Sumerian Addenda · Signs

𒇽LU₂ · [lu] · man, person

man

Where it comes from

Its pictorial past is opaque — the late form keeps no legible figure, and the sign lists tell no story worth repeating. Its work is everywhere regardless: lu₂ is “man, person,” the generic human of laws, proverbs, and job titles, and the LU₂ inside LUGAL is this very sign, grown big.

How to remember it

A man standing at his plot: the wedges square off a little frame — one person’s standing room. Every proverb’s “a man…,” every roster’s “person who…” begins here; add big and he becomes the king.

In the wild

Piece by piece:

• lu₂ — the man
• šu — hand
• ba-ti — took to himself: ba- coloring the verb toward the receiver, ti “approach”

The star sentence of the whole receipts genre: a man, a hand, a taking. It is assembled in 102’s chapter 08.