Sumerian then Akkadian; meaning unknown
Ḫuwawa
Humbaba
Ḫumbaba / Ḫuwawa
Guardian of the cedar forest. The name cannot be securely glossed.
Etymology
Sumerian Ḫuwawa; Akkadian Ḫumbaba. No secure etymology. The name shows no obvious linguistic affiliation we can translate into ornament, lady, or heaven. Unknown is the honest gloss.
Historical usage
Enlil assigns him as a terror to human beings. He keeps the cedar, a grove of the gods. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill him. The forest is cut. The poem does not treat this as an unambiguous triumph.
Later development
English HUMBABA, Reverse Reduction 42. Full Reduction 21. GILGAMESH misses. Noticed, not plated. Cipher of a later spelling is not a translation of Ḫuwawa.
Why it matters here
The man who wants not to die does not lock. The guardian whose name we cannot gloss does, on one reverse face. The invitation: what was lost when the cedar’s keeper fell?
Stories that hold this word
Relationship type is not optional
A word present in a source text is not the same as a later critical term applied to that story.
In the source text
GilgameshThe guardian of the cedar. Killed on the way to a fame that will not prevent death.
Related
In the source text
Gilgamesh