Grammar references

GoA 9.2

L0.4: Cuneiform Script

In the south of Mesopotamia, at the end of the fourth millennium BCE, a writing system based on ideograms was invented for bookkeeping. Today this writing system is known as “cuneiform”. The name “cuneiform” derives from the latin word cuneus “wedge” and forme “form” . It denotes the shape of the strokes. The native designation for the cuneiform script was tikip santakku “triangle script”. Before the deciphermet of this script they were also called dactuli pyramidales, pyramidales figura “pyramidal signs”.

Good to know 🤓

Thomas Hyde was the first one to name it “cuneiformes”: “Istiusmodi enim ductuli pyramidales seu Cuneiformes […].” (Hyde 1700, 526). But he thought that these signs were just ornaments: “Neque ea est Literarum aut Characterum aliqua Scriptura legenda, sed tantum Sculptura ornamenti causa.” Hyde 1700, id.

The texts were written on clay, and they just contained personal names and lists of goods. The identification of a language behind these ideograms is problematic, although it is very probable that it was Sumerian (Krebernik 2022, 1 fn. 1). The first understandable texts come from Ur from around the 28th century BCE. They are undoubtedly written in Sumerian. Already in these texts a Semitic name, very likely an Akkadian name, is attested.(Sallbaerger 2004, 108) This shows the coexistence of these two languages from almost the beginning of written Mesopotamian history. This form of writing together with the Akkadian language spread throughout Mesopotamia and became dominant in the ancient Near East until the 1st Millennium BCE, when they were gradually replaced by the Aramaic language and its alphabetic script (Streck 2007, 47). Not only Sumerian and Akkadian used the cuneiform script, but also Hittite, Hurrian, Elamite, Ugaritic and several other smaller languages around the ancient Near East.

Development

At the beginning the signs were written, drawing them on wet clay tablets. At some point in the third millennium, in the Sargonic Period, between 2334-2193 BCE in middle chronology terms (Studevent-Hickman 2007, 499) the script was turned 90° clockwise, the drawing lines were divided in strokes pressed on the wet clay tablet, losing in this way the iconic character and becoming symbolic signs. Following a rebus principle the signs began to represent sounds, but they kept their iconic use, i.e. they could be used for representing those objects for which they were invented.

The iconic character of the original sign is visible. The Sumerian word for water is /a/. In this use it can be called a logogram, a pictogram or sometimes a sumerogram. It was turned clockwise 90° and became a symbolic sign that could also have a phonetic value. In this case /a/. Over time it acquired new phonetic and logographic values. In this case up to 24 phonetic values and 3 logographic values (if we count the cases where it is the first part of a composite sign, the number of possibilities is even higher). This is representative for all cuneiform signs. They can have more than one phonetic and logographic value.

Cuneiform Signs

Each sign can consists on following elements:

Warning

If you want to see Neo-Assyrian signs you may want to install a Neo-Assyrian font 👉

Element	Wedge
Horizontal wedge	𒀸
Vertical wedge	𒁹
Diagonal wedge	𒀹
Winckelhacken	𒌋

Types of Signs

We can find three types of functions:

• Logograms: It represents one or many words. Ocasionally it is also called Sumerogram. In most cases designated by capitals in the transliteration.

  Sign	Logogram	Akkadian	Translation
  𒌓	UTU	šamaš	sun
  𒆳	KUR	mātu	country
  𒀭	DINGIR	ilu	god
  𒆪	TUKUL	kakku	weapon

  Remember! 🧠

  Cuneiform signs are polyvalent. The sign 𒌓 for example has other logographic values:

  • U₄ ūmu “day”,

  • BABBAR peṣû “white”, etc.

  The correct reading depends on the context. Remember as well that the language behind those names is always Sumerian.

Note

The sign names are a modern convention. Normally the name for the sign is the most used phonetic value. In antiquity the names of the signs were different. For more detailed information 👉Gong 2000.

• Phonograms/syllabograms: It represents syllables or vowels. A sign can have more than one syllabic/vocalic value. Depending on the Language, in Sumerian, they appear in normal script in the transliteration (sometimes sans serif) and in Akkadian, they appear in italics.

  Sign	Sign Name	Syllabic value
  𒆳	KUR	šat
  𒄑	GIŠ	is
  𒌅	TU	tu
  𒀭	AN	an
  𒇻	LU	lu
  𒈝	LUM	lum
  𒁍	BU	pu

  Remember! 🧠

  Cuneiform signs are polyvalent. They have many syllabic values:

  • KUR = kur, šat, mat, etc.

