sumerian

Dictionary
CORPUS

Beautiful Interlingual
https://communio-templorum.github.io/cuneiform-text-corpus/#!/etcsl/1.2.1
http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/nepsd-frame.html vocab http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003705/ texts https://app.kurnugia.com/

It is important to note that different languages made different use of the sumerian icono-semantic-syllabic system. The best modern comparison would be Chinese Characters with their wide dialectical variations within china and use in different languages such as Japanese and Korean.

Maybe Sumerian should be regarded rather as a system than as a pure language per se. It may have been from the very beginning some kind of emergent creole in an attempt to communicate between widely different tongues.

𒋗𒈨𒊑𒌈 šu-me-ri-tum 𓌙
𒋗𒈨𒊑𒌈 Sumerian ⇔ Samaritian

Sumerian was at one time widely held to be an Indo-European language, but that view later came to be almost universally rejected.[17]

The Semites designated the old language as the lisan sumeri, or language of Sumer, and their own language as akkadū or Akkadian. Sumerian was first written in pictographs, then cursive scribbles and later in the Akkadian syllabus, with its direct ancestors: the Babylonian and Assyrian cuneiform script.

Sumerian (𒅴𒂠 EME.G̃IR15 "native tongue")
Sumerian (𒅴𒄀 EME.GI "Mouth of Sumer" 𓂋𓏤)
Sumerian (𒅴𒆪 EME.KU "pheme of Kur" 𒆪...𒂠 also with 2/3 middle strokes )
Sumerian (𒅴𒊩 Emesal )

Whatever 𒂠 G̃IR15, 𒆪 KU® (guerre) … might have meant, pheme.géro became to mean "old tongue".

𒅴 EME ⇔ coeme? 𓆎 𓏏 𓀀 𓁐 𓏥 Common copt = Egyptian language ⇔ oecumene / Koine?

because of the multiple languages spoken in the reason of Sumer and Babylon there is much confusion in the reconstructed phonology of the signs.

On the other hand even complicated words such as Gilgamesh are sometimes corobated by historical records:
Aelian (second century CE) gave a narrative about a certain Babylonian king Γιλγαμος, which may derive from Berossus or some other Hellenistic source, with the baby Gilgamesh being saved from death by an eagle snatching him from a fall off the city wall. Matthew Goff's "Gilgamesh the Giant: The Qumran Book of Giants' Appropriation of Gilgamesh Motifs" in DSD, 2009 has a thorough discussion of this topic. The name גלגמיס appears in the Book of Giants (4Q530 II 2, 4Q531 Frag. 17 12) in the Enochic corpus, alongside other named characters linked to the Gilgamesh cycle.

Prose and poetry

The literature of the classical period may be divided into three classes, historical, commercial and religious. Documents of the third type are extremely rare in this period. If the Sumerians composed hynms, liturgies, epics and mythologies before 2500 B.C. none have survived.

The semantic reading is often easier but sometimes also the phonetic one is cohesive and makes sense.

𒋢𒀀 𒉡𒌇 𒈨 𒂗
Cata nido me han
I don't have a cat.

𒄨𒈨𒂗 lad me en : I am boy
𒀸 𒈬 𒂠 Un me sam : I am alone

Notably in Sumerian the micro etymology of compound characters reads right to left, even though the general reading direction is the opposite! Of the many examples here are some:

#Sumerian Grammar

Genitive

-GE 𒄀 𒆤 𒈪 𒀺 𒀹 (rectus)
-KA 𒅗 𒆍 (obliquus)
-क -que -𓆑 -כ c/k/q = क -כ ⋍ c ⋍ с = s -ש š ⋍ -'s se ⋍ δe ⇔ de

á zid da lugal zag ge
at the side of thy regal king.

We see some overlap with 2nd person kyou 𓎡 / 𓍿 thy ⇔ de

gig-ù-na-ge
In the hight of the Night

Nam.lugal kalama.ge
lordship of all the lands

[giš]dúr-gar-mag nam-nin-ka-ni
the great throne of her ladyship
?

When the antecedent is neither the construct nor the genitive, the suffix may precede or follow.

