[7] Irene Sibbing-Plantholt suggests that in the Diyala area he was associated with snakes and the underworld, while in the south of Mesopotamia he instead functioned as a vegetation deity related to various dying gods.

[4] However, Gianni Marchesi and Nicolo Marchetti argue that the only evidence for his connection with plantlife is an epithet assigned to him in Enki and Ninhursag, which might not represent his actual functions.

[7] In this myth, he is the first of the deities created by Ninhursag to relieve Enki's pain, the other seven being Ninsikila (Meskilak[8]), Ningirida, Ninkasi, Nanshe, Azimua, Ninti and Inzak.

[10] Authors who support the view these two homophonous goddesses were originally separate include Marcos Such-Gutiérrez,[12] Joan Goodnick Westenholz[13] and Irene Sibbing-Plantholt.

[18] A non-standard god list from Nippur places Abu next to Bau, presumably based on their shared connection to Lagash and the graphic similarity between their names.

[1] However, a building excavated in the same area sometimes referred to as the temple of Abu in older literature likely did not fulfill such a function in antiquity,[7] and the statue found inside is now agreed to be a representation of a donor rather than a deity.

"[20] In the Ur III period, Abu received offerings in Kuara in the local temple of Ninsun[4] alongside this goddess, her husband Lugalbanda, Dumuzi and Geshtinanna.