A Word Nerd's Idea of Fun

I've been planning to write a post about the word "moat" for a while now.

The word "moat" comes to us from the medieval Latin word "mota," meaning mound. (The word "mota," whose etymology is lost in time, may come from the Gaulish word "mott" or "motta.") In the mid-fourtheenth century, medieval Latin "mota" became Old French "mote," the mound on which a castle is built, or, with the part standing in for the whole, the ditch dug around the castle and often filled with water for an added line of defense.

Hmm, I thought, digging a moat to help protect a castle seems like a pretty basic idea, right up there with building a wall. I wonder whether moats were used for defense in ancient times.

Well, yes, they were, and I must have encountered this fact in college, because I read my Herodotus. In his Histories, Herodotus (484 to 425 BCE) describes of the ancient city of Babylon as surrounded by a "broad and deep moat."

Just for fun, I thought some more, let's see if I can find out when Babylon, founded circa 2300 BCE, first included a moat in its plans. I may need to cite this information in passing.

Well, the answer is, no, I cannot find out when Babylon first had a moat. This after a couple of hours of research on the Internet. The answer may be there somewhere, but I cannot find it.

However, I did find something absolutely wonderful.

Go to this website for SOAS, University of London: http://www.soas.ac.uk/baplar/recordings/. Now listen to someone read a poem to Ishtar, in Babylonian, from the Old Babylonian Period, 1900 to 1500 BCE.

And that is my idea of fun.