Akkadian Addenda · Signs
bead
| Name | ZA |
|---|---|
| Reads | [ṣa] |
| Means | veteran — ZA gains [ṣa]: uṣṣab, "it will grow" — interest's own syllable |
| Taught in | 17 · Silver changes hands |
| In Sumerian | the same sign's Sumerian page |
Where it comes from
The bead-sign of 102 — za, the little stone of worth. Akkadian presses the sibilant: ṣa, the emphatic ṣ of the bile-sign’s family — and sets it working in the money-verb of every loan: uṣṣab, “it will add, it will grow.”
How to remember it
A bead is wealth in its smallest unit — and uṣṣab is what wealth does in a loan contract: bead by bead, shekel by shekel, the interest grows. The pressed s is the sound of the count tightening.
In the wild
urn:nabu:cdli:p257793:obverse:3 · license: attribution.
Akkadian reading taught in 103’s chapter 17.