AmarnaLetterOfMarriageNegotiation-BritishMuseum-August19-08

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 ...

''dan'' sign is a multi-use sign found in both the 14th century BC

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 ...

and 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 ...

. Besides dan, (and tan), the following are its uses (from Epic of Gilgamesh): :dan :kal :lab :lap :lép :líb :líp :reb :rib :tan :GURUŠ-( GURUŠ (young man Sumerogram) As

sumerogram A Sumerogram is the use of a Sumerian cuneiform character or group of characters as an ideogram or logogram rather than a syllabogram in the graphic representation of a language other than Sumerian, such as Akkadian or Hittite. Sumerograms are n ...

GURUŠ, it is only used for its

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 ...

meaning "eṭlu"-("young man"). Half of the spellings of ''eṭlu'' use GURUŠ combined with other signs, and half spell ''eṭlu'' alphabetically/syllabically. The quantities used for specific meanings of the sign, in the Epic of Gilgamesh are as follows: ''dan''-(27), ''kal''-(23), ''lab''-(19), ''lap''-(3), ''lép''-(1), ''líb''-(7), ''líp''-(3), ''reb''-(7), ''rib''-(2), ''tan''-(10), ''GURUŠ''-(23).

Amarna letter use and "dan-is"

Combined with ''is'', ( is (cuneiform)), the Akkadian word dan-is, "danniš", meaning "greatly", "strongly", "fervently", etc. is used in the Amarna letters, especially from Mesopotamia, of

Mitanni Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...

(King

Tushratta Tushratta (Akkadian: and ) was a king of Mitanni, c. 1358–1335 BCE, at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III and throughout the reign of Akhenaten. He was the son of Shuttarna II. Tushratta stated that he was the grandson of Artatama I. His si ...

), Babylon, and others. Tushratta's letter to Pharaoh, Amarna letter EA 19, ''Love and Gold'' uses many examples of ''danniš''; also from Tushratta, EA 26 and EA 28. When emphasis is being reinforced, (as in specific paragraphs of EA 19), the use is danniš-danniš. In the Amarna letters a separate Canaanite version is also used: ma-gal, ma-gal ( Amarna letter EA 364, and

Amarna letter EA 299 Amarna letter EA 299, titled: ''"A Plea for Help"'', is a fairly short clay tablet Amarna letter from ''"governor"'' Yapahu of city-state Gazru. The clay tablet surface has been partially eroded, but the cuneiform is still mostly legible. The t ...

for example). A tripling of the ''danniš'' term is also known. The short letter

Amarna letter EA 23 Amarna letter EA 23, titled: ''"A Goddess Travels to Egypt"'', is a short letter to Pharaoh from Tushratta. Due to the ill health of Pharaoh, a statue of Goddess Šauška is being sent to Egypt, to aid in the health of Pharaoh. The letter EA ...

, famous for its black-ink Egyptian Hieratic notation on the reverse, from Tushratta, 18 lines on obverse, and lines 19–32 on the bottom to the middle of the reverse, has a long introductory paragraph, lines 1-12. Line 12 ending the paragraph states ''"....everything-yours, strongly, strongly, strongly, 'may it be' ("šalāmu"-(at peace))."'' ("at peace" from a line previous, 'may it be', ''lu-ú'', ending lines EA 23:6, 8, 12)

dan syllabic use in the Epic of Gilgamesh

The following words use the

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 ...

''dan'' as the first syllable in the word entries under ''d'' in the glossary.Parpola, 1971. ''The Standard Babylonian

'', Glossary, pp. 119-145, danānu, dannatu, and danniš, dannūtu, p. 123;

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, "to be strong", "hardship, difficulty", "greatlly", and "strength". 1.''danānu'', for

, ''"to be strong"''. 2.''dannatu'', ''"hardship, difficulty"''. 3.''danniš'', ''"greatlly"''. 4.''dannūtu'', ''"strength"''.

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. Cuneiform signs Akkadian language - three letter syllables