Ancestors of the gods

This is a brief commentary from another site. I'll get around to expanding in it probably this weekend.

On pages 106 and 107 of Mark Cohen's book Cultic Calendars, discussing the Nippur month of du-ku, there is commentary about Enlil's ancestors. Duku is the 7th month in Nippur, named for the Sacred Mounds and the festival to them. The Sacred Mound is described as the place where Enlil's ancestors dwelt. "There laments were like laments which Enlil's ancestors perform in the awe-inspiring duku, the holy lap of Enlil. The god pair, Endukuga and Nindukuga, "Lord of the Sacred Mound" and "Lady of the Sacred Mound" are listed among the ancestors of Enlil throughout the canonical lamentations and in the god-list AN = Anum, demonstrating the primordial nature of the Sacred Mound, even predating the great god Enlil, himself. A tradition still echoed in the first Millennium BC considers the 7th month as the "month of Enlil's ancestors."

There are also Sacred Mounds mentioned for Enki and Inanna.

I'm going to put my head on the chopping block by speculating that the names of the mound gods have been corrupted by the Semetic languages at some point, because the Sumerians didn't use gender prefixes and suffixes. This was told to me by a professor off Etana. I'll come up with his name at some point, it's been a few years. I have the email from him around here somewhere.