Akkadian Addenda · Signs

𒀉A₂ · [id/it/ed/et] · the dental family, both vowel colors

arm

Where it comes from

The arm-sign of 102 — a₂, “arm, strength, side.” Among the readings Akkadian inherited with it is plain id, and Old Babylonian puts that voice to grim, steady work: id-di-ma, “he laid (the charge), and —”; id-da-ak, “he shall be killed.” The strong arm of the law, literally.

How to remember it

The arm does what law 1’s verbs describe: it lays the charge and it carries out the sentence. When a law’s verb opens on the arm, someone is being seized by it. The arm carries its whole dental family in both vowel colors — it, ed, et: the perfectthe Akkadian verb shape for what HAS happened — a -ta- slipped in after the first root consonant: iptaras "he has decided", uḫtappid "he has blinded"; the laws use it for the newest deed in a chain’s ittadi, a name’s ašarēd, the cheek-word lēt — one sign, four dress sizes of one sound.

In the wild

Akkadian reading taught in 103’s chapter 05.