[fragment]

D^r Hincks

Millburn tower Edinburgh^<1>
Jan^y 27 – 62

D^r Sir

I have read with interest your remarks on the word kudur. I have a memorandum that kati assi means “I took in my hands” i.e. I took persons captive. If this is correct, Kudur assi may mean I took my helmet (or my crown whichever is correct): not, “I laid it aside”.

I am aware of the passage to which you refer in pl.18 l.67, but if you will look at line 56 in the same page, you will see by the sign prefixed, that the zabil-kuduri were men. They were the magistrates whom the king placed over the conquered cities of the land of Siruvi – I consider that their name denotes their dress which consisted of a flowing robe , and a mitra or lofty cap Kudur. In line 62 same page, of course means soldiers, but they were those of the enemy. Ikduru signifies “they took to flight”. Their place of refuge is then described. In line 63 the King’s soldiers follow them, and storm their stronghold. I do not agree with you that ana is required and not as, in the passage kudur as reshdu-ya assi. For we read in Nakshi Rustaur l.18 Maginat as reshdu-sun nasu.

It was not Ménant’s discovery that the character for King may have been originally the hieroglyphic for a wasp or bee. It was published by Oppert some years ago; at least I have known it for that length of time & always attributed the remark to Oppert.

I am rather disposed to agree with O. that has the value sakh – At least it appears that Kpu-sakh-kha means beloved.

There is not the least reason for supposing that Rawlinson took the idea from Oppert of the origin of polyphone sign s from an admixture of the writing and vocabulary of the Assyrians with Accadian, Scythic & other neighbouring nations. Norris & Rawlinson had studied the Scythic or Median writing and noticed that the Syllabic sounds sometimes represented real words in those other languages. I return Opperts letter to you and your answer. He is a man of talent and sagacity, but rare impartialité is hardly the quality I should have attributed to him. No doubt he has marked with the letter O a large number of signs first published by yourself and Rawlinson; – M. Ménant is his “noms propres Assyriens” p.59 gives 2 forms of the name Sardanapalus. I wish to ask if you ever met with either of them, and can refer me to the passage where it occurs To me it appears that these names may have had their origin [incomplete, ends here]

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Notes:

1. Millburn Tower, Gogar, just west of Edinburgh; the Talbot family made it their northern home from June 1861 to November 1863. It is particularly important because WHFT conducted many of his photoglyphic engraving experiments there. The house had a rich history. Built for Sir Robert Liston (1742-1836), an 1805 design by Benjamin Latrobe for a round building was contemplated but in 1806 a small house was built to the design of William Atkinson (1773-1839), best known for Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford. The distinctive Gothic exterior was raised in 1815 and an additional extension built in 1821. Liston had been ambassador to the United States and maintained a warm Anglo-American relationship in the years 1796-1800. His wife, the botanist Henrietta Liston, née Marchant (1751-1828) designed a lavish American garden, sadly largely gone by the time the Talbots rented the house .