Cuneiform 102 · Chapter 12

Build it for me

Chapter 11 read a ruler’s dedication and left two rings of its final verb politely unopened — mu-na-du₃, “built it for her,” carried “an opener and a ‘for her’ whose full anatomy a later chapter opens.” This is that chapter, and it opens the anatomy. Three signs first, all three from the world of votivegiven to a god in fulfillment of a vow — votive objects carry dedication inscriptions gifts.

Batch thirteen

Write each five times: du₃, ru, ama.

Grammar bite — the last two rings

Chapter 08 named the chain’s openers i₃-, in-, ba- and the wishes ga-, ha-. Two rings remained, and they are the two the dedications run on:

• mu- — an opener like i₃- and ba-, but with a direction: it points the action home — toward the speaker, the here, the gift being handed over. The grammars give its full theory a chapter of its own; “the homeward opener” is the working grip this course needs.
• -na- — “for him, for her”: the dativethe grammatical case meaning "to, for (someone)" — Sumerian marks it with -ra you have known since chapter 02’s -ra, folded inside the verb. Sumerian says the receiver twice — once on the noun, once in the chain — and the chain’s copy is -na-. You have already watched it ride by: the unnamed ring in chapter 08’s i₃-na-ba was exactly this.

The boxes fall

Go back to Lu-Utu’s foundation inscription — the one chapter 11 read with boxes. Two of its lines just came fully open:

This is what the course has meant since chapter 00, where ▢ entered as “a sign not yet taught.” The inscription did not change. You did.

The god who wanted his house

The building verb’s most famous scene is a dream. Gudea, ruler of Lagash, dreamt that his god Ninŋirsu stood over him with a demand — and the hymn writes the demand with chapter 03’s oldest trick, saying it twice:

Look at ma- and enjoy the economy: it is the homeward opener mu- with “for me” fused straight into it — when the receiver is the speaker, Sumerian squeezes both rings into one syllable. A god says “build it for me” in exactly two signs, and repeats himself the way anyone does at the door of someone slow to get up. The whole rest of Gudea’s hymn — the longest Sumerian composition we have — is him getting up.

Another ruler, another gift

Votivesgiven to a god in fulfillment of a vow — votive objects carry dedication inscriptions survive by the hundred, and the formula holds across all of them. From a dedication of a ruler of Uruk:

A mu-na-ru — literally “water/offering he-hither-for-him- dedicated”; idiomatically, “dedicated this to him.” Thousands of objects end in exactly these four signs. From today, no votivegiven to a god in fulfillment of a vow — votive objects carry dedication inscriptions in any museum case closes with a sentence you cannot read.

Drill before you go on

1. Write 𒆕KAK · [du] · to build; a peg — the builder's verb of every votive, 𒊒RU · [ru] · to dedicate — a mu-na-ru, the votive's closing verb, 𒂼AMA · [ama] · mother from memory; say du₃, ru, ama.
2. Parse mu-na-du₃ aloud, ring by ring, then do the same for a mu-na-ru.
3. Why can the god’s demand say “for me” in one syllable? One sentence.
4. Re-read chapter 11’s full inscription. Count what is still boxed, and notice what no longer is.

Next: “you are” — the pronoun Sumerian saves for speaking to kings and gods, plus the month-sign, real date lines, and the whole case system on one table at last.