GU
qû

Akkadian noun

Last edited: 2023-12-06
Primary meaning string
Literal translation flax
Variants
GU qû
Edited by
flax common noun
string astral concept

MUL.AL.[LU]L KIMIN MUL.MUŠ MUL.˻BAN˼ u GIR₂.TAB 2.30 ša lu-maš LU[L.K]AK.SI.SA₂ GU

‘The Crab, or the Snake, the Bow, and the left foot of the constellation of the constellation of Arrow - a String’

— BM 78161 (GU text) 5-6

Genre: astronomical list
Provenance: Babylon or Sippar?
Date: ca. 7th-5th century BCE

Pingree, D. and C. Walker 1988, A Babylonian Star-Catalogue: BM 78161, Sachs Mem. Vol. 313-322 315-316

in DU₆ UD.14 AN.MI EN.NUN USAN ina MUL₂.LU sin GAR MUL₂.BABBAR u GENNA ina MUL₂.LU MUL₂.UR.A MUL₂.PA u MUL₂.RIN mi-ḫir ša₂ MUL₂.LU GU SI.SA₂ DUB₂-šu₂ GUB-ma.

‘(If) the Moon makes an eclipse in the evening watch in month VII the 14th day in Aries, Jupiter and Saturn are in Aries, Leo, Sagittarius; and Libra (which is) opposite of Aries, a straight line you(?) tighten.’

— AO 6455 (TCL VI 11 = TU 11) obv. 17-18

Genre: collection of astrological and astronomical rules
Provenance: Uruk
Date: ca. 200 BCE

Brack-Bernsen, Lis, and Hunger, Hermann. 2002. TU 11. A Collection of Rules for the Prediction of Lunar Phases and of Month Lengths. SCIAMVS 3: 3–90. 8, 13

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Pilloni, A. (2023). GU (Lemma #1579). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1579/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Pilloni, A. (2023). GU (Lemma #1579). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1579/
MLA (9th)
Pilloni, A. (2023). GU (Lemma #1579). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1579/
Harvard
Pilloni, A. (2023) GU (Lemma #1579), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1579/ (Accessed: February 2, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac1579,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-02]},
	author = {Pilloni, Alessia},
	year = {2023},
	title = {GU ({Lemma} #1579)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1579/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1579/},
}