[2] However, there is also some evidence that in certain cases the name Nin-MAR refers to a different deity,[5] and Gebhard J. Selz [de] goes as far as suggesting no certain attestations of Nin-MAR.KI are available from before Ur-Nanshe's reign.
[6] Walther Sallaberger argues one of the Zame Hymns from Abu Salabikh is a possible example, as individual copies alternate between two theonyms, Nin-MAR and Nin-ŠITA3, the latter meaning "mistress of the water channel", in the same passage.
[8] A theonym attested in a single text from Umma, dNin-mar-KA-ra-ka, despite the similarity is assumed to not be a further alternate writing of Nin-MAR.KI's name, as the latter is entirely absent from the sources from this city.
[7] While a phonetic reading of the name, Ninmarki, can be found in Assyriological publications,[9][10] according to Sallaberger it is implausible due to the interchange between the long and short forms.
[11] In the 1950s Edmond Sollberger instead suggested the sign sequence MAR.KI should be understood as ki-mar and on this basis translated the name, transcribed by him as Ninkimar, as "lady of the dwelling.
[16] The Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie entry of this goddess, written by Sallaberger, renders her name as Nin-MAR.KI according to his theory.
[2] However, other authors, for example Antoine Cavigneaux and Manfred Krebernik [de], in entries they have contributed to the same encyclopedia alternate between Ninmar,[17] Ninmarki[18] and Nin-MAR.KI.
[1][2] It is possible that it was no longer understood by ancient scribes, as writings interpreted as mistakes[21] or attempts at explaining it through folk etymologies, such as dNin-mar-ra ("lady of the shovel") are attested in later sources.
[2] The uncertain reading of Nin-MAR.KI's name is also responsible for the fact that an early ensi of Eshnunna is referred to as both Ur-Ninmar and Ur-Ninmarki in modern scholarship.
"[23] However, elsewhere, for example in offering lists from the Ur III period, this theonym designates an independent deity who might have had a temple in Nippur and who was in one case equated with Gula.
[8] It has been pointed out that the marshlands surrounding Guabba were likely a very suitable environment for raising cattle,[26] which might have influenced the character of the local goddess.
[29] Her father was Nanshe's husband Nindara,[32] though Walther Sallaberger notes that he appears to play no specific role in relation to her in known sources.
[34] She also often appears in offering lists alongside the deity dNin-MÙŠ-bad,[33][21] who might have functioned as her husband, though no direct evidence for this common modern assumption is available in any known primary sources.
[21] Other deities worshiped alongside Nin-MAR.KI include Nadua, the deification of a stele, and Igiamaše, whose name means "before the mother,"[25] who according to Selz might have been her daughter,[35] though Sallaberger considers this relation to be uncertain.
[17] Uri Gabbay points out that the same cuneiform signs also functioned as a logographic representation of the Akkadian word mundalku, which can be translated "counselor" or "advisor," and also referred to a type of benevolent minor deity.
[21] No known sources indicate that Nin-MAR.KI was ever equated with any other deities, and she never developed strong connections with any members of the Mesopotamian pantheon from outside of the Lagash area.
[7] Her temple in the last of these settlements might have been the Ebarasiga, "house, low dais," though it cannot be ruled out that it was dedicated to another goddess worshiped there, referred to simply as Lamma.
[44] It is also attested in texts from the reigns of Sumuel and Abisare, which indicate that during a festival which also involved temples in Girsu and Bad-tibira oil rations were distributed to it.
[18] This conclusion is supported by other authors,[8] though Odette Boivin notes that there is no indication in known texts that a temple of this goddess existed in said city, and argues that it might have been located in Guabba instead.
[46] Seemingly after the decline of Guabba and other settlements where Nin-MAR.KI was originally worshiped god lists, laments and other similar texts were the only sources preserving her name.