é uru girsu-(ki)-ka-ni, 'the temple of her city Girsu'
é-usbar-ra-na-ka, 'from the house of his kinsmen'
bár bara-ge-ene, 'occupants of the chapel' 𒉈𒁈?
dingir an-na an-ki-ge-e-ne, 'Lofty gods of heaven and earth'
gú-gal dingir-ri-e-ne-ge, 'great gúgal of the gods'
gud-dingir-rí-ne-ge,' the oxen of the gods'
umun kur-kur-ra-ge nigin-u, 'Oh lord of the lands repent'
mulu azag-zu-ge-ne, 'their lord of wisdom (lives not)'

possessive

dam lugal.ge
Dame des Regentens

oblique genitive

ka (qua,que,com) has not only the force of uniting two nouns in the genitive relation but the various adverbial notions attacbed to the status obliquus are also expressed by it, the case ending a being transferred to the particle ka.

dúg d.ningirsu-ka
talk de* Ningirsu qua
by the command of Ningirsu

kar nibru-(ki)-ka
at the quay of Nippur 𒃸 𒋼𒀀?

dual

Suffix -esses aš-aš easily confounded with the sign HAL2.
𒐀 DIDLI dual Tüttel denoting Ablaut: 1 Gans => 2 Gänse
(both being)

𒐀 indicates the plural in
as-me ás-ás=samsati, 'sun disks ".

𒐀 aš-aš => 𐎀 Ugaritic letter ᵖALPA > ᶠalpha α
𒐀 => 𐎀 plural -ae -e -i

The Semitic scribes indicate the dual by 𒈫 min, the ordinary word for two but this method does not appear to be Sumerian. su-min:'two hands'; igi-min:'two eyes'

plural

usually by suffix -ni.ni -ne (straße => Straßen) or -me

The plural suffix is identical with the possessive pl. suffix 'ene' 'their'; to avoid confusion the language generally employs bi-ne for the possessive suffix.

e dingir-e-ne-ge
house of the gods

-ga.a 𒐼𒀀? menge "multiple" ! 𒃻𒀀 ⇔ Schar

The plural es, as, us employed only with verbs, was attached to the definite pl. me giving rise to a new inflection me-es by the Semitic scribes

This (mes) plural inflection of nouns is probably not identical with mes=sunu, 'they (are)',
i. e., the pl. of the verb 𒈨 'me': I am / to be. Me sam : wir sind

Persons and objects after numerals have no inflection for number.
600 lu·nim-(ki) = '600 Elamites'.
5 gar = 5 biscuits (gare Kuchen 𒅥 cake®) اغروم aḡrum 𒃻 akalu

doubling

The primitive method of indicating the plural seems to have been the cumberous process of doubling the word.
Few traces of this ancient phenomenon remain.

qud-tür-tür,' the little oxen'
mada mada, 'lands',
nig-aga-aga-da = ipseiu, 'deeds',
niq-aga-aga-bi, 'his deeds',
na-gal-gal,' great smootbed stones
umun kur-kür-ra, 'lord of lands',
dumu-dumu-ne, 'children

Determinatives

Egyptian Determinants are similar to Sumerian determinatives

Suffixes

Sumerian Grammatical suffixes

Pronouns

-mu 𒈬 my 𒈨 me 𒈨𒂊 me-e ego 𒂷 g̃e₂₆ 𒂷𒂊 g̃e 𒂷 g̃a₂ 𒂷𒀀 g̃a -zu 𒍪 thy 𒍝 za 𓎡 ća 𒍢 ze₂ Sie thou
-er 𒄯 ur₅ "he, one" 𓆑

-me 𒈨 -ne 𒉈 plural 𒍪𒉈𒉈 thine

-na 𒈾 -ni 𒉌 -bi (ihn, den, von, his) obscure

𒀀𒉈 a-ne /anē/ on "he, she" von 𒂊𒉈 e-ne enē on "he, she" -ene 'their -bi (von)
𒀀𒉈𒉈 a-ne-ne anēnē "they" 𓈖 𓏏 ante doubling 𒀀𒉌 a-ni a-ne₂ ane “his/her” 𒀀𒈾 a-na what (interrogative) <> article 𓇑 𒀭𒉡𒋾 an-nu-ti 𓈖 𓏏 ante "those"

