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 MÁ denotes a ship or boat. It is used in
Sumerian and as a
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 no ...
for the
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 ...
word ''eleppu'' (also 'ship'/'boat'). MÁ is usually preceded by 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 items made of wood, namely
GIŠ: GIŠ.MÁ, or
GIŠ.MÁ, .
Examples
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 ...
'' lists sixteen wood-related words written with the
GIŠ determinative, among them GIŠ.MÁ/''eleppu''. The epic also uses the 'ship'/'boat' Sumerogram in Tablet XI (the
Gilgamesh flood myth
The Gilgamesh flood myth is a flood myth in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. Many scholars believe that the flood myth was added to Tablet XI in the "standard version" of the Gilgamesh Epic by an editor who used the flood story from the Epic of Atrahas ...
), and elsewhere when
Gilgamesh
sux, , label=none
, image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg
, alt =
, caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assyr ...
is taken by boat.
Some of 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 ...
using the Sumerogram are
EA 86,
EA 153,
EA 149,
EA 245, and
EA 364.
See also
*
Amarna letter EA 86
Amarna letter EA 86 (see her, titled: ''Complaint to an Official,'' is a somewhat moderate length clay tablet letter from Rib-Hadda of city-state Byblos (named ''Gubla'' in the letter) to Amanappa, an official at the court of the Pharaoh.
The le ...
*
Amarna letter EA 153
Amarna letter EA 153, titled ''Ships on Hold,'' is a short-length clay tablet letter from Abimilku of the island (at Amarna letters time) of city-state Tyre.
EA 153 is approximately tall x wide, (actually 3 1/16 x 2 1/16 inches), and has a ...
*
Amarna letter EA 245
Amarna letter EA 245, titled: ''"Assignment of Guilt,"'' is a medium length clay tablet Amarna letter from Biridiya the governor-'mayor' of Magidda. It is letter number four of five from Biridiya.
The letter is in pristine condition except for ...
References
* (Volume 1) in the original Akkadian cuneiform and transliteration; commentary and glossary are in English
External links
Amarna_letter_EA_153-(Obverse),_line_10_(7th_line_from_bottom)..html" ;"title="Amarna letter EA 153">Amarna letter EA 153
-(Obverse), line 10 (7th line from bottom).">Amarna letter EA 153">Amarna letter EA 153
-(Obverse), line 10 (7th line from bottom).br>
Amarna letter EA 245-(Reverse), line 4(=line 28) (4th line from top-of-reverse).]
Sumerian words and phrases
Sumerograms
Cuneiform signs
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