Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (New Series)

Table of Contents - January 1979 - Volume 111, Issue 01  

Articles

Anatomical and pathological terms in Akkadian: Part II1

P. B. Adamson

The gilšu is found in both sexes and on both sides of the body. It is followed in the text series by qinnātu (GU.DU.MEŠ) “the buttocks”. This specific anatomical term appears to refer quite clearly to the upper part of the lower limb. Further evidence may be provided by the description of carrying children straddling the hip region, a form of transporting infants which is still widely practised among the more primitive peoples of Africa and Asia at the present time. As it is an obvious landmark, easily recognizable on the surface of the body; it may perhaps be the palpable mass formed by the protrusion of the greater trochanter of the femur. However, this is still open to question.

Footnotes

1 For Part I of this article, see JRAS, 1974, 2, 102–6.