Edubba A school of writing systems

Cuneiform 103 · Chapter 06

Warm-up · 6 quick retrievals from earlier chapters
  1. grass — draw it, then check

    𒌑 [u] · U2 · plant, grass ↩

  2. 𒀉 — read it

    [id/it/ed/et] — arm · A2 · veteran — A2 gains [id/it/ed/et]: the dental family, both vowel colors ↩

  3. 𒈗 [šarrum] — what does it mean?

    king · LUGAL · veteran — LUGAL gains [šarrum]: the king-sign as a sumerogram ↩

  4. prince — draw it, then check

    𒉣 [nun] · NUN · prince, noble ↩

  5. 𒄠 — read it

    [am] — wild bull · AM · wild bull — a bull-sign marked with "mountain" ↩

  6. 𒊬 [sar] — what does it mean?

    write · SAR · to write; garden plot in origin ↩

If a man…

Nearly three hundred laws stand on the stele, and almost every one of them opens with the same word: šumma, “if.” Then comes a man, a deed, and a consequence in the durative. This chapter teaches the “if” and the “man” — and then reads law 1 from the top.

Batch seven — and a veteran

SignNameKeyReadsMeansNotes
𒋳TAGtouch[šum] to touch, strike šumma's first half; the index parts it from šum2
𒉿PIear[wa/wi] ear the ear-sign, drafted for w — the wi of awīlum
𒈝LUMripen[lum] to ripen, be fruitful closes a-wi-lum in the nominative
𒌓UDday[tam] — veteran — 101's day-sign, now also tam (nērtam)

awīlum — spelled a-wi-lum — is the stele’s word for a free man in full legal standing; the laws weigh compensation differently for an awīlum than for anyone else, which makes this one noun a keyhole view of Babylonian society. In the accusative (chapter 02!) it is awīlam, a-wi-lam — and that little -lam is the one sign this chapter has not taught you. Watch what that does to the reading below: one honest box, in the second word of the law.

Law 1, from the stone

Read it aloud, all seven lines. The rhythm is the law’s own: if-clause piling up deeds with -ma, then the two-word verdict.

𒋳𒈠 𒀀𒉿𒈝 𒀀𒉿▢šum-ma a-wi-lum a-wi-lamšumma awīlum awīlam — "If a man (subject, -um)… a man (object, -am)…" — the case endings alone tell you who does what; the boxed sign is next chapter's
𒌑𒌒𒁉𒅕𒈠u-ub-bi-ir-maubbirma — "accused, and —": chapter 05's preterite with the chaining -ma on its tail — deed one, more coming
𒉈𒅕𒌓 𒂊𒇷𒋗ne-er-tam e-li-šunērtam elīšu — "a murder (charge) against him": the veteran day-sign as tam, and chapter 01's elīšu paying rent again
𒀉𒁲𒈠id-di-maiddima — "laid (it), and —": preterite again, -ma again — deed two clicks onto the chain
𒆷 𒊌𒋾𒅔𒋗la uk-ti-in-šulā uktīnšu — "did not convict him": the negation lā, the convicting verb in its done-deed shape, and the -šu of "him" from chapter 01 — the chain's third and fatal link
𒈬𒌒𒁉𒅕𒋗mu-ub-bi-ir-šumubbiršu — "his accuser": the accusing verb turned into a doer-noun, wearing the -šu of "his"
𒀉𒁕𒀝id-da-akiddâk — "shall be killed." Two signs and a veteran do the sentencing; the durative shape from chapter 05 makes it a standing rule, not a report
Codex Hammurapi (composite text), law 1. urn:nabu:cdli:p464358:a:304–:a:310 · license: attribution. Translation follows Roth.[^roth]

“If a man accused a man, and laid a murder charge against him, and did not convict him — his accuser shall be killed.” The stele’s very first ruling is about false accusation: the law begins by protecting the accused. Four thousand years have not improved on the priority.

𒋳𒈠
šum-ma — "if." Learn to spot this pair at a glance; it is the heartbeat of the entire monument, and from here on every law you ever read will open with it.

Drill before you go on

  1. Write 𒋳, 𒉿, 𒈝 from memory; say šum, wi, lum.
  2. Spell awīlum, then awīlam in transliteration. Which sign changes, and why?
  3. Which sign in ne-er-tam is the veteran, and what were its other two readings back in 101?
  4. Recite law 1 in transliteration, glancing at the signs only when stuck.

Next: the last box falls — and the stele tells you what all these laws are for.