LexiLine - Ancient Astronomy - MUL.APIN 1 - Stars on the Path of Enlil

8. The Lion (UR.GU.LA), d.Latarak

AK: Here the root again is UR-KIS (see 2 above) plus Latvian GULA
"laying down", i.e. LEO in his reclining "Sphinx" position.

Go to MUL.APIN 1.1 - Continuation 1 of the Path of Enlil

7. The River Crayfish (AL.LUL), domicile (shu-bat d.Anim) of d.Anu

AK: Latvian root JURA- "body of water"
through R//L, Latvian ULis "a kind of small fish".

6. The Small Twins (MASH.TAB.BA.TUR.TUR),
d.LAL and d.NIN.EZENxGU4

AK: TUR means "small, child" in Sumerian, Pharaonic TAURis, goddess
of pregnancy. EZEN is "feast" and GU4 is a domestic cow.
In Latvian JANU ZENI LIGO "Sons of On [Janis] celebrate Midsummer".

5. The Large Twins (MASH.TAB.BA.GAL.GAL),
d.Lugalgirra and d.Meslamtaea

AK: The TAB.BA is Latvian DIVI "two, DUBUlt, English DOUBle".
MASH is incorrectly seen to mean "twin" in Sumerian - but MASH also
applies to Ninurta (a single being). MASH actually = Latvian MAS-
"relative, sister, (brother)", i.e. "the brothers two". GAL = Latvian GAL-
"top(s), end" and GAR- "tall, large" of this constellation.
Sumerian symbols doubled mean "dual" or "plural".

4. The Crook Staff (GAM), god of the crook staff (d.Gamlum)

AK: Latvian KEMburs, KEMME - palatalized K - "crooked branch".
This is the staff in the hand of Orion.

3. The Man, Old One (SHU.GI), d.Enmesharra

AK: Latvian SUGA/SUGI "member(s) (of a clan), people" -
this distinguishes SHU.GI from Sumerian LU.CHUN.GA,
the simple farmworker. This is the constellation Auriga.
The name has been retained through S to R > (a)Shu.gi>Auri.ga.

2. The Wolf (UR.BAR.RA), seed-funnel of the plow

AK: Since Latvian URKis, URGA, URB- have to do with "digging in the
ground", there are numerous terms like this for animal "diggers, clawers", but
also BERA-/BARA "that scattered, here in the sense of "sown" seed. Hence,
the Sumerian terms are URKU.BARA "plow's scatterer", i.e. seed-funnel

Hence (MUL).UR.BAR.RA (GISH) NINDA sha (MUL).APIN reads simply
in Latvian "URKU BERA (KOKS) META sha APINite"
= plow's - scatterer - wooden post - its (this) binding(s)",
thus locating the intended stars very well. This is Perseus.

1. The Plow (GISH.APIN), d.Enlil, the lead star of the stars of d.Enlil

AK: Latvian APIJA/APPIN-ITS "the part of the ancient plow around
which the cords were tied/wound, - the source, as everywhere here,
Muehlenbachs-Endzelins, Latvian-German historical dictionary.

MUL.APIN
The 33 Stars on the Path of Enlil
(Column I, Lines 1 through 39)
MUL.APIN text is in LIGHT BLUE AK: Comments by Andis Kaulins

METHODOLOGICAL COMMENTS

Small letter "d." is used as the abbreviation
for the Sumerian determinative DINGIR "god",
which is identical to Lithuanian DANGUS "heaven"
Latvian DENDERis and Pharaonic DENDERA (dAnkh = ? Polyn. Tatanga)

Other Sumerian determinatives below are:
Sumerian MUL "constellation, star" = Latvian MIRDZ "sparkle"
and MURG- "fantasy picture, spirit, northern lights" i.e. R//L shift
Sumerian GISH "wood" = Latvian KUOKS
Sumerian LU "man" = Latvian LAU.DIS "folk, people", German LAIE
Sumerian ID "river" = Latvian UDens "water", ID-/IG- "marrow, water"
Sumerian ITI "month" = Latvian IETI "passage (of time)",
Old Indic TITH, Pharaonic THOTH
Sumerian KI "earth, place" = Latvian KUr "where" EKA "hall, place"
Sumerian MUSHEN "bird" = Latvian MUSHINA "fly"

The Sumerian term for a star "rising" is KUR-ma
= Latvian KURMS "hill" and KURMA "on(to) the hill".
The Sumerian term for a star going down, setting is SHU-bi
= Latvian SHUPI "swinging (down), German SCHUB).

Lines are given in sequence according to
Cuneiform Tablet Nr. 86378, British Museum.

DECIPHERMENT

The MUL.APIN series of astronomical
cuneiform tablets has been deciphered by
Werner Papke in Die Sterne von Babylon
(The Stars of Babylon), Gustav Luebbe
Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, 1989.

Papke uses the tablets to interpret the
epic of Gilgamesh. But they are far more
useful than that - thanks to Papke.
English translations of relevant
texts are by LexiLine. LexiLine comments
are prefaced with the initials AK.
The MUL.APIN tablet lists constellations,
stars and planets.