KA-NI-JA-MI

Creator of the Sea (El epithet)

𐘾KAAB7757 entries𐘝NIAB3029 entries𐘱JAAB5774 entries𐘻MIAB7345 entries
limestone plaqueDrag to turn
Reading
qāniy-yammi
Confidence
Speculative
Root
*qVnVy- ‘acquire, create’ + *yamm- ‘sea’
Kind
Divine
Language
Semitic
Rank
—

Compared forms

  • Ugariticqnyt ʾilmqnyt ʾilm ‘Creatress of the Gods’ (KTU 1.4 III 26)—standard epithet of Athirat/Asherah
  • Hebrewקֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ qōnēh šāmayim wāʾāreṣ (Gen 14:19)—epithet of El ʿElyon; also קֹנֵה qōnēh alone as divine title
  • Phoenicianʾl qn ʾrṣ ‘El Creator of the Earth’ (KAI 26 III 18, Karatepe bilingual)
  • AmarnaEA 266:16—Canaanite vassal invokes qny in theophoric context
  • Amoriteqanij(ān)umqanij(ān)um ‘to create’ (QNJ; Gelb 1980, glossary p. 29); names KA-NI-IA-NU qaniyānu (no. 3980), fem. QA-NI-A-TUM (no. 5196); jammum ‘sea’ in IA-AM-MU-U₂ (no. 2946)

Attestations1 cited

  1. CR Zf 13DA-MA-WA-SI KA-NI-JA-MI I-JA QA-KI-SE-NU-TI A-TA-DECreator of the Sea (divine epithet)

Commentary

CR Zf 1, a gold pin of unknown findspot: A-MA-WA-SI · KA-NI-JA-MI. qāniy-yammi ‘Creator of the Sea’: the masculine construct participle qāniy (Amorite qanijum) with the genitive yammi ‘of the Sea’; KA writes q. √q-n-y is a Bronze Age divine epithet: Ugaritic qnyt ʾilm of Athirat (KTU 1.4 III 26); the Hittite divine name Elkunirša, ʾil qōnē ʾarṣ ‘El, creator of the earth’ (HALOT 1112), whose wife is Ašertu, Athirat (Olyan 1988, 41–42); Karatepe ʾl qn ʾrṣ (KAI 26 A III 18); Gen 14:19. El’s Ugaritic creation epithet is bny bnwt (KTU 1.4 II 11). Rival: -MI as mimation.

On the 3D inscriptions1 inscription

CR Zf 1Crete (findspot unknown)ka-ni-ja-mi…
Linear A Lexicon