𒋗𒉡𒋾 𒋙𒉡𒋾 𓋴 𓈖 𓏥 šunūti

obscure 𒉌 ṣal ≈ del "his" 𒉌 ṣal ≈ su 𓇓 "his" 𒉌 ṣal ≈ sin 𓆑 "his" 𒉌 ᵛni ᵛné 𓆑 von 𒉌 ᵛÌ ᵛIÀ ≈ 𓆑 of (his)

wer

𒄵 bir ≈ 𒄯 ur₅ •wer he, one, that, this same, this, this way, thus, so

who

𒀀𒁀 a-ba who of father von

𒁉 be₂ “this”

where

𒁀 bâ locative of 𒁉𒀀 bea “this” 𒁀 ba bâ “in this” locative case 𒁀 bâk “of this” (genitive case)

que

𒀝 -ak que genitive case marker

𒆠𒁀 ki-ba /kibâ/ there, on this place 𒆠𒌓𒁀 ki-ud-ba /ki'udbâ/ there and then, once upon a time, formerly

de

𒋫 ta de out of, thanks to, from, since, by means of, what (Emesal, interrogative)

va name?
BUT id-da-sú ba-an-sum-mu into the river they shall throw him

Seine Hoheit

zu-en za-en ≈ sen @ Turk • you as pluralis majestatis

PREPOSITIONS

𒂊 E -o- of lugal-e-dub king's inscription 𒁾

𒊭…𒅗 ša…ka zu…gegen genitiv 𒊭 𒈠𒈬𒁕 𒅗 šà mamuda ka "dreaming; im Traum" 𒋚 šà?

𒅆…𒅗 igi…ka gegen face(ing) + genitiv 𒅆 𒋢𒂵𒇴𒈠 𒅗 igi šúgalamma ka "vor dem Tor" 𒋙? 𒅆…𒋗 igi…šù 𒅆 𒍪 igi zu šù "vor Dich hin" ( 𒋙 𒂠 other šù ? ) 𒅆… igi… gegen… facing… 𒅆 𒍪 igi zu "against you; in front of you"

𒂇 AGA 𒂆 AGA₃ 𒀀𒂵 a-gaʳ achter "after, (be)hind…" ≈ 𒂕 EĜER EĜIR ≈ 𓆱 𓐍 𓏏 aghter after 𓇥 𓂋 𓀜 אחרית ʼachărîyth rear, end #arkatu

𒌋 UGU 𒌋𒅗 augh auf over upon 𒌋𒈨𒂗 ugu me-en "auf uns"

𒊕 SAG 𒊕 𒊮𒂵𒉈𒆤 SAG ŠÀ-GA-NE-GÈ "on top of his heart" <> super

𒋝 SIG aşağı ˢlow 𒋝 SIG 𒋝…𒋙 sous 𒋝𒁀 sub… zu Füssen 𒋟 under(neath) …

𒆠 ki quo "where" quo vadis "where do you go" 𒆠 𒀠𒁺𒀀 ki ʷal-du-a "wo er waltet"

𒆠 kiᵐ com "with" 𒆠𒈬𒄖 ki-mu-gu ‘com ego’ "with me" 𒆠…𒄰 ki…kam com 𒆠𒀭𒌓𒄰 ki' ᴰᵉᵒ Babar kam "with the Sungod" 𒆠…𒅗 ki…ka "and with" -que 𒆠 medina "mit" 𒆠…𒋗 ki…šù ‘zu’ "to" (local and temporal) 𒆠 ki kiᵐ zu-e-ne-ne "with yous" (thine sen 𓍿𓈖𓏥)

𒁕 da 𓂞 side da-bi "with him" ⚠️ 𓎛𓈖𓂝

𒈬 mu um … im Namen 𒈬𒁉𒀀 "um seinetwillen; in seinem Namen"

𒌓 ud at ante da … "when" 𒌓 ude -''- 𒂗…𒌓 en…uda "when that …" while 𒂗…𒀸 ena…áš "in (der Zeit) als"

𒋗𒃻𒌉𒇲𒁉 ŠU.GAR DUMU ᶠLA₂ BI «sogar dann falls wenn» "if, when" 𒋗𒃻𒌉𒇲𒁉 ŠU.GAR.TUR.LAL.BI #tukumbi #šumma "if, when"

ud- at the time (temporal ante)
ud...ta from the days/time

Postfixes

similar to prefixes and prepositions ?

