Subsection of Chapter `Cuneiform' of John Heise's `Akkadian language',
with some of most important cuneiform signs.
[Next list]
[sign list index]
[Back to main Index]
[Back to cuneiform Index]
With this top-20 one could read 50% of the signs in the Codex Hammurabi
(whereas 40 signs would be good for 75% of the text, the remaining
25% is scattered over a large number of less frequently used
signs).
The total number of cuneiform signs is of order 600.
The frequency of the use of the signs depends very much on
the epoch and type of the text.
The sign list contains at least three items:
--a number from Borger's book; Babylonisch-assyrische Zeichenliste'
--the cuneiform sign in New Assyrian orthography
--the name of the sign or one of its values.
Top-20 sign list
signs sorted by decreasing frequency of occurence in the
Codex Hamurabi
70 
NA
- phonetic:
na
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
na
- e.g. used in the preposition
a-na `for', `to', and
the preposition
i-na `in'
- logogram:
NA = awïlu (ï here for long i)
`man', `senior' (NA mainly in use in omina)
579 A
- phonetic:
a
the vowels a, e, i and u each have their own sign,
which occur frequenly
- logogram:
A = mu `water'.
In Sumerian A is `water'.
It developed (before rotation over 90 degree) from a pictogram
showing waves.
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
a
a
353 
A (Sha)
- phonetic:
a (sha)
-a
is also the possesive pronomen 3 fem.singular `her';
it is used as a suffix e.g.
shar-a `her king'
bël-a `her lord'
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
a
354 
U
- phonetic:
u (shu)
-u
is also the possesive pronomen 3 masc.singular. `his', hence its
frequent occurence; it is used as a suffix e.g.
ar-u
`his king'
bël-u `his lord'
- logogram:
U = qätu
`hand'
It developed from a pictogram
showing a hand.
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
and
343 
GAL
- logogram:
GAL = rabû `great'
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
GAL
461 
KI
- phonetic:
ki, ke, qí
- logogram:
KI = erSetu `earth' (S for sade, emphatic s)
- logogram:
KI = aru `place' (or ashru sh for shin)
- logogram:
KI = kï preposition `as', `like' (ï for long i)
- determinative:
after city names
61 
MU
- phonetic:
mu
- logogram:
MU
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
342 
MA
- phonetic:
ma
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
214 
BI
- phonetic:
bi
- logogram:
BI
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
13 
AN, DINGIR
- phonetic:
an
- logogram:
AN = Anum the god of heaven, Sumerian AN
- logogram:
AN = amû `heaven',
Sumerian AN
- determinative:
before gods and demons, in transcriptions abbreviated as
d for Sumerian dingir `god' e.g.
dUTU, the sungod
ama,
Sumerian utu
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
DINGIR.ME
(ME is plurial sign)
ilü '(the) gods'
DINGIR.ME
(ME is plurial sign)
ilü '(the) gods'
143 
KÁM
142 I
Sumerian i means `five', the sign shows 5 strokes.
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
399 
IM
- phonetic:
im
- logogram:
IM
318 
Ú
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
and
449 
I
- phonetic:
i,
e20,
igi, lim
(i
only in UTU-,
= ami)
- phonetic, new:
lì, pàn
- logograms:
IGI, LIM
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
IGI
69
BAD
- phonetic:
be, bad/t/T
- phonetic, new:
pát/T, bít, pít,
mid/t/T, til, zis, ziz, sun, Ass.: qìt
- logograms:
BAD, IDIM, SUN, SUMUN
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
bad
bad
86 
RI
- phonetic:
ri, re
- phonetic, new:
dal, tal, Tal, tala
- logograms:
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
tal
232 
IR
- phonetic:
ir, er
- logograms:
328 
RA
- phonetic:
ra
- logograms:
RA
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
ra
ra
381 UD, U4
logogram:
U4 = UD = ummu `day'
logogram:
UTU =
ama
the sungod, written with the
determinative for deities as:
= dutu
logogram:
BABBAR = peSu `white'
= É.BABBAR Ebabbar
`the White House', famous temples of the sungod Shamash.
examples in New Assyrian orthography:
It developed (before rotation over 90 degrees) from a pictogram
and
showing sunset, hence the meaning
`day', `white', `radiant'.
94 
DIM
- phonetic:
dim, tim, Tim
- phonetic, new:
tì
- logograms:
231 
NI
- phonetic:
ni, né, lí, lé, ì, zal
- phonetic, new:
Sal, dik/q, tíq
- logograms:
Ì
- examples in New Assyrian orthography:
[Next list]
[sign list index]
[Back to main Index]
[Back to cuneiform Index]
John Heise
Last change: Nov 14 1996
lú.shab.tur
shumallû `pupil'
.
