Akkadian Addenda · Signs

𒊍

bear

NameAZ
Reads[as/az/aṣ]
Meansthe bear in the lists; one sign for three tails — as, az, and the pressed aṣ
Taught in15 · It has happened

Where it comes from

The lists build it as a lion-sign with a stone locked inside, and read the whole as the bear (stated) — Sumer wrote the animal, and Akkadian kept the growl: as, az, and the pressed aṣ, all one sign.

How to remember it

A caged beast: the lion-frame with a stone in its belly. Its growl is the snap at the end of imtaḫaṣ, “he has struck” — the bear closes the blow.

In the wild

Codex Hammurapi (composite text), law 202. urn:nabu:cdli:p464358:a:2540' · license: attribution.

Akkadian reading taught in 103’s chapter 15.