The relation between two parts of the lungs, maṣṣarti hašî (logogram EN.NUN MUR) and niṣirtu hašî (logogram MÍ.ŠEŠ MUR) calls for a comment, because the two may be one and the same. A clue to this possibility lies in the OB omens YOS 10 36 ii 42, iii 31-34, where the protases all deal with maṣṣartu, while the apodoses, with niṣirtu. As in the case of nīs/mukīl rēši (see above) there is, evidently, a paronomastic association between protasis and apodosis in these omens, with maṣṣartu in the former giving rise to niṣirtu in the latter.
These parts of the lung are not attested in the present corpus, though they do occur in canonical omen texts from the first millennium.[[190]]
190 For niṣirti hašî in OB and MB extispicy reports, see JCS 21 225 J:17 and JCS 37 186. For late texts, see Boissier DA 229 r.6-10 (MÍ.ŠEŠ MUR), KAR 428:49f and r.49 (EN.NUN É.GAL MUR), and further the following unpublished texts: K 3156+ and K 3834 (EN.NUN MUR); K 4111 (EN.NUN/MÍ.ŠEŠ MUR); and K 4135 (fragment, MÍ.ŠEŠ).
Ivan Starr
Ivan Starr, 'The 'Watch/Secret' (maṣṣartu/niṣirtu)', Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria, SAA 4. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1990; online contents: SAAo/SAA04 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2025 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa04/TheLungsandTheirParts/The'WatchSecret'/]