Ú (cuneiform)

Cuneiform ú-(digital form, inside surrounding cuneiform).
Alphabetic u (ú), third line from botton, last cuneiform character.

The cuneiform sign ú is a common-use sign of the Amarna letters, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and other cuneiform texts (for example Hittite texts). It has a secondary sub-use in the Epic of Gilgamesh for šam.[1]

Linguistically, it has the alphabetical usage in texts for u, but can replace any of the four vowels, so also used for a, or e, or i.

Epic of Gilgamesh usage

The ú sign usage in the Epic of Gilgamesh is as follows: (šam, 45 times, ú, 493, KÚŠ, 2, and Ú, 4 times).[1] Ú is logogram, for Akkadian "tullal", a soapwort.

šam syllabic use in the Epic of Gilgamesh

The following words use the syllabic šam as the first syllable in the word entries under š in the glossary.[2]

  1. šamhatu, for English, "harlot".
  2. šamhiš, "proudly, stoutly",.
  3. šammmu, "drug, plant, grass".

References

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  1. ^ a b Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Sign List, pp. 155-165, sign no. 318, p. 160.
  2. ^ Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Glossary, pp. 119-145, šamhatu, šamhiš, and šammmu, p. 140; English, "harlot", "proudly, stoutly", and "drug, plant, grass".


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