# Babylonian: King



## franknagy

The ancient denominations of rulers, like pharaoh, tyrannus, despota were preserved and widely used in living languages.
 The word for Babylonian or Assyrian king has lost.
What was the "king" in the language of Babylon?


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## fdb

The Akkadian (Babylonian/Assyrian) word for “king” is šarru. The Sumerian word is lugal (literally: “great man”).


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## tFighterPilot

While the word is not used in any modern language, its Hebrew cognate, שר (sar) is used in modern Hebrew in the meaning of "minister".


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## franknagy

Thank you for you answer, fdb.


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## franknagy

tFighterPilot said:


> While the word is not used in any modern language, its Hebrew cognate, שר (sar) is used in modern Hebrew in the meaning of "minister".


A little play with the words. 
XY minister is שרש
"sár"=mud.
"sáros"="muddy" = committed sg.


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## mundiya

fdb said:


> The Akkadian (Babylonian/Assyrian) word for “king” is šarru. The Sumerian word is lugal (literally: “great man”).



Is there an Akkadian word related to Arabic "malik" or "sultaan"?


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## origumi

mundiya said:


> Is there an Akkadian word related to Arabic "malik" or "sultaan"?


Akkadian malku = king.
Akkadian shalatu = to rule.


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## ancalimon

Isn't šarru similar to czar? (çar in Turkish)


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## fdb

ancalimon said:


> Isn't šarru similar to czar? (çar in Turkish)



Russian czar/tsar is from Caesar, nothing to do with Babylonian.


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## fdb

origumi said:


> Akkadian malku = king.
> Akkadian shalatu = to rule.



Yes, but…

Akkadian malku is used very rarely for the Babylonian or Assyrian king; usually it designates a foreign king. It is in any event not the main word for “king” in Akkadian.

The root š-l-ṭ does mean “to rule”, but there is no word for “king” from this root in Akkadian. Actually, in Arabic sulṭān is primarily an abstract noun “rule, dominion” and only later does it take on the meaning “ruler, king”.


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## WadiH

Do we know the original meaning of the root for _sh__ar_?



fdb said:


> Yes, but…
> 
> Akkadian malku is used very rarely for the Babylonian or Assyrian king; usually it designates a foreign king. It is in any event not the main word for “king” in Akkadian.



This is interesting.  Do we know why they preferred a different word for foreign kings as opposed to local ones?



> The root š-l-ṭ does mean “to rule”, but there is no word for “king” from this root in Akkadian. Actually, in Arabic sulṭān is primarily an abstract noun “rule, dominion” and only later does it take on the meaning “ruler, king”.



In the Quran it seems to mean "authority" in the sense of a "mandate" or "justification".


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## Abaye

Wadi Hanifa said:


> Do we know the original meaning of the root for _sh__ar_?


Akkadian šarru seems related to Hebrew s-r-r (with "sin", so an Arabic cognate is expected to be sh-r-r).
The meaning: as a verb: to rule, govern. As a noun: governor, minister (wazir), prince, high rank commander in the military.


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## WadiH

Abaye said:


> Akkadian šarru seems related to Hebrew s-r-r (with "sin", so *an Arabic cognate is expected to be sh-r-r*).



Yes, which means "evil" or "harm"!


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## Abaye

Wadi Hanifa said:


> Yes, which means "evil" or "harm"!


I think that Arabic _sharir_ شرير "evil" has nothing similar in any other Semitic language.

BTW, "sin" in my post above refers to the Hebrew letter name, not to the English word.


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## WadiH

Was too good to be true I guess.

I think it's plausible to think the شرّ for 'evil' or 'harm' is related to شرر for flying sparks, which in turn seems related to the older Afro-Asiatic/Proto-Semitic sense of 'flying' in the link you posted.


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