  • AN = an, il₃, am₆, etc.

  The correct reading depends on the context.

  On the opposite a single phonem can be reproduce by many signs:

  Sign	Sign Name	Syllabic value
  𒀀	A	a
  𒀉	A₂	a₂
  𒉿	PI	a₃
  𒀀𒀭	AM₃	a₄
  𒀝	AK	a₅
  𒌋	U	a₆
  𒄩	HA	a₇

  Good-to-Know

  Instead of the subscripts numbers ₂ and ₃ you will find in the litearture also transliteration of signs with grave accent and acute accent, for example á = a₂, à = 3 or šá = ša₂, šà = ša₃. Before the PCs scholars wrote on the type machine, in which is not possible to write subscripts, so they used accents. For the other number for example a₄ or ša₆ they had to write them by hand once the manuscript was ready.

• Determinative: It represents a semantic field and is placed before or after a logogram. In printed transliterations it is designated with superscript, but in the digital transliteration it appears in curly brackets.

  Note

  Some signs have different readings as a logogram and as a determinative like GIŠ vs ĝeš. This has to do with the history of the Assyriology. The reading GIŠ is old while the reading ĝeš is newer. As the understanding of the Sumerian language grows over time, we know today that Sumerian had a voiced velar nasal ĝ sometimes also writen with ŋ for example ŋeš. Nevertheless conventionally the logogram GIŠ is still transliterated as GIŠ in Akkadian texts, but ĝeš or ŋeš in Sumerian texts and determinatives as well.

  Sign	Sign Name	Determinativ	Semantic Field	Example	Translation
  𒀭	AN	dingir (d)	Deities	dUTU	(God) Šamaš
  𒄑	GIŠ	ĝeš	Wood objects	ĝešTUKUL	weapon
  𒋆	ŠIM	šim	Plant names	šimGIR₂	myrtle
  𒆠	KI	ki	City names	KA₂.DINGIR.RAki	Babylon

  Examples with cuneiforms

  • 𒀭𒌓 = ^dUTU = (God) Šamaš

  • 𒄑𒆪 = ^ĝešTUKUL = weapon

  • 𒋆𒄈 = ^šimGIR₂ = myrtle

  • 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 = KA₂.DINGIR.RA^ki = Babylon

It is important to note that most of the signs can have two types of functions and some even the three types:

Sign	Sign Name	Logogram	Phonogram	Determinativ
𒀭	AN	AN (heaven)	an	dingir
𒄑	GIŠ	GIŠ (wood)	is	ĝeš
𒆳	KUR	KUR (land)	mat	kur
𒀀	A	A (water)	a	-
𒆷	LA	LA (plenty)	la	-

The correct reading depends on the context.

Types of Phonograms

There are four types:

Phonogram	Example	Cuneiform
CV	ma	𒈠
VC	ad	𒀜
CVC	lum	𒈝
V	a	𒀀

Orthography

Words can be written logographic as well as syllabic:

Logogram	Cuneiform	Syllabic writing	Cuneiform
E₂	𒂍	𒁉𒌅𒌝	bi-tu-um
EN	𒂗	𒁁𒇻𒌝	be-lu-um
GAL	𒃲	𒊏𒁍𒌝	ra-bu-um

The CVC syllables can be written with a CVC sig or with the combination of a CV and a VC sign:

Akkadian word	Transliteration	Translation
𒈜𒆏𒌈	nar-kab-tum	chariot
𒈾𒅈𒅗𒀊𒌅𒌝	na-ar-ka-ab-tu-um	chariot

Transliteration vs Normalization

For practical reasons, cuneiform writing is often translated into the alphabet writing. We distinguish between transliteration and normalization.

• The transliteration reproduces all the signs of a word and connects them with a hyphen.

• The normalization is the reconstruction of the word.

Akkadian word	Transliteration	Normalization	Translation
𒀀𒇻𒌝	a-lu-um	ālum	city
𒁁𒈝	be-lum	bēlum	lord

Number of Signs

The cuneiform writing, considered from its beginning until the end of its use, has about 1000 signs. Nevertheless, at no period of time were they used in its entirety. It varied from period to period, genres, etc. Besides, the shape of the signs changed geographically as well as diachronically.