Sumerian Addenda · Signs
mouth
| Name | KA |
|---|---|
| Reads | [ka] |
| Means | mouth |
| Taught in | 08 · The sign workshop |
Where it comes from
SAG, the head, with extra strokes hatched across the jaw to mark the mouth — the sign lists call this move gunû, “decorated.” A classic formation: take a picture, mark the part you mean. It writes ka, “mouth,” and hosts the script’s boldest trick — writing another sign INSIDE the mouth to say what the mouth is doing.
How to remember it
A head, but look at the mouth: the hatching sits right where the lips are, like a speech-bubble scribbled onto a face. Feed it water and it drinks; feed it a portion and it eats.
In the wild
urn:nabu:etcsl:2.5.8.1:181 · license: ETCSL ·
non-commercial.
Piece by piece:
- kalam — the Land, Sumer itself
- -ma- — the genitive bridge, kalam-ma “of the Land”
- -ka — this sign: the genitive’s hidden /k/ written out because a vowel follows
The mouth-sign moonlighting as pure grammar — no eating involved. The unmasking of that /k/ is 102 chapter 07’s story; the sign itself is taught in 101’s chapter 08.