I am going to present the basic technique of Semitic scribes. This time a Sumerian phrase is used to imbue an Akkadian word with the meaning and its phonetic value. Usually scribes use the double switch (a Sumerian and Akkadian word exchange their respective semantic meaning and their phonetic values) but this time the Akkadian word receives both the meaning and the phonetic representation from two Sumerian words at the same time.

Proto-Semitic: *kann-at- 1 ~ *kinatt- 2

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: 'daughter/sister-in-law' 1, 'menial' 2, (?) 'concubine' 3

Akkadian: kinattu 'menial, person of servile status attached to a household, doing agricultural and other work under supervision; person of equal social status, comrade, colleague' , from OB on (CAD k, 381; AHw, 479); kinītu 'eine Nebenfrau?' (concubine) SB (AHw, 480, not in CAD) (=qinītu 'concubine, second-rating wife' LL (CAD q, 254)

Hebrew: *kǝnāt 'Gefährte' (KB deutsch, 463)

Aramaic: Off. knt 'companion, colleage' (HJ, 520-1)

Biblical Aramaic: *kǝnāt 'Kollege' (KB deutsch, 1725)

Judaic Aramaic: knt 'colleage' (Sokoloff, 264; < Akk)

Syrian Aramaic: kǝnāt- 'collega, socius; socia' (Brock., 334; < Akk.)

Arabic: kann-at- 'belle-fille, femme du fils; belle-soeur, femme du frère' (BK 2, 932)

Tigre: kǝnto 'title for girls with the Mänsa' (LH, 416)

Notes: Considered an Akkadism in Aram.

UNIL [MENIAL] (11x: Old Babylonian) wr. UN.IL₂; u₂-il₂; u₃-il₂ "a menial" Akk. kinattu

[1]		UN.IL2
[2]		u2-il2
[3]		u3-il2

3 distinct forms attested; click to view forms table.

1. a menial (11x/100%)

~ LEX/Old Babylonian/Nippur uĝ₃-il₂ OB Nippur Lu 573. ELA/Ur III/Girsu [... u₂]-il₂ ^dnanše nina^ki-ta TUT 157 r iii 4; 1(aš@c) 1(barig) 4(diš) pu₂-ta-pa₃-da u₂^!-il₂ UDT 059 o i 15.unknown/Ur III/Girsu [u₂]-il₂ anše kunga₂ ^dba-ba₆-me DoCu 501 o iii 7; 2(diš) sila₃ u₂-il₂ MVN 17, 059 o ii 5; 1(barig) še-ba u₂-il₂ SNAT 010 2.

See: ugula e UNIL; ugula UNIL.

Akk. kinattu "employee, menial".

Clearly Akk. kinattu is represented through rebus representation by Sumerian nina^ki-ta

The Akkadian cognate could be a Sumerism. But what matters is the fact that the particle -ta of the Sumerian cognate agrees with the feminine -t- ending of Semitic nouns.

UN

kalam (kalama)

kalam [LAND].

uĝ₃ (un unu₄ u₁₂ ug₃)

uĝ [PEOPLE].

IL₂

il₂ (ila₂ ili₂)

il [BASKET] (^ĝešil₂).

il [BIRD] (il₂^mušen).

il [RAISE] (il₂^li₂).

il [TAX].

il [WORKER].

ilila [LEVER] (^ĝešil₂).

The Goddess Nina has been described as She who assigned the destinies of lives while swimming as a fish, and it was also said that . . . the sacred sign that spelled Her name [was] the same as the sign of the City of Nineveh. . .

The goddess Nina was initially a male mermaid god. But then the Semitic scribe attaches to the name the ending -ta in order to mark the feminine aspect of the noun.

AB

ab (aba ap)

ab [FISH] (ab^ku₆).

ab [SEA].

ab [WINDOW].

abba [FATHER].

HA

gir₁₄

gir [UNMNG].

ha

(see full listing)

ku₆

kud [FISH].

AB×HA

Also: nanše, našše, nazi, nigin₆, niĝin₆, nina, sirara, siraran.

^dnanše nina^ki-ta 

AB×HA = nanše, našše, nazi = nina

nina^ki > niĝin Homophones

niĝin = LAGAB.LAGAB

niĝin₂ = LAGAB

niĝin₃ = U.UD.KID

niĝin₅ = LAL₂.LAGAB

niĝin₆ = AB×HA

niĝin₈ = LAL₂.SAR

niĝin₉ = LAL.SAR

niĝin_x = BULUG

What matters is not the origin of the name of Akk. kinattu or Sumerian nina^ki-ta. What really creates another case of a wide spread pattern of Sumerian (Semitic) scribes is their technique of switching phonetic values of a Semitic word to Sumerian or vice versa by means of relation of that word to another.

Sumerian [... u₂]-il₂ ^dnanše nina^ki-ta = Akkadian "employee, menial".

Sumerian [... u₂]-il₂ gives Akkadian kinattu the meaning [people - worker] while Sumerian nina^ki-ta gives the Akkadian word its phonetic representation.

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