The fish

The phrase puzur nūnī at XI 44 is difficult – nūnu ‘fish’ is unproblematic, ⁷¹² but puzur is obscure. One can generally see how the phrase might fit into both the positive and negative versions of Ea’s message: positively, fish are foodstuffs; negatively, they form a natural pair with Flood waters. But the details are blurry. Ulla and Aage Westenholz take the view that puzur nūnī was “unintelligible to the Babylonians themselves”. ⁷¹³