Sumerian Addenda · Signs
its
| Name | BI |
|---|---|
| Reads | [bi] |
| Means | its/that; [bi] (a vessel in origin) |
| Taught in | 01 · The sentence in the clay |
Where it comes from
In origin a vessel. In grammar it is -bi: “its, that” — the possessive of THINGS and places, as against persons, who take -ani. A canal’s banks, a house’s wall, a story’s ending: all wear -bi.
How to remember it
A jug on a shelf, and you ask whose lid that is: its — the jug’s own. Things own things through this sign; people go another way. If the owner could not sign a receipt, the possessive is -bi.
In the wild
urn:nabu:etcsl:2.1.7:28 · license: ETCSL ·
non-commercial.
Piece by piece:
- ša3-bi — its heart, its inside
- nu-zu — not known
The interior of a god, owned by the god the way a jar owns its lid — and closed. The line is read in 102’s chapter 09.