Sumerian Addenda · Signs

𒄥GUR · [gur] · gur — the great capacity measure of grain accounts

bushel

Where it comes from

Origin opaque — this sign is taught for its job, not its picture. The gurthe big Mesopotamian grain measure — three hundred sila of roughly a liter each, so about 300 liters of barley; the granary's counterpart to the silver-scale's mina was the great capacity measure of the grain accounts: roughly 300 liters in the Ur III standard. When a granary counted big, it counted in gurthe big Mesopotamian grain measure — three hundred sila of roughly a liter each, so about 300 liters of barley; the granary's counterpart to the silver-scale's mina, and the measure-word follows the commodity like a unit stamp: n še gurthe big Mesopotamian grain measure — three hundred sila of roughly a liter each, so about 300 liters of barley; the granary's counterpart to the silver-scale's mina, “n gurthe big Mesopotamian grain measure — three hundred sila of roughly a liter each, so about 300 liters of barley; the granary's counterpart to the silver-scale's mina of barley.”

How to remember it

The bushel basket at the granary door: everything pours through it, nothing is official until it has. In an account line it stands at the end like the stamp on a receipt — …by the bushel.

In the wild

Piece by piece:

• 1(u) še — ten (units) of barley
• gurthe big Mesopotamian grain measure — three hundred sila of roughly a liter each, so about 300 liters of barley; the granary's counterpart to the silver-scale's mina — the bushel, stamping the unit
• lugal — “royal”: measured by the king’s own standard gurthe big Mesopotamian grain measure — three hundred sila of roughly a liter each, so about 300 liters of barley; the granary's counterpart to the silver-scale's mina

Ten bushels, certified against the royal measure — the granary texts’ everyday opening. The measure is taught with the counting system in 101’s chapter 05.