Akkadian Addenda · Signs

𒀠

hoe

NameAL
Reads[al]
Meansthe hoe
Taught in09 · The stems named

Where it comes from

The hoe — the classic identification, and for once the tradition is loud: Sumerian literature sings an actual hymn to the hoe, the tool that breaks the ground and builds the city. Akkadian borrows the sign as a plain syllable, and the old farmhand ends up inside the law’s most patient verbs.

How to remember it

A hoe strikes the ground step after step, the way a durative verb keeps happening: illak, “he goes,” itabbal, “he carries off” — both close on the hoe. Slow, repeated, thorough work.

In the wild

Codex Hammurapi (composite text), law 2. urn:nabu:cdli:p464358:a:323 · license: attribution.

Akkadian reading taught in 103’s chapter 09.