While suggestions that she was conflated with the mongoose deity Ninkilim can be found in modern literature, this theory finds no direct support in primary sources.
The typical early writing of the name, known from Tell Fara, Abu Salabikh and Ebla is dNin-A.MUŠ.ḪA.DU,[1] meaning "mistress of snake and fish water" in Sumerian.
[7] Ningirima's position in the Mesopotamian pantheon of the third millennium BCE was high, though in later periods she had to compete with deities such as Asalluhi and Marduk who shared her association with incantations.
[3]In the Ur III period, even though most incantations were seemingly composed in Nippur, deities associated with Eridu, such as Asalluhi and Namma, started to predominate in this genre of texts.
[2] While Babylon was not associated with her, a few isolated references are known from this city too, including a description of rites performed in E-karzagina, a temple of Ea.
[14] For uncertain reasons, Ningirima, addressed as "crossroads of the gods," also appears in connection with Babylon in a late syncretic hymn to Zarpanit.
[13] The existence of clergy of Ningirima is confirmed by formulas in incantations from Fara and Ebla, and by administrative texts from Puzrish-Dagan which mention gudu (a type of priest) of this goddess.
[18] She occurs in a single late theophoric name from Ur as well, Ningirima-ilat, "Nigirima is divine," which belonged to a woman who lived during the reign of Artaxerxes II.
[19] Paul-Alain Beaulieu assumes that her presence in the pantheon of this city well into Achaemenid times was the result of an association with Ninazu, whose cult was well established in Ur.
[21] According to Wilfred G. Lambert a reference to her as a sister of Anu is also known,[22] but Frank Simons noted that this might be based on an erroneous reading of a damaged tablet, which might simply contain another attestation of the standard sibling relation between Ningirima and Enlil.
[3] A few texts, including Šurpu and the Weidner god list, group together Tishpak, Ninazu and Ningirima, always in that order, based on their shared affinity with snakes.