The case endings in general must have been lost between the 9th century BC and the 7th century BC: the personal name rendered in Akkadian as ma-ti-nu-ba-a-li "Gift of Baal", with the case endings -u and -i, was written ma-ta-an-baa-al two centuries later. However, evidence has been found for a retention of the genitive case in the form of the first-singular possessive suffix: ' /abiya/ "of my father" vs ' /abī/ "my father". If true, this may suggest that cases were still distinguished to some degree in other forms as well.