John Hayes

E2-temen-ni2-guru3. This is the name of Ur-Nammu's ziggurat at Ur, illustrated in Lesson one... The etymology is not completely sure, but it may mean "The Temple whose foundation (temen) instills (guru3) fear (ni2)", or "The Temple whose foundation is clothed in fear". According to Richard Ellis, the word temen spans the meanings of "foundation", "foundation platform", "foundation deposit", and "foundation tablet". In Greek, the word temenos means "land which is dedicated to a god". It is unsure if the word is pure Greek, derived from a verb meaning "to cut", or if it also goes back to Sumerian, or if both the Sumerian and Greek derive from an earlier substrate. It sometimes appears in English as temenos, meaning loosely "sacred precinct" or "sacred foundation".

pp. 119-120