Good day! Thank you as always for what you do! Today, I'm hoping to translate "Thousand-Year Dragon" and "Sands of Time." From what I have read, the Sumerians had a different conceptualization of time than we do, so I realize some of these words might not have direct translations. Thank you as always!
Hello, and thank you for the kind words! Unfortunately, both of these translations are a bit complicated in Sumerian.
"Dragon" is easy, ushumgal 𒃲𒁔, and "year" is mu 𒈬. The issue is with "thousand", which is not a nice round number in Sumerian like it is in English. Precisely, it'd be ngeshu-ngesh-ash-nimin - 600 + 60 x 6 + 40. Instead, I'd just use ngeshu 𒐞 "600" to make either ushumgalmungeshu 𒃲𒁔𒈬𒐞 "dragon of 600 years" or ushumgal mungeshua 𒃲𒁔𒈬𒐞𒀀 "dragon in (i.e. during) 600 years".
The basic word for "sand" is sahar 𒅖. The word for "time" is a 𒀉, though it more often means "a specific/set time" or "an instance". Instead, I'd use ul 𒌌 "distant time; old ancient" to make saharula 𒅖𒌌𒆷 "sands of distant time".
However, the concept of the "sands of time" derives from sand falling through an hourglass. The Sumerians didn't have hourglasses, but they did have the dibdib 𒄑𒁳𒁳, "waterclock" (derived from dib 𒁳 "to traverse, pass by"). So perhaps "waters of time", aula 𒀀𒌌𒆷, would be more appropriate!
