(IMG:
style_emoticons/default/oops.gif) Didn't realize my last post was in violation of forum rules (it's been a while since I read over them (IMG:
style_emoticons/default/13.gif))
In lieu of a link to another forum I decided to simply post here some of the information which was in the article I'd linked to, which I originally authored anyway. It's a post in regard to The Watcher.
After months of kicking around one idea after another as to why the term "Bandar" was not forthcoming in any Sumerian lexicon/dictionary and finally making some dim connection I began the search anew with the fact in mind that there are many mistranslations in the Simon Necronomicon. Whether intentional or otherwise, they've hindered my attempts to create definitive translations of some parts of the grimoire (especially the Incantations of the Gates and the Conjuration of the Watcher).
Right there in front of me, after searching anew with a bit of creative thinking, was this:
(IMG:
http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/epsd/psl/img/popup/Ofwc.png)
QUOTE
banda (STANCHION) (12x: ED IIIb, Ur III, Old Babylonian): wr. ban3-da; banda5; banda4 "stanchion, support"
This particular set of stylus strokes was also found under
banda5/uru9, which you can see for yourself at
OB Diri Nippur, Seg.9, 15. The word "banda" itself is suggestive, but given the sign names "uru" on the end also - "Bandauru" - seems to confirm Simon's claim that the text was received in garbled format to begin with, having been translated into archaic Greek from an archaic form of another language (presumably Arabic).
That the previous translator knew nothing of the meaning behind most of the words must also be assumed, as in this case the term "Bandar" as we know it seems to fit in more than one way when we apply some creative thinking to the terms "banda" and "Bandauru". Quite generally speaking the definitions found in the ePSD for these words are "Stanchion", "Support", and "Sagacity" depending on their use. The figurative meaning of "Support" would here be obvious (though the Sumerians obviously intended it in the context of housing and maintaining cattle - which is quite amusing!), as this egregore/Watcher's job is to 'support' us during ritual. But what of "stanchion" and "sagacity"?
"Stanchion" is explained presumably as coming from the Middle English
stanchon, from Old French
estanchon, probably from
estance, act of standing upright, prop, from
estans, present participle of
ester, to stand, from Latin
stāre (source:
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language). For "Sagacity" (and from the same dictionary) we get "the quality of being discerning, sound in judgment, and farsighted; wisdom", originating in the French
sagacité, from Old French
sagacite, from Latin
sagācitās meaning "quickness of perception". So here the threefold meaning resounds with what we know of The Watcher from experience.
On another note the word "banda" is also said to have meant "fierceness, wildness". This also fits the general characteristics of The Watcher pretty well.
It's at first amazing that a simple backstudy on the word allowing for mistranslation/mistransliteration would yield such interesting results - and then it's very interesting to consider that, the Watcher's job being to watch us like cattle, its opinion of us at first must be very low indeed. This is a telling sign of just how central our sense of humanity is to Simon's system - and to some of the entities conjured therein. With only 2 distinct forms of this sign attested, the provenance of the other form bearing the same general definition is uncertain, its manner of writing being thus:
(IMG:
http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/epsd/psl/img/popup/Oidd.png)
Perhaps I'm in err and don't understand the specifics of this word just yet, but these are the same two strokes found on the end of "Banda" before. Standing here alone but still meaning the same thing (albeit years after the original attestation) is puzzling.
The Akkadian
takīru is said to share the same meaning as the Ur III of our
banda and
ban-DA-uru. At last one of the ghosts in the machine has finally been spotted, and I'm glad to be able to share the possibility with you all.