-dé
-ta de (des,of,von) 𒋫 TA? 𒋬 TA*? 𒂆 ṭa?
-ta de : ud...ta from the days/time
-ta de from / with vs
-ta to towards unto ⋍
-ta at the time (ud-bi-ta = ud-ba de shihou)
-da at locative e-mu-da in my temple
-da 𒁕 (dextra) idû => 𒀉 á arm, right hand à
-da to •hända anda ante with beside s.o.
-da anda-ne = itti-šu eda-ene with them
-da κᾰτᾰ́ 𓐍 𓏏 𓆑 with, as well as, corresponding to
-da κᾰτᾰ́ under the hands(qat) of ⇔ 𓐍 𓂋 care

dúg- mu mu-lu-da an-da-ab-di-e,
'my word one shall repeat for me among men " II R. 8 a 29 f.

za-da a-ba-a in-na-bal-e,
'who shall make war with thee'

ⲛⲧⲉⲛ- hear at hand of,from
ϣⲉⲡⲧⲟⲧ⳼ grasp hand (ingreeting)
ⲥⲁⲧⲟⲧ⳼ prep. out of hand, forthwith
ⲉⲧⲉⲛ- , ⲉⲧⲟⲧ⳼ , ⲉⲧⲉⲛⲑⲏⲛⲟⲩ prep. tohand of, to
ⲛⲧⲉⲛ- , ⲛⲧⲉ- prep. in, by hand of, by,with, beside, from; with for; through,because of, from, away from; to
ϧⲁⲧⲉⲛ- prep. under the hand ofbeside, with
ϩⲓⲧⲉⲛ- prep. by hand of, through, by,from
ϧⲉⲛ- by, with right hand
ϩⲱ⳼ pron. of emphasis or contrastself, also, for (+pron.) part; but, on theother hand

-šú 𒋜 su4 ⋍ 𒋗 ? 𒋙?
-šú accusative object marker: kur-Sú gul-gul-la the land he has destroyed
-šú zu towards (sys syn)
-šú zu Fuß: with, by means of ma-su=onto me
-šú ... zu (bis, upto, until)
-šú -eš zu Tag, ud-de-es daily!
-šú cause, as to, concerning; (rare)
-eš adverbial marker -iš -aš in akkadian
-eš adverbial marker -isch -os -ös eme.eš famous dug-gi-es = tábis, well. gal-li-es=rabís, greatly.

-na -ni -bi nam implicit 𓆑 ihn, von ihm:
-na in,on,von,into genitive and dative (šu-na in(to) his hand)
-na.ra near nach onto to
-ra ri ir = ara (go)
-ra dative marker (MUN-ra der Frau)
-ra re à (akkadian ana ina)
-aš with
-a à at,in,into
-a obligue case : locative, instrumental, dative and temporal
-e •who subject marker nominative
-e à object marker accusative
-bi •of •which •be passive/object marker accusative
-bi -y adverbial marker e.g. mag-bi mega ⋍ mag-šú
-bi bin ina in
-bi.šú (of)self
-ba by then passim
-bi.a by then
-ge ?
-šam ?

A tendency to employ ra and da with persons and Sú and ta with things

Objective ra and SÚ often accommodate themselves to the preceding vowel becoming, ur, ir, er, ar, us, is, es,
as as the harmony of vowels may require. This application of the principle of vowel harmony has not affected the subjective postfixes da and ta!

