Diš is a

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 represented by 𒁹 or . It has many uses in

texts, including in the ''

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, and is regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts. The literary history of Gilgamesh ...

''.

Description

𒁹 is a cuneiform sign. 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 ...

, it is represented by U+12079 (DISH)

Use of the vertical sign

In the

Amarna letters The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between t ...

, it is commonly used to denote ''Male individuals''. (Women are denoted by sal (cuneiform), . ) The sign is also used to denote "numbers of items". The sign is used for 1. Examples of multiple uses in the

, is to address the

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

, often as ''"servant-yours, at 2 Feet, .. I bow."'' An example of multiple uses in the Amarna letters, often the bowing down is done: ''" .. 7 and 7 times (I bow) !"'', with seven small strokes as units of number "1".

''Epic of Gilgamesh'' usage

In the ''

'', there are also uses for "diš", and "tiš". (In the

Akkadian language Akkadian (, Akkadian: )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218-280 is an extinct East Semitic language th ...

, "d" & "t", are interchangeable (voiced vs unvoiced). The ''ana'', (''diš'') sign usage in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' is as follows: ''ana''-(151 times); ''diš''-(6); ''tiš''-(6); and ''1''-(87 times).Parpola, 1971. ''The Standard Babylonian

'', Sign List, pp. 155-165, no. 480, p. 164, ("ana"), "diš", etc.

The glossenkeil usage of the angled sign

Many of the

use

glossenkeil The ''Winkelhaken'' (, "angular hook"), also simply called a hook, is one of five basic wedge elements appearing in the composition of signs in Akkadian cuneiform. It was realized by pressing the point of the stylus into the clay. A single Winkelh ...

s, of two varieties: type 1: , and type 2: ( gl (AL)). Type 2 is found in example letters: EA 364, EA 245, and EA 287. (In ''CDLI'' listings (Chicago Digital Library Initiative), it is represented in transcription as ":". Likewise in the Moran, William L. translations.) Type 1 can be found in Amarna example letter

EA 147 Amarna letter EA 147, titled ''A Hymn to the Pharaoh'', is a moderate length clay tablet Amarna letter (mid 14th century BC) from Abimilku of Tyre-(called ''Ṣurru'' in the Abimilku letters, and an island, until the time of Alexander the Great, 3 ...

. The type 2 glossenkeil, is a shortened version of the ''large-angled-stroke'', type 2; (the long stroke of the sign is slightly, or majorly, foreshortened. In the

, often down to 50% of the "full stroke".). The high quality photo of EA 364, line 8, shows the length about 3/4 of a full stroke-length.

References

* Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. ''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. 393 pages.(softcover, ) * Parpola, 1971. ''The Standard Babylonian

'', Parpola, Simo,

Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project is an international scholarly project aimed at collecting and publishing ancient Assyrian texts and studies based on them. Its headquarters are in Helsinki in Finland. State Archives of Assyria State Archives ...

, c 1997, Tablet I thru Tablet XII, Index of Names, Sign List, and Glossary-(pp. 119–145), 165 pages.

External links