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mašāḫu

Akkadian verb

Last edited: 2024-03-24
Primary meaning to compute
Literal translation -
Variants
im-šuḫ imšuḫ Pret 3 sg. of mašāḫu
Edited by
to compute? mathematical operation, mathematical expression

meaning attested in mathematical astronomy connected to production of tables. Since the subject is the scribe's hand, the conventional meaning "to compute" is inaccurate.

[... A] ⸢ša₂ md.EN-A-URU₃⸣-šu₂ A md.A₂.GAL₂-d.TU.TU qat₃-šu₂ im-šuḫ-ma ana TIL GAR-un

‘[... son] of Bel-apla-uṣuršu, descendant of Ile”i-Marduk. His hand "measured" it, and he finished it.’

— BM 34789+ (BMAPT No. 36) rev. 1 (colophon)

Genre: mathematical astronomy: synodic table
Provenance: Babylon
Date: 2nd century BCE

Ossendrijver, M. 2012. Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy: Procedure Texts. New York: Springer 296

to measure

literal meaning

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Ossendrijver, M. (2024). - (Lemma #1306). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1306/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Ossendrijver, M. (2024). - (Lemma #1306). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1306/
MLA (9th)
Ossendrijver, M. (2024). - (Lemma #1306). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1306/
Harvard
Ossendrijver, M. (2024) - (Lemma #1306), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1306/ (Accessed: February 2, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac1306,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-02]},
	author = {Ossendrijver, Mathieu},
	year = {2024},
	title = {- ({Lemma} #1306)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1306/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1306/},
}