Akkadian Addenda · Signs

𒄊GIR₃ · [eṣemtum] · the foot, the path; never voiced alone here — with PAD.DU it writes eṣemtum, "bone"

path

Where it comes from

The foot and the path it walks (classic) — Sumerian giri₃ meant both. In this course the sign never speaks alone: it opens the skeleton’s own compound, 𒄊GIR₃ · [eṣemtum] · the foot, the path; never voiced alone here — with PAD.DU it writes eṣemtum, "bone"𒉻PAD · [eṣemtum] · a morsel, a ration; the middle of the bone-compound GIR₃.PAD.RA₂𒁺DU · [ra] · the third sign of the bone-compound — written GIR₃.PAD.RA₂, spoken as ONE Akkadian word, eṣemtum, “bone.”

How to remember it

A path begins with a foot, and a foot stands on bone. Three signs walk in file — foot, morsel, go — and the reader says none of them: only the word they carry together.

In the wild

Akkadian reading taught in 103’s chapter 16.