chair for Ancient Near Eastern Studies |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28581203_Ancient_Near_Eastern_Gods_Enki_and_Ea_Diachronical_Analysis_of_Texts_and_Images_from_the_Earliest_Sources_to_the_Neo-Sumerian_Period |page=28}}</ref>