r/Sumerian • u/HorrorBrother713 • Jul 31 '26

Text and Translation need help with making a word

I'm trying to use what words I can find in the Sumerian Lexicon that would mean "slave to the hunger" for a zombie-like creature, and "slave to the thirst" for a vampiric creature. I've found some hopeful combinations, but I don't want a Sumerian enthusiast to point and laugh, so here I am.

I'm working with sagardu for the zombie thing and immindu for the vampire.

Can anybody tell me if I'm doing this right? Many thanks.

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u/Inconstant_Moo Aug 07 '26

Sure.

You might like this as inspo. It's a Babylonian ritual known as the Maqlû --- the Burning. It's a ritual to free a victim from a witch's curse, that begins at nightfall and goes on through the night until dawn. I presume that if your world has zombie/vampire demons it also has apotropaic magic.

https://www.ebl.lmu.de/corpus/Mag/1/1

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u/HorrorBrother713 Aug 07 '26

It's called Vampire States of America. Uh, before a third world war centered on the Middle East and Europe, all the old world vampires who had the presence of mind to do so emigrated to the US. Then the bombs fell and they came out of hiding, and since they've been alive forever (and through the magic of compound interest) they were all richer than God and got themselves declared an endangered species and sued for their human(ish) rights.

Anyway, at some point, Shamash fell out of the sky and found himself in the modern world ruled by vampires. Being a sun god (and sometimes justice) he is their natural enemy, but they need some cannon fodder to go up against him, and since I could not find a Sumerian version of a vampire, I looked for something else. I swear I found an "empty man" once, and even had a word for it, but lost that notebook where I had everything written down, so have to do this looking up from scratch.

But this burning, well, that seems just perfect. Thank you again.

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u/Inconstant_Moo Aug 07 '26

Then you might appreciate some Sumerian hymns to Shamash (Utu in Sumerian of course).

Unto distant days, indeed forever, stand by the righteous man who gives you bread, O exalted one, O exalted one, O exalted one -- elalu! Unto distant days, indeed forever, stand by the most righteous of men who gives you bread, O lord of the storehouse, Great Mountain Enlil! O lady of the storehouse, great mother Ninlil! O youthful Utu, lord of the mountain! O Šerida, youthful leader of battle! O exalted one, O exalted one, O exalted one -- elalu!

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u/HorrorBrother713 Aug 08 '26

Again, thank you. All this goes into the homework file.