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Paolo Merlo, « āpilum of Mari. A Reappraisal », HAL-SHS : histoire, ID : 10670/1.lm69pr
It is customary to derive the meaning of the āpilum of Mari from the verb apālu and translate the āpilum as “answerer”. However, this etymology does not correspond to the documentation of Mari, since no āpilum is attested as answering a direct question in Mari texts. Since some lexical lists of Ebla correlate the Sumerian word eme-bala (“interpreter”) with the root ’pl, I suggest it is more appropriate to translate the term āpilum as “interpreter”, “spoksperson” of the God.