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Then follows the incantation which he is to recite: The evil ulukku, alu, ekimmu, The evil gallu, the evil god, rabisu, Labartu, labasu, akhkhazu, Lilu and lilit and ardat lili, Sorcery, charm, bewitchment, The sickness, the cruel artifice, Their head against his head, Their hand against his hand, Their foot against his foot, May they not place, May they never draw nigh.
The names of many of them, as utukku, shedu, alu, gallu, point to 'strength' and 'greatness' as their main attribute; other names, as lilu, 'night-spirit, and the feminine form lilitu, are indicative of the moment chosen by them for their work; while again, names like ekimmu, the 'seizer, akhkhazu, the 'capturer, rabisu, 'the one that lies in wait, labartu, 'the oppressor, and labasu, 'the overthrower, show the aim that the demons have in view.
The evil curse rests like a gallu upon the man, The pain-giving voice has settled upon him, The voice that is not good has settled upon him, The evil curse, the charm that produces insanity, The evil curse has killed that man as a sheep, His god has departed from his body, His goddess has ... taken her place outside, The pain-giving voice covers him as a garment and confuses him.
Bad dreams came at the instigation of the demons, and such a demon as the rabisu or the labartu appears to have been especially associated with the horrible sensations aroused by a 'nightmare. Again the utukku is represented at times as attacking the neck of man; the gallu attacks the hand, the ekimmu the loins, the alu the breast. But these distinctions count for little in the texts.
This name is in some way connected with an Assyrian stem signifying 'great, and it is at least worthy of note that the word for palace is written by a species of punning etymology with two signs, e=house and gallu=large. Such plays on names are characteristic of the Semites, and indeed in a measure are common to all ancient nations, to whom the name always meant much more than to us.
Utukku becomes a general name for demon, and gallu, alu, and shedu are either used synonymously with utukku or thrown together with the latter in a manner that clearly shows the general identity of the conceptions ultimately connected with them. The same is the case with the rabisu and gallu, with the labartu, akhkhazu, and ekimmu.
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