Translation of mathematical terms

Anyone who has studied languages knows that words often have more than one translation; sometimes these meanings are related by extension, and sometimes they are not. Some words have idiomatic meanings in combination with other words. Also, these same words may have technical meanings. This analysis seems rather elementary, but, somehow, some scholars working on mathematics seem to lack an understanding of basic linguistics. In Mesopotamian mathematics, some scholars have chosen to give a literal translation to get to the “heart” of understanding the text. For example, našû can be translated as “to lift, raise up something” (during a ritual, etc.)➔” “to elevate a person to a high position”➔ “to transport goods,” “to carry,”➔ “to take, accept, receive something from someone, (often in conjunction with ina qāti).” This verb is a rather general verb with multiple meanings, of which I have only stated a few. Then there is the technical meaning, “to multiply,” that is, x našû y išû xy (The verbs are written in the infinitive because they are conjugated according to context.) I will give an example without x and y to clarify the problem of literal translation: 2 “raises up” 3 “has” 6. There are other ways of expressing multiplication, but I am using one common example of a literal translation. Absolutely nothing is gained by a literal translation—the reader/mathematician has not come to a greater understanding of the language of an ancient text. Clearly, the meaning of našû  in this context is “to multiply”; that is, 2 multiplied by 3 is 6. There is an expression in English: “ if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck!”