Editing Marduk (section)

== Name ==

The name of Marduk was solely spelled as <sup>d</sup>AMAR.UTU in the [[Old Babylonian Period]], although other spellings such as MES and <sup>d</sup>ŠA.ZU were also in use since the Kassite Period. In the [[1st millennium BC]], the ideograms <sup>d</sup>ŠU and KU were regularly used.{{sfn|Sommerfield|1982|p=7}} The logogram for Adad is also occasionally used to spell Marduk.{{sfn|Schwemer|2001|p=75}}

Texts from the Old Babylonian period support the pronunciation Marutu or Marutuk, with the shortened spelling Martuk or Marduk attested starting from the Kassite period. His name in Hebrew, Merodak, supports the longer version,{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=6}} and First Millennium Assyrian and Babylonian texts employ the long spelling when the circumstances call for the precise form of the name.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=7}} The personal name Martuku is not to be confused with the god Marduk.{{sfn|Sommerfield|1982|p=8}} Marduk was commonly called Bēl (lord) in the First Millennium BC.{{sfn|Oshima|2011|p=39}}

The etymology for the name Marduk is generally understood to be derived from <sup>d</sup>amar-utu-(a)k, meaning "bull-calf of Utu".{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=7}} Sommerfield suggests this is used to explain the name Marduk in the [[Enuma Elish]]: as "He is the "son of the sun{{refn|group=lower-alpha|The original text is "lu-ú ma-ru Šamši ša ilāni né-bu-ú šu-ma." This is reading maru (son) as being in the possessive case. Lambert reads the same passage as "he is the son, the sun god of the gods, he is dazzling" separating the two clauses{{sfn|Lambert|2013|p=117}}}}" of the gods, radiant is he."{{sfn|Sommerfield|1982|p=10}}
While the name may suggest a relationship with [[Shamash]], Marduk has no genealogy with the sun god.{{sfn|Sommerfield|1982|p=11}} However, Babylon was closely associated with the city of [[Sippar]] in this period, which may have been the reason for the name.{{sfn|Lambert|1984|p=8}}