ṣābum

ṣābum

Akkadian

Etymology

From Proto-Semitic *ṣābaʾ-. Cognate with Biblical Hebrew צָבָא‎ (ṣɔḇɔʔ, “an army, a multitude of people”) and Ugaritic 𐎕𐎁𐎜 (ṣbủ).

Pronunciation

• (Old Babylonian) IPA^(key): /ˈsˤaː.bum/

Noun

ṣābum m (construct state ṣāb or ṣābi, plural ṣābū) (from Old Akkadian on)

1. worker, soldier
2. (collective) gang, army, troop, people, population

   𒉺𒉌 𒍝𒁉𒅎 𒍢𒄴𒊑𒅎 𒊍𒁁

   pa-ni ṣa-bi-im ṣe-eḫ-ri-im aṣ-bat

   /pānī ṣābim ṣeḫrim aṣbat/

   I led a small gang.

Alternative forms

• ṣābu (non-mimated)
• ṣabûm (Mari)
• ṣabbu (Neo-Babylonian)

Cuneiform spellings

Logograms	Phonetic
𒂟 (ERIM/ERIN₂) 𒇽𒂟 (LU₂.ERIM/ERIN₂) 𒂟𒎌 (ERIM/ERIN₂.MEŠ) (plural) 𒂟𒄭𒀀 (ERIM/ERIN₂.ḪI.A) (plural)	𒍝𒁍𒌝 (ṣa-bu-um) 𒍝𒁍 (ṣa-bu)

References

• “ṣābu”, in The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD), Chicago: University of Chicago Oriental Institute, 1956–2011
• Black, Jeremy; George, Andrew; Postgate, Nicholas (2000), “ṣābu(m)”, in A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, 2nd corrected edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag