Watson (1988) More on Metathetic Parallelism

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More on Metathetic ParallelismAuthor(s): Wilfred G. E. WatsonSource: Die Welt des Orients, Bd. 19 (1988), pp. 40-44Published by: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (GmbH & Co. KG)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25683288

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2/6

More

on

Metathetic

Parallelism

By Wilfred G. E. Watson, Newcastle upon Tyne

The

type

of

parallelism

considered

briefly

here is

"Metathetic

Parallel

ism",

first

identified

by

N.

Bronznick

in

several

Hebrew

texts.1)

It

is

a

form

of

synonymous

parallelism

where

the

corresponding objects

and

predicates

are

transposed.

For

example,

in

Ps.35,7

ky

"For

hnm

tmnw

ly

sht

secretly

they

hid

a

pit

for

me,

rstm hnm hprw Inpsy their net they secretly dug for

my

person"

it

is

evident

that

the

terms

sahat,

"pit",

and

reset,

"net"

only

make

sense

if

they

are

interchanged

(nets

are

not

dug;

cf.

v.

8 "let the

net

which

they

hid

ensnare

them").

The

switch

is

not

actually

effected but

the

sentence

is

read

as

if

ithad been

and

only

then

does

the

couplet

become

intelligible.

This

type

of

implied

transposition

within

a

line

or

couplet

Bronznick

aptly named metathetic parallelism.2) The present note provides fur

ther

confirmation

for

his

proposal.

We

can

begin

with

a

simple

from

of

such

implied

metathesis

in

Hos.

13,12b,

an

example

not

mentioned

by

Bronznick:

zbhy

^dm

eglym

ysqwn

"sacrificing

men,

they

kiss

calves."

P.Mosca

would

see

this

line

as

ironic:

"These

people

have

everything

backwards.

Instead

of

kissing

human

beings

and

sacrificing

calves,

the

fools

have

reversed

the

process ".3)

J)

N.M.

Bronznick,

'Metathetic

Parallelism':

-

An

Unrecognized

Subtype

of

Synon

ymous

Parallelism,

Hebrew

Annual

Review

(= HAR)

3

(1979)

25-39.

2)

The

examples

discussed

by

Bronznick

are

Jes.

17,5;

22,3; 29,3,5;

49,25;

54,14;

55,5;

Am.

6,11; 8,12;

Mic.

2,1;

Pss.

25,14;

50,19;

90,9; 105,18;

Prv.

18,15;

Job

13,25;

30,17; 38,30;

In

a

footnote,

HAR

3

(1979)

36

n.3,

he refers

to

Jer.

8,15;

Am.

5,21;

Pss.

23,5; 56,13;

74,19;

Job

6,11

and

13,26.

Not

all these

are

convincing.

He

also

gives

an

example

from

an

Amidah

prayer.

3)

P.

Mosca,

Child Sacrifice

in

Canaanite

and Israelite

Religion:

A

Study

in

Mulk

and mlk, Harvard, 1975, 258 n. 155 (unavailable to me but cited by G.C.Heider, The

Cult

of

Molek.

A

Reassessment

[Sheffield,

1985]

312

n.617).

A.R.W.Green,

The

Role

of

Human Sacrifice

in theAncient

Near East

(Missoula

1975)

172-173

discusses

the

problems

of

Hos.

13,2

and

though

he

can

provide

no

solution,

concludes:

"there

is

no

doubt

that Hosea

is

talking

about

something

terrible

and

sacrilegious

in

the

first

crisis

Welt

des Orients

19,

40-44,

ISSN 0043-2547

?

Vandenhoeck

&

Ruprecht

1989

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3/6

More

on

Metathetic

Parallelism

41

Another additional

example,

this

time

of

metathetic

parallelism,

is

Hab.

3,8b:

ky trkb rl-swsyk "when you mounted your

horses,

mrkbtyk

ysw'h

your

chariots

of

victory".

In

his

recent

study

of

Hab.3,

Hiebert

comments: "P.

Humbert,

suggesting

that

it is

customary

for the warrior

in

the ancient

Near East

tomount

his

chariot rather

than the horses

that

draw

it,

reverses

the order of the

paral

lel

pair

swsyk/mrkbtyk.

He

has

some

support

for his

position

in

that Barb

(i.

e.

Codex

Barberini)

appears

to

reflect this

same

reversal. But

all

other

versions

support

the

MT.

The

usual

sequence

of

the

parallel pair swsym/

mrkbh in

biblical

poetry

favors

the order

here...

as

does the

meter...

It

is

best

to

understand this bicolon

as

containing

'imagistic

parallelism'

in

which the

poet

does

not

seek

to

refer

to two

separate

acts

but

a

single

act

described with

two

related

images".4)

It

is

possible,

instead,

that

Humbert's

suggestion

of

reversing

the

components

of

the

word

pair

is

correct

if

understood

as a

form

of metathetic

parallelism.

Although

Bronznick

only

discussed Hebrew

passages,

metathetic

par

allelism

is also found

in

texts

outside Hebrew. One

occurrence

is in

an

Akkadian su.il.la prayer:5)

napluski

tasmu

qibTtki

nuru

"Your

glance

is

favourable

hear

ing,

your

word,

light."

In

his

study

of this

poem,

Sperling

commented: "the

poet

has

effected

a

chiastic

transfer

of

properties

between

the

faculties of

seeing

and

hear

ing."6)

He added: "A

lesser

poet

would have

preferred

'Your

glance

is

light,

Your word

is

light'."7)

In

fact,

this

is

an

example

of

metathetic

par

allelism

(although

Sperling

did

not

use

that

description)

and

the line is

intended to be understood as:

"Your

glance

is

light,

your

word is

favourable

hearing."

It

would

seem

that

this

sequence

was

adopted

so

that the first

part

of the

line

(especially

tasmu)

could

be

linked

with

the

end of

the

preceding

line

of

the

north

Kingdom.

Within

this

context

human sacrifice

may

well

have

been

intended."

(I

owe

this

last

reference

to

Prof.

W.

Rollig).

For

yet

another

solution

cf.

F.

I.Andersen/D. N. Freedman, Hosea (Garden

City 1980)

632. Another

example

may be

Job

16,6.

4)

T.

Hiebert,

God

of

my

Victory.

The Ancient

Hymn

in

Habakkuk

3

(Atlanta

1986)

24

n.32.

5)

Discussed

most

recently by

S.

D.

Sperling,

A

su-il-la

to

Istar

(Ebeling,

Handerhe

bung 60),

WO

12

(1981)

8-20.

6)

Sperling,

WO

12

(1981)

18.

7)

Sperling,

WO

12

(1981)

20.



4/6

42

Wilfred

G.E.Watson

(rev.

20):

ki tabu

suppuki

ki

qerub

nesmuki

(variant:

semuki),

"How

sweet

are

prayers

to

you

How

near

is

your

favour "8)

Another, less certain example

-

less certain

because

it

occurs

on

a

seal,

a

material

on

which

mistakes

were

common

-

is:

dumu.gisidingiri.am

"son

of

two-thirds

man

and

one

third

god."9)

This

would

appear

to

invert

the

well-known

description

of

Gilgamesh

(as

in

GE

I

ii

1

and

elsewhere):

sittinsu

ilu-ma

sullultasu

amelutu

"he

was

one-third

god

and

two

thirds

man."

Most

probably,

however,

the

inscription

on

the

seal

is incorrect.

An

intermediate

stage

is

represented

by

a

line

from

an

Old

Babylonian

prayer

recently

studied

by

B.Groneberg.10)

It

runs:

burmi-inlja

dimatum

"The

iris of

my

eyes

weeps,

izannun

parsdt

the

tears

are

flowing."11)

Groneberg

comments:

?Ich

nehme

an,

daB

sich

das

Verb

izannun

auf

burminTja

bezieht

und

parsdt

auf

dimatum."12)

This

can

be

represented

schematically as:

burmi-Tmja

dimatum

izannun

parsdt

a

a'

b

b'

where

the metathesis

aa'

// bb'

marks

the

transition

between

parallelism

8)

Such

linking

occurs

elsewhere

and

may

explain

the

curious

word

order

in

the

Des

cent

of

Istar,

(Bab.)

