Sumerian Addenda · Signs
allot
| Name | BA |
|---|---|
| Reads | [ba] |
| Means | to allot; the verbal prefix ba- |
| Taught in | 08 · The chain grows rings |
Where it comes from
Pictorial origin opaque — a pure workhorse, top six in both counted corpora. On receipts it is a whole verb: ba, “allotted, shared out.” Inside a verb chain it is the prefix ba-, coloring the action toward “away, for itself.” Same wedges, different seat — the difference is position, not the sign.
How to remember it
To allot is to break the loaf: the sign splits into a few quick wedges like portions off a block. Rations, fields, fates — whatever the archive hands out, this sign does the handing.
In the wild
urn:nabu:cdli:p010012:obverse:1:4 ·
license: attribution.
Piece by piece:
- i3- — the chain’s neutral opener
- -na- — to him
- ba — allotted: this sign as the stem itself
One verb chain, complete: opener, beneficiary, and the sharing-out at its heart. It is unpacked in 102’s chapter 08 — where these wedges, met early in the school’s own name, take their formal seat.