
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 wedg ...
mi, (also mé) sign is a distinctive sign in the wedge-stroke group, and is used as a syllabic for ''mi'', ''me'', and an alphabetic for ''m'', ''i'', or ''e''; it is also 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 or Hittite.
Sumerograms are no ...
(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 writi ...
)) for MI, used for
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 ...
, "mūšu", ''night''. ''MI'', in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh,'' is used in (Chapters) Tablets I, II, III, and XII as either MI, or MI.
MEŠ, a total of six times; other spellings of ''mūšu'' in other sections are alphabetic/syllabic, four times.


The sign can be found in the ''
Epic of Gilgamesh
The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an 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 begins wit ...
'' and the mid-14th century BC
Amarna letters. The signs usage in the Epic is as follows: ''mé''-(1 time), ''mi''-(126), MI-(9).
Partial list of signs beginning with wedge (u)
Partial list of signs beginning with (wedge)-''u'', from the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' (Parpola, 1971), and the Amarna letters:
* Cuneiform-u--Sign No. 1---

-(conjunction use, and "10"; occasionally for ''u'')
* Cuneiform-
AMAR,
ṣur,
zur--Sign No. 2---

;
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 ...
: ''
See!-(''AMAR'') (Akkadian, "amāru")-(''Note: minus the vertical stroke'')
* Cuneiform-
di--Sign No. 3---

* Cuneiform-
ki--Sign No. 4---

* Cuneiform-mi--Sign No. 5---


* Cuneiform-
ši,
lim, or IGI ("in 'face' of", "before"
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 ...
)--Sign No. 6---

--(Abdi-Ashirta), Abdi-
A-
Ši-
iR-
Ta, (wedge-sign, 4th sign)
* Cuneiform-u--Sign No. u-1---

* Cuneiform-
ú--Sign No. u-2---

-(approximate: ''only 3 verticals'' for ú, (the common alphabetic u))
* Cuneiform-
Ù-(u-3)--Sign No. 7---

** (With an added horizontal,

, after the left vertical)
Also:
* Cuneiform-
ar, (
Shuw ardata
In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpret ...
of
Amarna letter EA 282
Amarna letter EA 282 is a relatively short ovate clay tablet Amarna letter, located in the British Museum, no. 29851.
The letter contains only 16 lines of cuneiform text, in Akkadian, with lines 12 to 16 covering half of the tablet's reverse ...
)
* Cuneiform-
nim-(''nem, nim, num'', and
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 ...
s NIM, NUM) (
EA 34)
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
The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an 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 begins wit ...
'',
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.
----
File:Mesopotamian - Cylinder Seal with Human-Headed Griffin Attacking a Horse - Walters 42444.jpg, Modern impression in clay of Mesopotamian cylinder seal
A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in length, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...
, using ''mi''.
Cuneiform signs