437px, left, Cuneiform sign for aš, dil, ina, ṭel, and as sumerogram AŠ, (sign uses from the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'').">Epic_of_Gilgamesh.html" ;"title="sumerogram AŠ, (sign uses from the ''Epic of Gilgamesh">sumerogram AŠ, (sign uses from the '' thumb">250px, Amarna letter 362-(''Reverse''), Rib-Hadda to Pharaoh, with usage of cuneiform ''aš'' in the spelling of ''šapāru'', "to send in writing)" (two locations in letter, line 18 obverse, line 52 reverse).
(high resolution, expandible photo) The cuneiform Aš sign, is 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. In the Epic, it has the following meanings, besides ''aš'': :aš :dil :ina :ṭel :AŠ Some special considerations for a single "cuneiform sign" are as follows. In Egyptian hieroglyphs, the space for a group of signs (in cuneiform, a group of individual strokes), is called '' (quadrat)-block''. Among cuneiform signs, only a handful of signs (specifically the individual 'strokes', horizontal, vertical, "wedge", 'half-strokes', etc.) are found in single usage. For ''aš'' specifically, (the full-length, horizontal stroke) its highest usage in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' is for the preposition ''ina'' (for ''in'', ''into'', etc.; confer for a specific "ina" usage (by Kovacs), Gilgamesh flood myth#Alternative translations). The specific usage numbers for the sign's meaning in the Epic is as follows: ''aš''-(4), ''dil''-(3), ''ina''-(284), ''ṭel''-(1), ''AŠ''-(1). The high usage as the preposition may be for space considerations, but it should be considered that the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' was also a "training document" for scribes, over hundreds of years, so the multi-functioning of signs may also have been in issue, (one cuneiform sign substituted for the preposition: ''i-na'', of two signs.)

Usage in the Amarna letters

The most common use of cuneiform ''aš'' in the

is for the spelling of "šapāru", for ''to send'', ''to send in writing''. Besides the usage for "šapāru" in EA 362 (pictured), it is also used to spell ''šapāru'' in EA 34, titled ''The Pharaoh's reproach Answered'', line 8, ''Obverse''—spelled, ta-aš-- tap- ra. Amarna letter EA 28, titled ''Messengers Detained and a Protest'', uses ''aš'' for the spelling of "aššum", Akkadian language ''because of''-(''concerning, regarding''), and in EA 28, line 24, obverse, Paragraph III, Tushratta, (of Mitanni) continues in his letter: ''... "regarding" (the)-Messengers (i.e.

Pirissi and Tulubri Pirissi and Tulubri are a pair of messengers of the 1350– 1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Pirissi and Tulubri are the messengers of King Tushratta of Mitanni, and are referenced in Amarna letters EA 27, 28, and EA 29, ( EA for 'el Amarna') ...

)...''.

References

Moran, William L. William Lambert Moran (August 11, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American Assyriologist. He was born in Chicago, United States. In 1939, Moran joined the Jesuit order. He then attended Loyola University in Chicago, where he received his ...

1987, 1992. ''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. 393 pages.(softcover, ) * Parpola, 1971. ''The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh'', 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. * Rainey, 1970. ''El Amarna Tablets, 359-379,'' Anson F. Rainey, (AOAT 8, ''Alter Orient Altes Testament 8'', Kevelaer and Neukirchen -Vluyen), 1970, 107 pages. {{DEFAULTSORT:As (cuneiform) Cuneiform signs