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Number 3 Title: "Elementary Sumerian Glossary" Author: Daniel A. Foxvog Posted to web: 4 January 2016

Elementary Sumerian Glossary

(after M. Civil 1967)

Daniel A Foxvog Lecturer in Assyriology (retired) University of California at Berkeley

Revised January 2016 Not for Citation

A glossary suitable for the first several years of instruction, with emphasis on the vocabulary of easy literary texts, early royal inscriptions, and uncomplicated economic and administrative documents.

Minor annual revisions add some new entries or update readings or translations.

For additional terms and alternate readings and translations see the Electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary on the Web.

Guerneville, California USA

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A

a, `? water, fluid; semen, seed; offspring, child; father; watercourse (cf. e)

a Ah! (an interjection) (Attinger, El?ments p. 414)

a, a-a (now being read ?ya and aya respectively) father

a-a-ugu(4) father who has begotten, one's own true father, progenitor

a-ab-ba, a-aba (water of the) sea (cf. ab)

a-ab-ba igi-nim Upper Sea, the Mediterranean

a-ab-ba sig Lower Sea, the Persian Gulf

a-ah (or aah) (Gudea) uh

a-ba(-a) who, whoever, whom, whose (interrogative and relative)

a-ba a-ga

a - bal to pour out water, libate, irrigate

a-bul5-la abul

a-da rivalry, contention, contest, fight (Civil, AuOr 5 [1987] 18 + n. 6; Klein, AV Cagni 568 n. 29)

a-da-ab (an OB hymn rubric, a hymn of praise consisting minimally of sagida, saara and urubi sections)

a-da-al, a-da-lam now; current, present

a-da-man/m?n contest between two parties, (verbal) duel, disputation (Mittermayer, AV Krecher 383ff.)

a-da-man - a5/du11 to hold a contest; to dispute, debate (Attinger, El?ments 417-422)

a - d? to pour out water; to libate; to freshen (with water); to flood, be flooded (Civil, Farmer's Instructions p. 68f., 99)

a-du10 fresh water, sweet water

a - du11 to water, irrigate, flood, inundate (Attinger, El?ments 477-484)

a-?-a sudden onrush of water, damburst, flood wave

kusA.EDIN.L? kusummu3

a-EN-da a-ru12-da

a-estubku6 'carp flood,' early(?) flood (a literary phrase) (Civil, AuOr 15, 52: "that time in early spring when, after the water temperature has reached at least 16? C, the large carps spawn, with spectacular splashings, in the shallowest edges of ponds, marshes, and rivers," cf. Lammerhirt, Sulgi F p. 77)

a-ga, a-ba back, rear (of a building); hind quarters; after; cf. a-ga-ni-s? after him

a-ga-am, a-ga-?m (etc.) artificial pond or lake for controlling flood waters (Civil, Farmer's Instructions p. 130f.; CUSAS 17, 280 n. 132)

a-ga-am a mostly female occupation associated with the ?-du8, perhaps `doorkeeper's helper' (Civil, CUSAS 17, 280, q.v. for Semitic etymologies)

a-ga(-as)-gi4, (OS ?ga-gi4) later, (the one) after (Civil, JNES 43, 286 n. 12; Selz, FAOS 15/1 No. 21 vii 1); cf. ?ga-gi4-a-b? later, afterwards; OS a-ba-ni-s? after him (En I 29, 97')

a-g? ugu, ?gu

a-g?r, a-gar, agar4(SIG7) agricultural tract, area of field parcels, irrigation district, arable land; meadow (ePSD) (Michalowski, CKU p. 295)

a-gar5, a-g?r, a-b?r lead (the metal) (Reiter, AOAT 249, 119ff.)

a-gin7 how

a-g?b-ba lustration water, holy water

kusa-?-l? leather sack (Civil, ARES 4 no. 266)

urudaa-?-l? (a metal vessel) (CUSAS 13, 167)

a - ar to flood with water; to soak, rinse

a-i6(-a) flood, flood wave

A.KA ugu, ?gu

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A.KA-a - ar ?gu-a - ar

a-la(-la) ululation, expression of joy

a-la la-la

a-l? (a demon)

a-l?-a roiled, disturbed, cloudy, muddy water

A.LUM udu-aslumx

a-ma-ru(-k), a-m?/mar-ru10/uru5(-k) devastating flood; the mythical Deluge (see mar-uru5)

a-ma-ru-kam It is urgent! Without fail! (lit. It is like flood water!)

a-mah high water, flood, inundation

a-na(-?m) what, whatever (interrogative and relative) (ES ta-?m)

a-na-as(-?m), a-na-s?(-?m) why (ES ta-as)

a-na-gin7 how, why; thus, so a-na libation; drinking water

a-ne he, she, this one (OS for e-ne)

a-n?in pond, puddle, standing water

a-nir lament; grief (Emesal a-se-er)

a-nir ? si-il to intone, perform a lament da-nun-na(-k) (a grouping of high gods)

a-pa4 gutter, pipe; (as beer and water libation pipe, see Civil, AuOr 5, 33)

a-ra-li (poetic term for the netherworld; the desert between Bad-Tibira and Uruk where Dumuzi pastured his flocks and was killed (Jacobsen, JAOS 103, 194)

