The

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

ha sign comes in two common varieties in the 1350 BC Amarna letters. 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 from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...

''. 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, Eblaite, or Hittite. Th ...

ic uses (capital letter (

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

)), for HA (

Akkadian language 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 was an East Semitic language that is attested ...

''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) 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-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) * 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. Biography Amarna Archive Yanhamu is referenced in 16 of the 60–letter ''" Rib-Hadda of Gubla"''-(Byblos) sub-corpus, and ...

(''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 of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and studies based on them. Its headquarters are in Helsinki in Finland. 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, 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 (, or ), also known as Nesite (Nešite/Neshite, Nessite), is an extinct Indo-European language that was spoken by the Hittites, a people of Bronze Age Anatolia who created an empire centred on Hattusa, as well as parts of the northern ...

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