I-DA-MA-TE
the Tower, a sacred title (DA-MA-TE with prothetic I-)
- Reading
- ʾidmat
- Confidence
- Candidate
- Root
- *dim- ‘tower’ 1, ‘borough’ 2
- Kind
- Ritual
- Language
- Semitic
- Rank
- #94 of the top 100
Compared forms
- Cf. Ugaritic dmt "tower", in "the tower of the mother of(?) the god[s(?)" (KTU 2.31:46), and dmtqdš "Tower" (DULAT 272); Akkadian dimtu "tower; fortified area, settlement; district" (CAD D 144–147; Huehnergard 1997). The unprefixed DA-MA-TE is independently attested at KY Za 2. Cf. Linear B da-ma-te, PY En 609.1, read δάμαρτες ‘household estates’ or Δαμάτηρ (DMic I 151), and Greek Δαμάτηρ (Dor., Arc., Boeot.), Δωμάτηρ (Aeol.), Δημήτηρ (Hom.) ‘Demeter’ (DELG 272–273).
Attestations2 cited
Commentary
AR Zf 1 and AR Zf 2, separate one-word inscriptions on votive double axes from Arkhalkhori, AR Zf 2 broken after TE (I-DA-MA-TE[). I-DA-MA-TE alternates with DA-MA-TE on KY Za 2, prothetic I- before the same base, Ug. dmt ‘tower’ (DULAT 272), as Heb. ʾezrōaʿ (Jer 32:21, Job 31:22) beside zərōaʿ ‘arm’ and BArm. ʾedrāʿ beside dərāʿ (HALOT 28), Ug. udmʿt beside dmʿt ‘tears’ (Tropper 2000, §33.423a), and Ebla iš-ba-um /ʾiṣbaʿum/ ‘finger’ (Lipiński 1997, §27.17). A sacred title: Ug. dmt stands in ‘the tower of the mother of(?) the god[s(?)’ (KTU 2.31:46). Cf. Magdalene, read as the epithet ‘the Tower’ since Jerome, Ep. 127 (turritae) (Taylor 2014; Schrader and Taylor 2021). Rival: a personal name, as for DA-MA-TE. Weak point: single words, with no sentence around them. Two attestations. See DA-MA-TE.