Akkadian Addenda · Signs
the Land
| Name | KALAM |
|---|---|
| Reads | [mātum] |
| Means | veteran — KALAM gains [mātum]: the Land-sign as a sumerogram |
| Taught in | 03 · Lord of heaven and earth |
| In Sumerian | the same sign's Sumerian page |
Where it comes from
The Land-sign of 102 — kalam, Sumer’s own name for itself. Akkadian did not keep its sound at all: it kept the sign whole, as a sumerogram — a word written in Sumerian and read out in Akkadian. On the clay it is KALAM; in the scribe’s mouth it is mātum, “the land,” in whatever case the sentence demands.
How to remember it
Nothing to relearn: the sign still means the Land. Only the voice changes at the border — the eye reads Sumerian, the mouth answers in Akkadian. When you meet it in a reading, say mātum and move on.
In the wild
urn:nabu:cdli:p464358:a:7 · license: attribution.
Akkadian reading taught in 103’s chapter 03.