Position in chronology
A love song of Shu-Suen (Shu-Suen C)
Written in modern English
A young woman describes her hair: lush and well-watered like lettuce, its coiled locks tightened and lifted by her nursemaid, adorned with small combs so that everything about her is arranged and beautiful — her hair, she says, is the finest of plants. Shu-Suen, the handsome man, has turned his life-giving gaze on her and chosen her, and her allure, she insists, is endless. Several lines are too damaged to read. What follows is a direct address to Shu-Suen himself: he is their lord, gleaming like silver and lapis lazuli, the farmer who brings forth the finest grain.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLMy hair is lettuce, well watered. It is the sprout of a lettuce, well watered. Its tangled coils (?) have been tightened. My nursemaid has ...... them high and made my hair stag-like. She has tightened its small combs and brought order to my charms; my charms, my hair, the lettuce, is the fairest of plants. The brother has brought me into his life-giving gaze, Cu-Suen, the ...... handsome man, has chosen me. ...... my allure is without end, 1 line fragmentary 5 lines missing You are our lord, you are our lord, of silver and lapis lazuli, you are our lord. You are our farmer who brings superb grain.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
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Scholarly note
Composition c.2.4.4.3 in the ETCSL catalogue. Sumerian literary text reconstructed from multiple cuneiform manuscripts, the great majority Old Babylonian (c. 1900–1600 BCE). Translation reproduced from the ETCSL edition.
Attribution
Image: .
Translation excerpted from ETCSL c.2.4.4.3: A love song of Shu-Suen (Shu-Suen C). Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E. & Zólyomi, G. (eds.), The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.2.4.4.3.
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