Akkadian Addenda · Signs

𒉺

branch

NamePA
Reads[pa]
Meansbranch; the scepter in Sumerian
Taught in11 · An eye for an eye

Where it comes from

A branch — the classic identification, and Sumerian already saw the politics in it: the same sign read as the scepter, the branch that rules. Akkadian keeps the plain sound pa and lets it serve wherever needed — including inside the verdict-verbs of the talion laws.

How to remember it

A branch in the court’s hand: uḫappadū, “they shall blind,” carries the pa at its center — the scepter come down. Power was always a stick.

In the wild

Codex Hammurapi (composite text), law 196. urn:nabu:cdli:p464358:a:2511' · license: attribution.

Akkadian reading taught in 103’s chapter 11.