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 ...

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, Eblaite, or Hittite. Th ...

for the Akkadian 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 ...

for items made of wood, namely Sumer gis

GIŠ: GIŠ.MÁ, or ^GIŠ.MÁ, Sumer gis

Examples

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 ...

'' 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 partial narrative of the Gilgamesh Epic. It is one of three Mesopotamian Flood Myths alongside the one included in the Eridu Genesis, and an episode from the Atra-Hasis Epic. Many scholars believe that the Gilgam ...

), and elsewhere when

Gilgamesh Gilgamesh (, ; ; originally ) was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumer ...

is taken by boat. Some of the Amarna letters using the Sumerogram are EA 86, EA 153, EA 149, EA 245, and EA 364.

References

Bibliography

* (Volume 1) in the original Akkadian cuneiform and transliteration; commentary and glossary are in English

External links

-(Obverse), line 10 (7th line from bottom

*

-(Reverse), line 4(=line 28) (4th line from top-of-reverse

Sumerian words and phrases Sumerograms Cuneiform signs {{Semitic-lang-stub

Examples

See also

References

Bibliography

External links