Akkadian Addenda · Signs
tether
| Name | UM |
|---|---|
| Reads | [um] |
| Means | [um]; the nominative's closing -um |
| Taught in | 00 · A script crosses a border |
Where it comes from
The lists connect the shape with cordage — a rope or tether — but grade the identification cautiously, and its Akkadian life owes nothing to the picture: it is the sound um that made this sign the ninth most frequent in Old Babylonian writing. The nominative of nearly every noun ends in -um (šarrum, awīlum, ṣīrum), and this is the sign that writes it.
How to remember it
A tether holds an animal to its post; -um tethers a noun to its role as subject. Spot this sign at a word’s end and you know who the sentence is about — the noun is tied down, case settled.
In the wild
𒍢𒊒𒌝ṣi-ru-umṣīrum, "lofty" — the adjective on An in the stele's first line, wearing the nominative this sign closes
urn:nabu:cdli:p464358:a:1 · license: attribution.
Taught in 103’s orientation.