Sumerian Addenda · Signs
know
| Name | ZU |
|---|---|
| Reads | [zu] |
| Means | to know; the -zu of "your" |
| Taught in | 03 · Say it twice — doubling and nam- |
Where it comes from
An honest correction lives on this page. Older introductions loved to call this sign “a tooth, extended to knowing” — but the tooth word zu2 is written with the mouth-sign KA, not with this sign; the two words merely sound alike, and the story migrated from the sound to the wrong wedges. This sign’s own picture is not established. What is certain is the work it does: zu, “to know,” and the possessive -zu, “your,” which keeps the sign busy in proverbs and prayers alike.
How to remember it
What is yours is what you know: one sound covers both, and this one sign writes them both. Say -zu — “your” — and the knowing comes along free.
In the wild
urn:nabu:cdli:p010008 · license:
attribution. Name translations of this age are proposals, this
one more than most.
Piece by piece:
- diŋir — the god
- a — water, or seed
- zu — knows
A person’s name that trusts a god’s knowledge — worn daily, forty-six centuries ago. The name is read in 102’s chapter 03.