Sumerian Addenda · Signs

𒋻TAR · [tar] · to cut; to decree

cut

Where it comes from

Tar is “to cut” — and in Sumerian, deciding IS cutting: nam tar, “to cut a destiny,” is how the gods decree, and di kud cuts verdicts in the same spirit. Fate, in this language, comes off a blade.

How to remember it

Cut: two wedges crossing like shears. When the great gods sat down on the first day, what they did to the world’s fates was this sign — one clean decisive stroke each.

In the wild

Piece by piece:

• ud — the day
• nam kur-kur-ra — the destiny of all the lands, kur doubled into a plural
• ba-tar-ra — was cut: the deciding blade, wrapped into “on which”

Destiny, cut once for every land at the beginning of things. The formula is read in 102’s chapter 17.