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 ...

ha sign comes in two common varieties in the 1350 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 ...

. It is also found in the large 12-chapter (Tablets I-XII) work of 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 ...

''. Cuneiform ''ha'' is used as a syllabic for ''ha'', and an alphabetic for ''h'', or ''a''; from the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' it also has two

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 ...

ic uses (capital letter (

majuscule Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...

)), for HA (

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 ...

''zittu'', for "share"), and KU₆, for ''nūnu'', "fish". The digitized version of ''ha'' has 4, short vertical strokes, 2-pairs-of-2, in a square; it is ligatured at the right, typically with a large, or medium-large sized wedge-stroke. The 2nd type of cuneiform ''ha'' is consistent as: 2-verticals, with a wedge between, and a (typical) large wedge ligatured at right; (thus both types contain the wedge at the right). Type I of the sign with four short vertical strokes Babylonian digit 1

, (1-pair, above another pair), is the

za (cuneiform) The cuneiform sign za is a common use sign in the Amarna letters and the ''Epic of Gilgamesh.'' It is used syllabically for ''ṣa'', ''za'', and ''ZA'' (ZA as parts of personal names, places, or common words, etc.), and alphabetically for "� ...

sign, which is used for linguistic items like: ''ṣa, za, ZA'', ZA being a sumerogram. In the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' the usage numbers for the ''ha'' sign is as follows: ''ha''-(145 times), ''HA''-(2), ''KU₆''-(4).

Selected list of Amarna letter usage by type

Selected Amarna letter usage by type, with some explanation of the letter texts: Type I * EA 153, 153:6 * EA 256, 256:28, city:

URU Uru or URU may refer to: Language * Uru dialect of Central Kilimanjaro, a Bantu language of Tanzania * Uru language, the extinct language of the Uros, an Amerindian people * Uru of Ch'imu, an extinct language of the Uros, an Amerindian people ...

-Ha- Ya- uN, ''Hayyunu'', city: Ayyun (a letter listing cities in the Golan, Canaan) * EA 367, 367:7, Envoy Hani, ^IHA- A- NI (see here: lines 3–5, scribe-line, lines 6–8) Type II (2nd vertical and wedge often larger) C+B-Persia-Cuneiform1

* EA 245, 245:6(6B(on reverse)), 18 * EA 270, 270:11 (line 11), ^I iYa- aN-Ha- Mu, for official:

Yanhamu Yanhamu, also Yenhamu, and Enhamu, was an Egyptian commissioner of the 1350- 1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Yanhamu is referenced in 16 of the 60–letter ''"Rib-Hadda of Gubla"''-(Byblos) sub-corpus, and also 12 additional letters. ...

(''ha'' partially damaged) * EA 365, 365:16

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.(softcover, )-(Volume 1) *

Rainey Rainey is a name of British-Irish origin. People with the surname * Bobby Rainey (born 1987), American National Football League player * Chuck Rainey (born 1940), American bassist * David "Puck" Rainey (born 1968), American reality TV personalit ...

, 1970. ''El Amarna Tablets, 359-379,'' Anson F. Rainey, (AOAT 8, ''Alter Orient Altes Testament 8'', Kevelaer and Neukirchen -Vluyen), 1970, 107 pages. File:Hitite cuneiform kv.png,

Hittite language Hittite (natively / "the language of Neša", or ''nešumnili'' / "the language of the people of Neša"), also known as Nesite (''Nešite'' / Neshite, Nessite), is an extinct Indo-European language that was spoken by the Hittites, a people ...

chart-(listing), showing the two types of ''ha''. Cuneiform signs