2-3:

dIstar marat dStn uzunsa [iskun]

iskunma

marat

dSin

uzu[nsa]

"Istar,

Sin's

daughter,

set

her

mind,

yes,

set Sin's

daughter

her

mind."

E.

Reiner,

Your

thwarts

in

pieces,

Your

mooring

rope

cut.

Poetry

from

Babylonia

and

Assyria

(Michigan

1985)

31-32

comments:

"In

other

poems,

such

pairs

of

lines

are

usually

built

on

the

same

pattern,

and

in

fact

are

identical

but

for

the

fact

that

the

sec

ond

of

the

pair

adds

the

hero's

name

...

Here this

poetic

convention

is

reversed

...

The

inversion,

by

placing

the

verb

first,

also

gives

syntactic

prominence

to

the

predicate

which

in the

first

line

stands

...

at

the

end

of

the

sentence,"

but makes

no

reference

to

the

linkage

so effected.

9)

H.Limet,

Les

legendes

des

sceaux cassites

(Brussels

1971)

108-109.

10)

B.Groneberg,

Eine

Einfiihrungsszene

in

der

altbabyblonischen

Literatur:

Bemer

kungen

zum

personlichen

Gott,

in:

K.Hecker/W.Sommerfeld,

Keilschriftliche

Litera

turen

=

CRRAI

XXXII,

Berlin

1986)

93-108.

The

text

s

IM

58424.

n)

IM 58424:

18.

According

to

Groneberg,

Einfiihrungsszene,

102,

burmTmja

is

a

sandhi

spelling

of

burmi-Tmja.

12)

Groneberg,

Einfiihrungsszene,

102.



5/6

More

on

Metathetic

Parallelism

43

of the

type

ab

//

a'b'

(alternating

parallelism)13)

and true

metathetic

par

allelism,

ab'

//

a'b.

A

related

form

is the chiastic

patterning

in BAM

No.214

II 10-11:

dsamas

dayyan

same u

ersetim

dayydn

miti

u

balati

attama

"O

Shamash,

the

judge

of

the heavens and the

netherworld,

the

judge

of the dead

and the

living

are

you."14)

The

expected

sequence

to

match

same u

ersetim

would be

balati

u

miti.

Finally,

the

strange Babylonian extispicy

BRM

4

12:26

may

be

yet

another

illustration

of

metathetic

parallelism:

asar

(KI)

mw//(BAD)

iballut

asar

balati imdt

"(if it is in) the area of death, he will getwell, (if in) the area of life,

he

will

die."15)

The

Ugaritic

texts

provide

us

with

a

particularly

clear

example.

It is the

formulaic

phrase

rgm's

wlhst

abn

(KTU

1.3

III 22 f. and

par.)

conventionally

translated

"a

tale

of

trees

and

a

whisper

of

stones."16)

In

point

of

fact,

the

imagery

here

is of the

wind

rustling

the

leaves of the

tress

and

making

them

whisper.17)

In

addition,

Ug.

rgm

is

equivalent

to

Akkadian rigmu, which denotes a loud noise (AHw. 982-983 a). If the

components

of

this

line

are

actually

in

metathetic

parallelism (as

*lhst's

wrgm

abn)

then the

more

natural and

expected

translation

would be:

"a

whisper

of

trees

and

the noise

of

stones".

It is

possible

that

rgm

was

placed

first

in

the line

in

order

to

match the

two

neighbouring

lines both of which

also

begin

with

rgm: rgm

it

ly

13)

For

a

possible

origin

in

alternating

parallelism

cf.

Bronznick,

HAR

3

(1979)

37.

On alternating parallelism cf. J.T.Willis, Alternating (ABA'B') Parallelism in the Old

Testament

Psalms and

Prophetic

Literature,

in:

E.Follis,

ed.,

Directions

in

Biblical

Hebrew

Poetry (Sheffield

1987)

49-76

and

E.Zurro,

Procedimientos

iterativos

en

la

poesia

ugaritica

y

hebrea

(Rome 1987)

218-239.

14)

Text:

T.Abusch,

HTR 80

(1987)

27.

15)

Parallel:

K

9513

(unpublished),

cf.

R.

Borger,

HKL

II,

34.

