Akkadian Addenda · Signs

𒍪

know

NameZU
Reads[su]
Meansveteran — ZU gains [su]: the -su left when -šu melts: iktašassu
Taught in10 · The River decides
In Sumerianthe same sign's Sumerian page

Where it comes from

The knowing-sign of 102zu, “to know.” Akkadian adds a softened sibling, su, and gives it a very particular beat: the suffix “him/his” after a dental or sibilant, where -šu melts — iktašad + šu becomes iktašassu, and the knowing-sign writes what the melt leaves behind.

How to remember it

To know someone is to have caught them: when the law’s verb closes its grip on “him” — iktašassu, “it has overwhelmed HIM” — the knowing-sign seals the capture.

In the wild

Codex Hammurapi (composite text), law 2. urn:nabu:cdli:p464358:a:321 · license: attribution.

Akkadian reading taught in 103’s chapter 10.