The Indo-Aryan roots of the names Ushpia and Kikkia, the founders of the temple and wall of the city of Aššur

"The names of Ushpia and Kikia, neither the name of the son nor that of the father seems to be Semitic or Sumerian. It has been suggested that Ushpia and Kikia were of Mitannian origin, but in view of certain personal names found in the Cappadocian tables, this is now being questioned" (Luckenbill 1926, ARAB I: 11, chap. II, Chicago).

Although Prof. Luckenbill suggested that Ushpia and Kikia might have Mitannian origins, considering that the Mitannians, based on their personal names, vocabulary, and the names of their gods, were Iranian, it is possible to trace the roots of these names to ancient Iranian words. I has previously traced the Indo-Iranian origin of the names of these two founders of the temple of the god Ashur. Ushpia corresponds to the Avestan names Uspaēšta and Uspasnu (Yašt 13: 121, 126) and the Old Persian name Hušaba, which in Elamite writing becomes Ušaba. Kikia is akin to the Old Persian Kakiya, which today is Kākā “brother, uncle”. Also, Kākuya and Kāku “maternal uncle: mother's brother”. In Hindi, the father's brother (uncle) is called Kaka. In Laki and Kurdish, Kāka “elder brother”, and in Balochi means “maternal uncle” and “uncle (paternal uncle)” are still used. Compare it to Mazandaran Kākuya, and Kākā and Kāku among other Iranian peoples.

The cult of Aššur must have spread by Western Aryans after the collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur and the establishment of the Dynasty of Larsa, and during the reign of the Amorites in Mesopotamia. The Amorites “Immortals” knew him as Ashar, which also has an Indo-Aryan form. Consequently, these two founders also took the name of the national god of the Assyrians from an Proto-Indo-Aryan word. One of Aššur's epithets is the god of the Abe mountains (= Jebel Hamrin in northeastern Iraq). The Sumerian Abe “sea” is derived from the Proto-Aryan Apa “water”. Usually, mountains in their writings refer to the Zagros mountains. Until the reign of Sennacherib (7th century BC), Aššur had no children, spouse or counterpart. However, in later periods, he was associated with polytheism.

So far, no appropriate etymology for the name of this god has been proposed, except for a connection to the word ashr meaning "provider (?)", which is not a fitting name for a deity. The name Aššur is derived from Proto-Aryan Asura “lord”. Given the phonetic change from s to h in the Indo-Iranian languages, the term became Ahura in both Avestan and Old Persian, carrying the same meaning.