malkum

malkum

Akkadian

Etymology

From Proto-Semitic *malk- (“king, prince”). Cognate with Arabic مَلِك‎ (malik) and Biblical Hebrew מֶלֶךְ‎ (mɛ́lɛḵ).

Pronunciation

• (Old Babylonian) IPA^(key): /ˈmal.kum/

Noun

malkum m (plural malkū) (from Old Akkadian on)

1. king, prince, (foreign) ruler
   • 9th century BCE, Royal inscription of Shalmaneser III

     mal-ku ša₂ ^kurḫat-ti ina GIR₃-MIN-ia₅ u₂-šak-ni-su-nu

     lul-lik ša₂ ^kurur-ar-ṭa-a-a lu-u-mur qa-rab-šu₂-nu

     malkū ša Hatti ina šēpīya ušaknissunu

     lullik ša Urarṭaya lūmur qarābšunu

     I made the princes of Hatti bow down at my feet;

     (now) I wish to go (and) experience warfare with the Urarṭians.

Alternative forms

• malku (non-mimated)
• malikum, maliku

Cuneiform spellings

Phonetic
𒈠𒀠𒄣 (ma-al-kum) 𒈠𒀠𒆪 (ma-al-ku) 𒈠𒇷𒆪 (ma-li-ku) 𒂷𒆪 (mal-ku)

Derived terms

• malkatum
• malkūtum

 

References

• “malku”, in The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD), volume 10, M, part 1, Chicago: University of Chicago Oriental Institute, 1977
• Black, Jeremy; George, Andrew; Postgate, Nicholas (2000), “malku(m)”, in A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, 2nd corrected edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag