The birds

At XI 43–44, in the first two lines of the ‘you’ section of Ea’s message, we hear that

[ana ^? k] âšunu ušazna [n] akkunūši nuhšam-ma

[hi-ṣib] iṣṣūrāti pu-zur nūnī

I/He will zanānu down [upon] you nuhšam-ma,

[hiṣbu] of birds (and) puzru of fish.

Ex. 107 (Gilgameš XI 43–44) ⁶⁶⁵ The ambiguity of line 43, and the different senses of zanānu and nuhšu, were discussed above. Here we will treat the first half of line 44: [hiṣib] iṣṣūrāti. We will begin with the restoration, then move on to the positive and negative senses.