#an annotated sumerian dictionary

[ea-nasir-is-a-crook]

a, "water"

a-a igi i-ni-in-bar man-tar-ĝu10 ba-dibba

I looked into the water and my destiny was passing by. (Proverb 2 4)

al-lub e2-a-ni a ab-si e2-ma-la-ga-ni-še3 ĝiri16-de3 i3-ĝen

The house of the crab was filled with water, so he went to his girlfriend's house to complain. (proverb 2 63)

šeg an-ta a-bi bar̂-ta ḫe2-en-na-ge-en

May the rains above, whose waters have been distant (or: opened), be regular for him. (Rīm-Sîn E, 83)

[ea-nasir-is-a-crook]

[ea-nasir-is-a-crook]

I thought I'd start by showing you guys what a complete entry looks like. So much detail!

I share this also so you can see why I won't be typing out entire entries in the future. It's a lot. My eyes went a little cross with the formatting.

Speaking of formatting, Tumblr does not allow superscript or subscript, so I've had to settle on using small letters for both. The numbers label which form of the word is being used, and they are subscript. The letters are to give context to readers and are not spoken when read aloud, and they are superscript.

Anything written in italics is Akkadian.

Onward now with the very first entry, a, "to groan."

a (v, interj) Ia

BASIC WRITTEN FORM: a, i “to groan” a2 A nâqu (CAD N1 341b) e-a A nâqu (CAD N1 341b) i I nâqu (CAD N1 341b) D USAGE AS/IN NOUN

D.1 i-dUtu “distress, someone in distress, malcontent” i-dUtu ḫabālu (CAD Ḫ 3b) i-dUtu ŠU-u2 (=iutû) (CAD I/J 317b) i-dUtu du11-ga nuzzumu (CAD I/J 317b) “to complain” i-dUtu u2-gu ḫe2-ni-de2 Indeed, I made distress disappear there. (Ur-Namma, 1.1.20:179) niĝ2-erim2 i3-dUtu gu2-bi ĝiri3 bi2-us2 He stepped on the necks of evildoers and malcontents. (Gudea B, xviii 11) ni2-zuḫ lu2-i-dUtu-ka gu2-ba ĝiri3 bi2-gub I stepped on the necks of thieves and malcontents. (Ur-Namma C, 35) ša3-ma-da-ĝa,-ka i-dUtu ḫe2-eb2-ta-zi Indeed, I removed (all) distress in my land. (Warad-sîn E4.2.1 3.20:45)

D.2 i-dNanna “someone in distress, malcontent” šu- r̂u3-a nu-siki nu-mu-su-a i-dUtu i-dNanna di-bi du11-ge ḫe2-em-mi-ge Indeed, I support the cases of the restrained, the orphan, the window, and those in distress. (Išme-Dagan A+V, A. 216-17)

D.3 nam-a-a “animal sound” See nam-aa (s)

I INTERJECTION

I.1 “Woe!” [A] [aḫul]apum, a, [u]ai (CAD A, 213b) dUttu munus-sig6-ga a2 ḫaš2-ĝu10 im-me-a2 bar-ĝu, im-me-a2 bar-ĝu10 a2 ša3-ba- ĝu10 im-[me] Uttu, the beautiful woman says “Woe, my thighs!” She says “Woe, my liver! Woe, my belly!” (Enki&Ninḫ 186) a dam-ĝu10 a dummu-ĝu10 im-mi-du11-ga-ta aḫulap mutiya aḫulap māriya ina qabê When she says, “Woe, my husband! Woe, my son!” (CAD A 214a)

I.2 “(bird call”) ti-gid2 (mušen)-lu2 a ud mi-ni-ib2-zal-zal-e The tigu-birds spend the day (chirping) “a’a.” (Gudea A, v 9)

I.3 “lion’s roar(?)” piriĝ-gin7 eme-sig-ta zi-ga-ni a-a dub,-be2-dam Like a lion, rearing up in his tracks, shaking with a roar(?). (PapJN, A.15)

Abbreviations: CAD Martha T Roth, et al., eds. The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Twenty volumes. Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1956–

Enki&Ninḫ Enki and Ninḫursaĝ

PapJN Pabolsaĝ's Journey to Nippur

[ea-nasir-is-a-crook]

I got An Annotated Sumerian Dictionary by Mark E Cohen for Christmas and I made a blog to natter on about it.

If it's in the dictionary and I find it interesting, I will plunk it down in here.

I'm not a linguist. I'm an enthusiast who enjoys learning about ancient Sumer. Please manage you expectations of this blog appropriately.

No translation requests. The dictionary is organized by Sumerian, not by English, which means that if you give me an English word to translate into Sumerian, I won't be able to find it.

However, if you know the Sumerian word you want me to find, I can type out the entry for you.

We're going to do this from start to finish! Let's see how long it takes to get from A to Z.

Sounds and symbols guide under the cut!

r̂ sounds like dr ĝ sounds like ng š sounds like sh ḫ sounds like kh

adj - adjective adv - adverb conj - conjunction interj - interjection interr - interrogative num - numeric prep - preposition s - substantive v - verb

And here is a pronunciation guide done by @sumerianlanguage