For the translation

see

CAD M2

317b.

16)

So

Gibson,

CML2,

49. Here rs

and

'bn

are

probably

collective

nouns.

Similarly,

"Es

un

asunto

de madera

y

una

charla

de

piedra,"

G.

del Olmo

Lete,

MLC,

184;

"la

parola

dell'albero

e

il

mormorio

della

pietra,"

P.Xella,

Gli

antenati

di

Dio

(Verona

1982) 101; also,M. A. Korpel/J.C. deMoor, UF 18 (1986) 205.

17)

According

to

Gibson, CML,

49

n.4,

this line

refers

"simply

to

the

action

of

the

wind,

picturesquely represented

as

the

conversation of the

various natural

phenom

ena."

Comparable

is

KTU

1.82:43

krsm.

Ittn. kabnm.

th( )ggn,

"if

the

trees

do

not

mur

mur,

if

the

stones

make

no

sound." The

subject

of the

verb

hgg

is

"trees"

and

of

ytn

(with

ellipsis

of

ql)

is

"stones"

(metathetic

parallelism).

Contrast

J.C.

de

Moor,

An

Anthology

of

Religious

Texts from

Ugarit, (Leiden

1987)

181

("if

the

trees

o

not

give

[sound],

if

the stones

do

not

murmur")

and

his

comment,

180,

n.40.



6/6

44Wilfred G.E.Watson

wargmk

(lines 20d-21)

and

rgm

ltd'

mm

(line 27).18)

Less certain is KTU 1.6 V

17-19,

where Mot

says

to

Baal:

flk

.

pht. gly--bsdm.

"On

your

account

I

experienced

sinking

?)

in the

fields,

elk

.

pht

dre.

bym

on

your

account

I

experienced

sowing

in

the

sea,"

which

corresponds

to

the

single

line

(KTU

1.6

II

34-35):

bsd

tdr'.nn

"In

a

field

she

(Anath)

scattered

him

(Mot)."

This

is

an

indication,

perhaps,

that

in

the

couplet

too,

dre,

"sowing"

of

the second line really refers to bsdm, "in the fields," of the first, so that

gly.

-

(whatever

it

may

mean)

is connected

with

bym,

"in

the

sea"

of

the

second

line.19)

Bronznick

concluded his

note

by

discussing

possible

functions

of

metathetic

parallelism.

He listed

three

:

(1)

it

enables

the

poet

"to

arrange

for

the

concluding

words

of

the

first

stich

to

be

read

together

with

the

opening

words of the second

stich

as a

unit;"

(2)

the B-word

of

a

word

pair

can

come

in

the

A-word

position,

and

(3)

it is

used

for the

purpose

of

foreshadowing,"

i.e.,

proleptically.

Whichever

function

is

foremost,

the overall effect of metathetic

parallelism,

according

to Bronznick, is to

interlock

the

components

of

a

couplet.20)

The

functions of

metathetic

parallelism

in

the

Akkadian

and

Ugaritic

passages

presented

here

have

been discussed above.

The

examples

of metathesis

from Hebrew

and

Akkadian

given

here

as

well

as

the

additional

examples

of

metathetic

parallelism

in

languages

other than Hebrew show

that this

form

of

parallelism

must

now

be

accepted

as

a

genuine

sub-type

of

synonymous

parallelism.

There

is

no

doubt that future research

will extend

the

range

of instances.

18)Note theanacrusis ofdm; according toKorpel/de Moor, UF 18 (1986) 205, rgm.

es

etc.

begins

a new

strophe.

19)

On

gly

see now

G.

A.

Rendsburg,

JAOS

107

(1987)

627

(according

to

him

it

denotes

a

downward

movement)

and

on

the

whole

passage,

J.

F.

Healey,

"Burning

the

Corn:

new

light

n

the

killing

of

Motu",

Or 52

(1983)

248-251.

20)

Bronznick,

HAR

3

(1979)

37-38.

On

anadiplosis,

reversal

and

interlocking

cf.

W.

G.

E.

Watson,

Classical

Hebrew

Poetry

A

Guide

to

its

echniques

(Sheffield

1986)

208-213,

356-359

and 273

respectively.


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