a-ra-zu, a-r?-zu, r?-zu prayer, supplication (for writings see Bauer, AV Klein 24-25)

a-r? way, path, course; state, condition; multiplied by, 'times' (math.) ; a-r? N-kam for the nth time

a - ri, a - ru to inseminate, engender, beget

a-ri-a, `?-ri-a wasteland, desert (Civil, AuOr 5, 33)

a - ru to dedicate, donate to a deity

a-ru-a temple donation, votive gift

a-ru12(EN)-da (Pre-Sarg. and Sarg.) copper (variant of urudu)

a-sig, a-si(-ig)-ga, a-sa-ga clear, clean water (m? zak?tu) (syllabic for sig5 and sa6(g), see Bauer, AfO 40/41, 95)

a-sis salty, brackish water

a - sur to pass urine, urinate

a-s?(g), asa5(g)(G?NA) field, parcel (for OS asa5 see Civil, JCS 25, 171f.; Powell, JCS 25, 178-184)

a s?-ga su - du11 to inseminate, engender (later elliptically just su - du11)

a-se-er a-nir

A.TIR esa

a - tu5, (OS) a - tu17(A.TU5) to bathe, wash

a-tu5-a bath, bathing ritual

a-zu, a-su physician

?, ax(DA) arm, wing; branch; side (cf. da); (knife) edge; strength, force, military force(s); work-force; work-period/unit (measured in days); (point in) time; wage(s), hire, fee, payment, expenditure (Heimpel, CUSAS 5, 81-84); horns, antlers (for ax see Attinger, ZA 87, 112)

? - ? to command, give, issue orders or instructions to someone (-da-) regarding (-si-)

?-?-? instruction, order; news (Attinger, ZA 87, 115)

?-an handle(?) (Attinger, ZA 87, 115f.); literally `high arm' (part of a balance, Nisaba 15/1, 359)

?-an(-z?-lum) date palm spadix; broom

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?-an-k?ra, an-k?ra, en-k?ra (a divine or royal weapon or staff) (Attinger, ZA 87, 182: ?an-k?ra) (ePSD now reads enkar, an-k?r, en-k?r etc.) ?-?s ?s

? - bad to open, spread the arms, wings

?-bad opened, outstretched arms, wings

? - dah to help (PSD and ePSD now read tah)

?-dah help, aid; helper

?-dam settlement, habitation

? - dar to seize illegally, confiscate (OB synonym of ? ? ar) (Civil, CUSAS 17, 256f.)

?-d?ra horns of wild goats, deer antlers (Steinkeller, BSA 63 n. 24) (see d?ra)

? - d?b to flap the wings; periphrastic: ?-d?b - a5 ? - ? to rear, bring up, take care of

?-g?-zi-ga early morning, dawn

?-g?b-bu left arm, side; to the left, on the left ?-?l mighty, powerful, strong (cf. ?-nun-?l) ? ? ar, OB ? - dar to apply force, overpower (Civil, CUSAS 17, 256f.) ?-i6-ba(-a) at midnight ?-ki-ti (a festival and the temple where it takes place) ? - k?s to tire (the arms) (Attinger, ZA 87, 112) ?-k?s(-?) adj. tired; n. tiredness; work, labor, toil; ppl. ?-nu-k?s untiring

? - l? to tie the hands, fetter kus?-l? (a kind of drum)

?-m?(-k) arm of battle (describing a weapon, poetic)

?-nun(-?l) having great power, (most) powerful (cf. ?-?l)

?-nam-ur-sa heroic arm/strength/weapon (poetic)

?-s?g (a demon); (a source of sickness or death) (> asakku)

(kus)?-si (leather) strap; urudu?-si copper hinge (Van de Mieroop, Crafts 134; Civil, Iraq 23, 162)

?-s?g slingstone

? - s?(dr) to extend the arm(s), spread the wings; to proceed, march on; to sail

?-se, ?-s? now (anumma); not yet (lman)

?-SEmusen swan(?) (Landsberger, MSL 8/2 130)

?-sita4(U.KID)(-a) paraphanelia, implements (Civil, JAOS 88 (1968) 7) < ? su-du7-a (?)

?-su-?r limbs (lit. 'arms, hands, and feet')

? - tuku to have strength, power

?-tuku powerful, strong, able-bodied

?-u4-te-na (at) twilight, (in the) evening (coolness)

?-u4-zal-le daybreak, morning

?-zi-da right arm, side

?-zi(g) high-handed action, violence

?-zi-s? by a violent act, by force

a5(k) (ak) to do, perform, exercise, act (often as an auxiliary verb); to make, construct; to make like, make into; to treat. Certain contexts require rdg. aka or k?. It can be combined with a pronoun in forms such as h?na, ?-na, see AV Wilcke 226. For rdg. sa5 perhaps = sa4 = the aux. verb *za see Cavigneaux, ASJ 9, 49ff.; Urnamma Hymn B 52 has an Ur III (?) var. sa-sa for OB AK-AK. For a comprehensive treatment see Attinger, ZA 95, 46-64, 208-275; Powell, AV Diakonoff 314-319. The OB signlist Proto-Ea 524-8 lists the values a5, n?, sa5, k?, and aka for the AK sign.

ab hole, opening, window, roof vent

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