A-SA-RA₂
locked house, work-house (of the sanctuary), heading its personnel classes; rivals ʾasīr- 'captives', aššum šarra 'concerning the queen'
- Reading
- ʾasāra
- Confidence
- Candidate
- Root
- *ʾVsir- ‘bind, join’ 1, ‘hobble’ 2
- Kind
- Administrative
- Language
- Semitic
- Rank
- —
Compared forms
- Eblaiteʔa₅-za-ru₁₂ ʔas(ā)rʔa₅-za-ru₁₂ ʔas(ā)r ‘locked house (for female weavers)’ (GlOS 1, 46, after ARET 12 517)
- AlalakhLÚ.MEŠ asirū, bonded household staff in the grain-delivery lists of Alalakh VII (Niedorf 2008, 80 n. 305, after Zeeb 2001, 235–41)
- Ugariticåsråsr ‘prisoner, captive’, pl. åsrm (KTU 4.382:6; 2.31:24; DULAT 111); RS Akk. LÚ a-sí-ru
- Akkadianasīruasīru ‘prisoner of war, captive used as worker’ (OB administrative and western texts, Mari to Boğazköy); bīt asīri ‘prisoner compound’, kurummat bīt asīri ‘food rations for the prisoner compound’ (CAD A/2 331–32)
- Hebrewʾāsîrʾāsîr ‘prisoner’; bēt hāʾēsūr ‘prison’ (HALOT 73)
- Egyptiangroup writing ʔa₂-ṯi₂-ra ‘captive’ (GlOS 1, 46, after Hoch, SWET 45f., no. 40)
Attestations1 cited
Commentary
HT89 A-SA-RA₂ · *307 (dubur ‘sanctuary’) heads five personnel classes, KU-RO 87, then rations of cyperus, figs and wine. Written as one group, with no divider or space between A and SA (GORILA I 141). A-SA-RA₂ writes ʾasāra with the vowels of Ebla ʔa₅-za-ru₁₂ ʔas(ā)r ‘locked house’ (GlOS 1, 46): the sanctuary’s work-house, named over the classes it holds, as VIR+*307 names sanctuary personnel. Its staff are of the kind of the asirū of Alalakh VII, bonded household staff in grain-delivery lists (Niedorf 2008, 80 n. 305); cf. the Gibeonites made hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God (Josh 9:23, 27) and the captives given to the Levites (Num 31:47); compare MA-I-MI, TA-RA. Rivals: ʾasīr- ‘captives’ (Ug. åsr, Akk. asīru), which wants SI for /sī/; A + SA-RA₂ ‘concerning the queen’, A as abbreviated Akkadian aššum (EA 287:34; Huehnergard 2008: 285, 399), a cut the tablet does not mark. One witness.