Akkadian
ṣallalu - a nocturnal bird
(CAD Ṣ 73, AHw. 1077)
SB. Known from lexical lists (= Sum. NÁ.A MUSEN, Akk. iṣṣūr mūši ‘a night-bird’) and bird-omina of summa ālu, identified with long-eared owl in Salonen 1973 168, 232, 262. Both dictionaries derive it from the verb ṣalālu ‘to sleep’ (according to Salonen, ‘(während des Tages) schlafender Vogeľ) which is not unlikely in view of the fact that Sum. NÁ.(A.)MUSEN (NÁ = eršu ‘bed’, nâlu ‘to sleep’) is attested already in Presargonic lexical lists. A folk-etymological reinterpretation of a Common Semitic bird name cannot be ruled out, however.