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spectacular finds: Sum. arhu [WOMB] (45x: ED IIIb, Lagash II, Old Babylonian) wr. arhu; arhu2; arhu5; arhu6 "membrane; afterbirth; womb; compassion" Akk. ipu; rmu [1] [2] [3] [4] arhu arhu2 arhu5 arhu6

5 distinct forms attested; click to view forms table. 1. membrane (45x/100%) ~ LEX/ED IIIb/unknown ama arhu Early Dynastic Lu E 176. LEX/Old Babylonian/Nippur [[arhu]] = [ar-hu-u] =[E2SAL] = re-mu OB Aa 226:1. unknown/Old Babylonian/unknown arhu IM 070209 o iv 23. See: ama arhu; na arhu. 2. afterbirth 3. womb 4. compassion Akk. ipu "membrane; afterbirth"; rmu "womb". Sumerian cognate has preserved the Semitic sound -h-. Scribes did not include the sound in Akkadian because they were in their first stages of formulating Sumerian and they had no idea how to differentiate the two. It means that both Sumerian And Akkadian were created languages in the laboratory. Proto-Semitic: *rah(i)m-/*rihmAfroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology Meaning: womb Akkadian: rmu, rmu 'Mutterleib' OB on [AHw 970] (also rmtu SB do. [ibid.])

Eblaitic: ri-ex(EN)-mu, ri-mu-um /rehmum/ 'uterus' [Kr 14; Bl E No. 80] Phoenician: *rhm 'seno' (in rhm-y 'su seno') [Estanol 227] Hebrew: rhm, raham 'womb' [KB 1217] Aramaic: DALLA rhm 'womb' [HJ 1070] Judaic Aramaic: raham, rahm 'orifice of the matrix, womb' [Ja 1467] Syrian Aramaic: rahm 'uterus' [Brock 724] Modern Aramaic: MAL rahmt_a 'Barmhertzigkeit' [Berg 76] HRT rahme 'Gnade' [J Hert 197] NASS rah_mi (pl.) 'pity' [Tser 0195] MMND rehem 'love' [M MND 510] Arabic: rahim-, rihm- 'uterus' [BK 1 838] Tigre: rhm 'womb, descent' [LH 146]. Possibly but not necessarily an Arabism; cf. TNA in the comments below Mehri: rahm 'womb' [JM 321]; also mrhm do. [ibid. 322] Jibbali: rahm 'womb' [JJ 210]; (EAST) mrham 'womb' [JM 322] Notes: Note a derived meaning in TNA rhm-u 'bocconi, a ventre a terra' [Bass 141], hardly a loan from ARB, which makes one hesitate in qualifying TGR rhm 'womb, descent', the only ETH example meaning 'womb', as an Arabism. MHR and JIB rhm are quite likely Arabisms, while forms in m- are shaped after a derived pattern and look genuine. There is a derived meaning 'compassion, pity, mercy, kindness' and a corresponding verb to be reconstructed for as early as PSEM: AKK rmu, rmu 'Erbarmen, Mitleid' OB on [AHw 970]; UGR rhm 'mitleidsvoll, liebevoll sein' [Aist 291]; HBR rhm (kal, pi) 'to love, to meet someone with love, to take pity on someone' [KB 1217], rahamm 'a feeling of love, loving sensation, mercy' [ibid. 1218] (with an unusual vocalism, instead of *rhmm); ARM: BIB rahamn 'Erbarmen' [KB deutsch 1781], MND RHM 'to love, to have pity' [DM 426]; ARB rhm 'etre compatissant, avoir pitie de quelqu'un' [BK 1 838]; SAB rhm 'to be merciful' [SD 116]; MSA: MHR rhm 'to be kind to so.' [JM 321], HRS rehm 'to pity' [JH 103], JIB raham 'to be kind' [JJ 210]. Note that in ETH only a variant root *mhr with metathesis is attested (HAR rahmt 'mercy, compassion' [LHar 134] and related forms are Arabisms): GEZ mhr 'to have compassion' [LGz 336], TGR mhar 'to have pity' [LH 111], TNA mhar 'avere pieta' [Bass 78], AMH mar 'to pardon, forgive, to have mercy' [K 171], EAST: WOL mar, SEL ZWY mr 'to forgive, pardon' [LGur 417]. Rather of an areal usage is another derived meaning, 'slavegirl', attested in UGR and CAN languages only: UGR rhm 'Maid' [Aist 291], MOAB rhm 'kriegsgefangene Konkubine' [Segert 266], HBR rhm 'slavegirl' (in Ju 5:30) [KB 1217]. [Fron 47] (*rahm- /ARB,SYR,HBR,UGR rhm 'ragazza' AKK/); [Holma 104]: AKK, ARB, HBR, ARM; [KB 1217]: HBR, ARM, AKK, UGR, ARB Sum. [[arhu]] = [ar-hu-u] not only is a phonetic representation of Semitic [rahmt] but it has even preserved the /t feminine particle of Semitic tongues. We can see the effort to divide the cognate according to the trilateral Semitic system: [ar-hu-u]. Homophones in Sumerian are used as an artificial agent to ensure the switch of a phonetic and semantic value from Akkadian to Sumerian and vice versa. Homophones arhu = GA2SAL arhu2 = NUN.LAGARSAL arhu3 = NUN.LAGARMA arhu4 = GA2AN

