Akkadian Addenda · Signs
touch
| Name | TAG |
|---|---|
| Reads | [šum] |
| Means | to touch, strike; šumma's first half |
| Taught in | 06 · If a man… |
Where it comes from
To touch, to strike — the sign’s stated core in the lists, with a spread of crafts (weaving, dyeing) hanging off it. Akkadian borrowed its reading šum and spent it on one incomparable job: šum-ma, šumma, “if” — the first word of almost three hundred laws.
Keep it apart from its near-twin on the Sumerian shelf: the give-sign SUM reads šum2 — same sound to the ear, different sign on the clay, and the index digit is the field’s fence between them.
How to remember it
Touch — every law begins by touching a hypothetical: if a man… The lightest touch of the stylus opens a whole world of consequence; that touch is this sign.
In the wild
urn:nabu:cdli:p464358:a:311 · license: attribution.
Taught in 103’s chapter 06.