80 Michael L. Barré general meaning “bile” or “gall” (30), could have the meaning “venom” or “poison” (31). Pardee refers to E. Dhorme’s note on this passage in his commentary on Job: “Les anciens s’imaginaient que le venin était secrété par le vésicule biliaire des serpents” (32), where le venin is to be translated “venom” rather than “poison” (33). The clearest reference to the connection between serpent’s gall and venom in ancient times may be found in the writings of Pliny: “The most accurate authorities write that this [venom] is nothing else than serpents’ gall, and that the veins [or “ducts”?] pass from the gall-bladder under the spine to the mouth” (34). This passage shows that as far as the ancients were concerned serpent’s gall and serpent’s venom were one and the same thing. This belief appears to have been common in the ancient world, predating Pliny by many centuries, and known to the inhabitants of the ancient Near East. Pardee points to a number of ancient Semitic languages in which derivatives from the root m-r-r sometimes denote serpent’s gall/venom. He cites several Akkadian texts in which martu (“gall, bile”) has this meaning. One mentions a s≥ˇru muttabbik martu, “a serpent spitting gall/venom” (35). In the lexical text malku = πarru (VIII 124) martu is equated with imtu (36), “slaver > venom > poison”. Other texts not cited by Pardee also associate these two terms. In one they are in parallelism: ina s≥upr^πu martum ittanattuk ki[bi]ssu imtu lemuttu, “Gall constantly trickles from his (the demon’s) claws // his step (leaves behind) wicked venom” (37). In another they are juxtaposed: imat marti πa il^ πunu, “They (the demons) are the poisonous venom of the gods” (38). The Syriac derivatives meŸr˝rtâ (= Hebrew hr:/rm]) and mertâ, although normally denoting “gall”, also mean “venom” in a number of texts(39). Finally, Pardee defends this sense of m-r-r in the Ugaritic incantation against serpent bite (KTU 1.100). There the following formula is repeated 11x in the text: mnt.ntk.nh≥π Incantation (against) serpent bite, πmrr.nh≥π.¿qπr (Against) the venom-injection of the scaley(?) serpent. Although in Ugaritic there are two different roots underlying m-r-r, one meaning “to go away, eject” and a second meaning “to strengthen > bless(?)”(40), in the editio princeps of this text C. Virolleaud derived πmrr from neither of these but rather from m-r-r = “to be bitter” (41), a meaning (30) I.e., because of its characteristic bitterness. (31) D. PARDEE, “meŸmôr˝t-peŸt˝nîm ‘Venom’ in Job 20:14”, ZAW 91 (1979) 401-16. (32) E. Dhorme, Le Livre de Job (Paris 1926) 268 n. 14. (33) “merôr˝t-pet˝nîm”, 402 n. 6. Ÿ Ÿ (34) Cited in “merôr˝t-pet˝nîm”, 412-13. “. . . Non aliud hoc [venenum] esse quam fel Ÿ Ÿ serpentium, et inde venas sub spina ad os pervenire diligentissimi auctores scribunt” (Natural History, XI §163). (35) Ibid., 403. See CAD I, 139. The belief presumed here that martu comes out of the serpent’s mouth seems to suggest an identification of bile with venom. (36) “meŸrôr˝t-peŸt˝nîm”, 403. See CAD M/1, 297, 299. (37) CAD I, 139. (38) CAD I, 140, which translates “poisonous foam” rather than “poisonous venom”. A more literal translation would be “bilious venom”. (39) “meŸrôr˝t-peŸt˝nîm”, 410. (40) See G. DEL OLMO LETE – J. SANMARTÍN, A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition (trans. W. G. E. WATSON) (2 vols.; HdO 67; Leiden 2003) II, 577. (41) C. VIROLLEAUD, Ugaritica V (ed. J. NOUGAYROL et al.) (Mission de Ras Shamra 16; Paris 1968) 601 (derives πmrr from the ∏ stem of m-r-r, “rendre amer”).