Editing Enki (section)

=== Ea ===
The name Ea first occurs in personal names from the [[Akkadian Empire|Old Akkadian period]]. Earlier translations interpreting Ea as a sumerian name meaning ‘’House of Water’’ or ‘’House of the Moon, Moon station’’ are regarded as implausible by modern scholarship.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Galter |first=Hannes D. |url=https://www.academia.edu/45092567/Der_Gott_Ea_Enki_in_der_akkadischen_%C3%9Cberlieferung_Eine_Bestandsaufnahme_des_vorhandenen_Materials_Dissertationen_der_Universit%C3%A4t_Graz_58_Graz_dbv_Verlag_1983 |title=Der Gott Ea/Enki in der akkadischen Überlieferung: eine Bestandsaufnahme des vorhandenen Materials |date=1983 |publisher=dbv-Verl. für die Techn. Univ |isbn=978-3-7041-9018-5 |series=Dissertationen der Universität Graz |location=Graz |pages=3}}</ref>In a few modern publications, the interpretation ‘’House of Water’’ is sometimes presented as a scribal popular etymology. However, according to Lambert, there is no evidence for such a reinterpretation.<ref name=":02" />

Due to the fact that the name appears associated with semitic elements in the sources of the Old Akkadian Period, it has been suggested that Ea is most likely a semitic name.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Jimmy J. M. |title=The earliest Semitic pantheon: a study of the Semitic deities attested in Mesopotamia before Ur III |date=1972 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-1388-7 |location=Baltimore |pages=20-21}}</ref>It has been proposed that the etymology of the name is connected to the semitic root ḥyy, ‘’to live’’.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Archi |first=Alfonso |title=Opening the tablet box: Near Eastern studies in honor of Benjamin R. Foster |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-18652-1 |editor-last=Melville |editor-first=Sarah C. |series=Culture and history of the ancient Near East |location=Leiden Boston |page=15 |chapter=The god Hay(y)a (Ea/Enki) at Ebla |editor-last2=Slotsky |editor-first2=Alice L. |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/98043392/God_Hayya_Ea_Enki_Fest_Foster}}</ref>Following this interpretation, a possible translation of the name would be ‘’the Living one’’. This explanation has not been proved with certainty, though it is considered the most convincing possibility as of 2006.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Espak |first=Peeter |title=Ancient Near Eastern Gods Ea and Enki; Diachronical analysis of texts and images from the earliest sources to the Neo-Sumerian period |date=2006 |degree=master |publisher=Tartu University, Faculty of Theology, Chair for Ancient Near Eastern Studies. |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28581203_Ancient_Near_Eastern_Gods_Enki_and_Ea_Diachronical_Analysis_of_Texts_and_Images_from_the_Earliest_Sources_to_the_Neo-Sumerian_Period |page=34}}</ref> It has been proposed that the name of the god [[Haya (god)|Haya]] was originally an alternative spelling of Ea.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Civil |first=Miguel |date=1983 |title=Enlil and Ninlil: The Marriage of Sud |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/601859?origin=crossref |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=103 |issue=1 |pages=44 |via=JSTOR}}</ref>Margaret W. Green proposes that the names Ea and Haya were both derived from the name of a pre Sumerian deity that was integrated into the pantheons of the sumerians and of the semitic peoples, and that Haya persisted as a separate deity after Ea was syncretized with Enki.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Green |first=Margaret W. |title=Eridu in Sumerian Literature |date=1975 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Chicago |page=75}}</ref>Peeter Espak remarks that in the absence of written sources there is no conclusive evidence to prove or deny these theories.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Espak |first=Peeter |title=Ancient Near Eastern Gods Ea and Enki; Diachronical analysis of texts and images from the earliest sources to the Neo-Sumerian period |date=2006 |degree=master |publisher=Tartu University, Faculty of Theology, Chair for Ancient Near Eastern Studies. |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28581203_Ancient_Near_Eastern_Gods_Enki_and_Ea_Diachronical_Analysis_of_Texts_and_Images_from_the_Earliest_Sources_to_the_Neo-Sumerian_Period |page=102}}</ref>