arhu5 = A2.TUR arhu6 = A2.SAL arhu7 = A2.GA2SAL arhux = E2SAL A spectacular development of these particular homophones is their division into masculine and feminine nouns: Masculine: arhu2 = NUN.LAGARSAL arhu3 = NUN.LAGARMA Feminine: arhu = GA2SAL arhu4 = GA2AN arhu5 = A2.TUR arhu6 = A2.SAL arhu7 = A2.GA2SAL arhux = E2SAL

GA2SAL ama5 ama [CHAMBER]. arhu arhu [WOMB]. ur14 ur [UNMNG]. u3 u [MEMBRANE]. Akkadian workshop: Also: [...], am5, ame2, ami2, eme8. NUN.LAGARSAL NUN LAGAR SAL

arhu2 (arhus2) arhu [WOMB]. immal2 immal [COW]. ilam ilam [COW] (ab2ilam). u5 u [MEMBRANE]. Akkadian workshop: Also: allam, ilax(|NUN.LAGARSAL|) NUN.LAGARMA NUN LAGAR U.U

immal immal [COW]. allam2 ilam [COW]. ilam2 (allam2) ilam [COW] (ab2ilam2). u6 u [MEMBRANE]. Akkadian workshop: Also: arhu3, alam2.

GA2AN ama ama [MOTHER]. dagal (see full listing) daal (dagal dagala) daal [WIDE].

aganx(|GA2AN|) agan [~PIG](aganx(|GA2AN|)gan). Akkadian workshop: Also: ame, ami, ammax(|GA2AN|), arhu4, damal, /damal/, eme4, hegal, imi2, max(| GA2AN|), akkan7. A2.TUR arhu5 arhu [WOMB]. A2.SAL arhu6 arhu [WOMB]. A2.GA2SAL Also: arhu7. E2SAL Also: [...], amax(|E2SAL|), arhux(|E2SAL|), emex(|E2SAL|), urx(|E2SAL|), ux(|E2SAL|). immal [COW] (16x: Old Babylonian) wr. immal2; im-ma-al; immal; immalx(| NUN.LAGAR|) "wild cow; cow" Akk. arhu; littu ilam [COW] (22x: ED IIIa, Ur III, Old Babylonian) wr. ilam; ab2ilam; ab2ilam2; a3-lam; allam2; ab2NUN.LAGAR "cow; bovine" Akk. arhu; litt u [MEMBRANE] (3x: Old Babylonian) wr. u3; u5; u6 "membrane; womb; afterbirth" Akk. ipu; siltu; siltu arhu [WOMB] (45x: ED IIIb, Lagash II, Old Babylonian) wr. arhu; arhu2; arhu5; arhu6"membrane; afterbirth; womb; compassion" Akk. ipu; rmu The Semitic scribe used the common switch: Akkadian word for cow became Sumerian word for womb and Akkadian word for womb, afterbirth became Sumerian word for cow. Akkadian arhu [COW] > Sumerian arhu [WOMB] > u [MEMBRANE] Akkadian siltum [MEMBRANE; WOMB; AFTERBIRTH] > Sumerian ilam [COW] > immal [COW] How do we know that this is the right explanation? We are sure of the arbitrary solution to the Sumerian problem because there is no etymologically (naturally) evolution of Sumerian language. It is an artificial tongue. The scribe arbitrarily changed the sounds of a word

through transposition, for example: ilam [COW] > immal [COW] or cut the words arhu [WOMB] > u [MEMBRANE]. There is no language evolution going on here. Finally the mirror effect seals the fate of Sumerian. When a double switch comes to effect, the fate of Sumerian as an artificial medium becomes complete.