Edubba A school of writing systems

Cuneiform 103 · Chapter 01

Warm-up · 6 quick retrievals from earlier chapters
  1. 𒅇 — read it

    [u] — and · U3 · the conjunction u — "and" ↩

  2. 𒌝 [um] — what does it mean?

    tether · UM · [um]; the nominative's closing -um ↩

  3. cut — draw it, then check

    𒋻 [tar] · TAR · to cut; to decree (nam ... tar, to decree fate) ↩

  4. 𒇲 — read it

    [la] — weigh · LAL · to hang, to weigh out; the spelling la2 ↩

  5. 𒌅 [tu] — what does it mean?

    born · TU · to be born (tu-ud) ↩

  6. cry — draw it, then check

    𒄿 [i] · I · the bare vowel i; the cry of laments (i-lu) ↩

Spelling sound by sound

Sumerian gave every sign a syllable-sound, and Akkadian’s whole writing system is that one fact, used relentlessly. A sign that sounds like li can spell the li in any word that needs one — no meaning attached, pure sound. The field calls a sign on this duty a syllabogram, and this chapter is about the craft of reading them in runs.

Batch two

SignNameKeyReadsMeansNotes
𒇷LIjuniper[li/le] a juniper in the sign lists everywhere — even inside "over him" below; its twin le reports when met
𒅖IŠdust[iš] dust, soil your first vowel-first sign
𒅕IRscent[ir/er] scent, perfume in the lists one sign, two neighboring vowels — context settles the blur

Two kinds of building block

Nearly every sign you will meet on syllable duty is one of two shapes: consonant + vowel (ša, li, ma, šu) or vowel + consonant (um, iš, ir). Akkadian words chain them so that the signs overlap at the joints: a closed syllable like lim can be spelled li-im, the vowel written twice on purpose. Watch the system carry a whole word — the possessive ending -šu, “his,” riding on the noun eli, “over”:

𒂊𒇷𒋗e-li-šuelīšu, "over him, against him" — E and ŠU on Sumerian pension, LI from this page; the -šu is "his," and it will close a thousand phrases in the laws
𒅖𒁕𒊭iš-da-šaišdāša, "its foundations" — IŠ from this page, DA a veteran, ŠA from chapter 00 doing double work: here it is the ending -ša, "her/its"
𒅕𒉌𒋾ir-ni-tiirnitti, "triumph" — IR from this page between two veterans; say it aloud and hear the syllables snap together
Three words from the Codex Hammurapi (composite text): prologue and epilogue. urn:nabu:cdli:p464358:a:306, :a:24, :a:3265' · license: attribution.

The pattern to internalize: read the signs aloud, in order, and let the word assemble in your ear. Akkadian spelling is built for the voice; a reader who mutters is doing it correctly.

𒂊 𒇷 𒋗
e — li — šu: three signs, and the joints between them are where the word lives. Nothing here "means" anything; the sounds do all the work.

The endings that follow you home

Two small endings from this page’s words will recur so often that they are worth naming now: -šu, “his/its” (masculine), and -ša, “her/its” (feminine). Elīšu, “against him”; išdāša, “its (own) foundations.” Akkadian hangs its possessors on the back of the noun, and once you can spot the ending, the rest of the word is suddenly shorter.

Drill before you go on

  1. Write 𒇷, 𒅖, 𒅕 from memory; say li, iš, ir.
  2. Spell e-li-šu in signs, unaided. What does the -šu contribute?
  3. iš-da-ša — which sign is the possessive, and whose foundations are they?
  4. Say why Akkadian needs vowel-consonant signs like IŠ when Sumerian could mostly live without leaning on them. One sentence.

Next: the noun puts on its case endings — and spells a king’s name you already half-own.