![King Iddin-Sin name inscription](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/King_Iddin-Sin_name_inscription.jpg)
''Dingir'' (, usually
transliterated
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...
DIĜIR, ) is a
Sumerian word for "
god
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
" or "
goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...
". Its
cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...
sign is most commonly employed as the
determinative
A determinative, also known as a taxogram or semagram, is an ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts which helps to disambiguate interpretation. They have no direct counterpart in spoken language, though they may ...
for religious names and related concepts, in which case it is not pronounced and is conventionally
transliterated
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...
as a superscript "d" as in e.g.
dInanna
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, Divine law, divine justice, and political p ...
.
The
cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...
sign by itself was originally an
ideogram
An ideogram or ideograph (from Greek "idea" and "to write") is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept, independent of any particular language, and specific words or phrases. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by famili ...
for the
Sumerian word ''an'' ("sky" or "heaven");
[Hayes, 2000] its use was then extended to a
logogram
In a written language, a logogram, logograph, or lexigraph is a written character that represents a word or morpheme. Chinese characters (pronounced ''hanzi'' in Mandarin, ''kanji'' in Japanese, ''hanja'' in Korean) are generally logograms, as ...
for the word ''diĝir'' ("god" or "goddess")
[Edzard, 2003] and the supreme deity of the Sumerian pantheon
''An'', and a
phonogram
Phonogram may refer to:
* A sound recording – see Geneva Phonograms Convention
* ''Phonogram'' (comics), a comic book by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie
* Phonogram (linguistics), a grapheme which represents a phoneme or a combination of phone ...
for the syllable .
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to:
* Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire
* Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language
* Akkadian literature, literature in this language
* Akkadian cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...
took over all these uses and added to them a
logographic
In a written language, a logogram, logograph, or lexigraph is a written character that represents a word or morpheme. Chinese characters (pronounced '' hanzi'' in Mandarin, ''kanji'' in Japanese, ''hanja'' in Korean) are generally logograms, a ...
reading for the native ''
ilum'' and from that a
syllabic
Syllabic may refer to:
*Syllable, a unit of speech sound, considered the building block of words
**Syllabic consonant, a consonant that forms the nucleus of a syllable
*Syllabary, writing system using symbols for syllables
*Abugida, writing system ...
reading of . In
Hittite orthography, the syllabic value of the sign was again only
''an''.
The concept of "divinity" in Sumerian is closely associated with the heavens, as is evident from the fact that the cuneiform sign doubles as the ideogram for "sky", and that its original shape is the picture of a star. It is also of note that the eight-pointed star was a chief symbol for the goddess Inanna. The original association of "divinity" is thus with "bright" or "shining" hierophanies in the sky.
Cuneiform sign
Sumerian
![Cuneiform sumer dingir](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Cuneiform_sumer_dingir.svg)
The
Sumerian sign DIĜIR
![Cuneiform sumer dingir](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Cuneiform_sumer_dingir.svg)
originated as a star-shaped ideogram indicating a god in general, or the Sumerian god
An, the supreme father of the gods. ''Dingir'' also meant sky or heaven in contrast with
''ki'' which meant earth. Its
emesal
Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 3000 BC. It is accepted to be a local language isolate and to have been spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the area that is modern-day ...
pronunciation was ''dimer''. (The use of ''m'' instead of ''ĝ'' ''
' was a typical phonological feature in emesal dialect.)
The plural of ''diĝir'' can be ''diĝir-diĝir'', among others.
![Cuneiform sumer dingir](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Cuneiform_sumer_dingir.svg)
Assyrian
![Assyrian cuneiform U1202D MesZL 10](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Assyrian_cuneiform_U1202D_MesZL_10.svg)
The
Assyrian
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
sign DIĜIR (ASH 𒀸 and MAŠ 𒈦, see
cuneiform sign AN) could mean:
* the Akkadian nominal stem ''
il-'' meaning "god" or "goddess", derived from the Semitic '
ʾil-''
* the god Anum (An)
* the Akkadian word ''šamû'' meaning "sky"
* the syllables ''an'' and ''il'' (from the Akkadian word god: An or Il, or from gods with these names)
* a preposition meaning "at" or "to"
* a
determinative
A determinative, also known as a taxogram or semagram, is an ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts which helps to disambiguate interpretation. They have no direct counterpart in spoken language, though they may ...
indicating that the following word is the name of a god
According to one interpretation, DINGIR could also refer to a priest or priestess although there are other Akkadian words ''ēnu'' and ''ēntu'' that are also translated priest and priestess. For example, ''nin-dingir'' (lady divine) meant a priestess who received foodstuffs at the temple of Enki in the city of Eridu.
[Margaret Whitney Green, ''Eridu in Sumerian Literature'', PhD dissertation, University of Chicago (1975), p. 224.]
Digital encoding
The cuneiform sign is encoded in
Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...
(as of version 5.0) under its name AN at
U+1202D .
See also
*
Religions of the ancient Near East
*
Mesopotamian mythology
Mesopotamian mythology refers to the myths, religious texts, and other literature that comes from the region of ancient Mesopotamia which is a historical region of Western Asia, situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system that occupies ...
*
Tengri
Tengri ( zh, 騰格里; otk, 𐰚𐰇𐰚:𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, Kök Teŋri/Teŋiri, lit=Blue Heaven; Old Uyghur: ''tängri''; Middle Turkic: تآنغرِ; ky, теңир; tr, Tanrı; az, Tanrı; bg, Тангра; Proto-Turkic *''teŋri / * ...
and
Tngri
In the pantheon of Mongolian shamanism and Tengrism, tngri (also ''tengri'', ''tegrí'') constitute the highest class of divinities and are attested in sources going back to the 13th century. They are led by different chief deities in different d ...
Notes
References
*
*{{cite book, last=Hayes, first=John L., title=A Manual of Sumerian Grammar and Texts, publisher=Undena Publications, location=Malibu, year=2000, edition=Second revised, series=Aids and Research Tools in Ancient Near Eastern Studies, id={{Listed Invalid ISBN, 0-89003-508-1
Mesopotamian deities
Sumerian words and phrases
Cuneiform determinatives