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 ...

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 or Hittite. Sumerograms are no ...

for the

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform, early writing system * Akkadian myt ...

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 ma ...

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 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 ...

'' 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 flood myth in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. Many scholars believe that the flood myth was added to Tablet XI in the "standard version" of the Gilgamesh Epic by an editor who used the flood story from the Epic of Atraha ...

), and elsewhere when

Gilgamesh sux, , label=none , image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg , alt = , caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assy ...

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