šu (cuneiform)
The cuneiform šu sign is a common, multi-use syllabic and alphabetic sign for ''šu'', ''š'', and ''u''; it has a subsidiary usage for syllabic ''qat''; it also has a majuscule-(capital letter) Sumerogram usage for ŠU, for Akkadian language "qātu", the word for "hand". The cuneiform character ''šu'' is shaped like a human hand and was created late 4th millennium BC or early 3rd millennium BC. The scribal usage of a sign allows for any of the 4 vowels (there is no vowel 'o' in Akkadian), ''a, e, i, u'' to be interchangeable; thus a usage for syllabic ''qat'' could conceivably be used for the following (k can replace 'q', and d can replace 't'): ''q, a,'' or ''t''; also ''ka, qa, ad, at''. (The "š" (shibilant s) is also interchangeable with the other two esses, "s", and "ṣ", for "''šu''"!) The ''šu'' sign is quite common in the Amarna letters and the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' as follows:Parpola, 1971. ''The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh'', Sign List, pp. 155-165, ...
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