É a ba-ši-in-tur Into the house he entered
É mag.ni a = in her great temple
É adda.na 𓉔 𓇋𓏏𓆑 house of his father

mu lugal a
in the name of the king

zapag-zu-sú
at thy thunder

uru- a-ni-sú
towards his city

šu-na
into his hand

ud-subbana-sú
at the time of (his) descent

gul-la-na = hadis
'in his joy'
gladness

umun-e é-tur-a
man of the sheepfold

úr ri gig a
hour re nigh à
day and night

ud ul-li-a-as
unto other days
allos!
ud-kur-su
unto other days, in the future

sag-ga-na-sú mi-ni-in-ili
he lifts his head

igi-ni-šú before her (face)

igi-šú before
igi-ra before s.o.

ki-bi-ra = eli sasu, 'unto him',

ki-ta
at the side of
from
beside

da-ta, 'from the hand " 'from beside', 'from'. datum!

bar-ta, and bar-Sú=ana arki, ina arki, 'behind',

mu-sú, 'for the name of', 'for the sake of',
mu ... dé(da)
sag ... sú
su ... ta, 'from the hand of',

uru-ni-ta, 'from his city',
lugal-ni-ir, , for his king',

karra-as,
'witb tbe knife',

uru-zu u-di-zu ga-ni-lag-en,
zur Ur, zu Video gehen wir!
'unto the city, unto the spectacle let us go'

á-zu-ta á nu mu-un-da-di,
with thy strength(arm) no strength is compared',

su-mu-ta su di-a nu ma-al,
'with my hand no hand is comparable',

is higher than the temples of tbe foreign lands'. Gud. Sto I 3, 2 :

kur-a-ta il-la,
'more magnificent(high) than the foreign lands',

YA 𒅀 = Y+A 𒄿+𒀀 < MY 𒀀 mu 𒄿 y
𒍪𒀊 ZU.AB Abzu abyss
𒀭𒂗𒍪 SU.EN Sîn can candra
𒈗 = 𒃲 + 𒇽 Gal+lu Gallu / Lugal (crowned king)
US 𒊻 = 𒄷𒊺 ᵍHU-ŠE goose 𓅾
MAŠ2 𒈧 Dam+mas maš𒈦 Dammwild deer

𒀭𒇽𒆪𒊏 / 𒂗𒊮𒊨𒀭𒈾 /𒂗 𒆠𒂗𒄀 / 𒈗 𒌦𒈣 / 𒌉𒂍𒇷𒇷𒈾 / 𒂍𒉌𒈬𒈾𒆕
DLU2-KU-ra / en-sha3-kush2-an-na / en ki-en-gi / lugal kalam-ma / dumu e2-li-li-na#? / e2-ni mu-na-du3

"For LukuRa (unknown god): Enshakushanna, lord of Sumer and king of all the land, son of Elilina, built the temple for Him."

conditional

conditional u 𒌋 𒌑 𒅇 if whether verily < part > or when may
conditional gen 𒉓 / gan / 𒃶/𒃷? 𒂷 ga 𒂵 given if gwhen
conditional den dé.en 𒉈 sei sein denn
conditional den ⇔ 𒌋 10

question particles

𒋫;𒋫𒀀 ta;ta-a tant 𒋫𒀀 what reversed #mīnum what? 𒀀𒈾 a-na ana what? as much as (math.) wen < qwen quin quanta?
𒀀𒈾𒀀𒀭 a-na-am₃ anam what #mīnu what 𒀀𒈾𒀸 a-na-aš anaš why? whence!? #ammatu
𒀀𒈾𒈨𒀀;𒀀𒈾𒈨𒀀𒁉 a-na-me-a;a-na-me-a-bi anamea everything any.ment anything everything

Fully phonetic spellings:

𒀭𒁕𒅅 an-da-ĝal2 "exalted" #elû šaqû
𒀭𒋫𒅅 an-ta-ĝal2 "exalted"

Doubling
There's the lingering question of the elusive "Euphratean" substratum in Sumerian (AKA "Banana language" in reference to reduplication), which some have associated with the Ubaid and Samarra cultures, according to this model the Sumerians' ancestors would have come from further up north and the Uruk culture ought to be viewed as intrusive. Much of this is hypothetical, the ancient DNA would provide some amount of closure.

Polylectics

Exposed dialectics

When a sign has multiple phonetic values, as is unfortunately(?) so frequent in the polylingual phono-semantic system of cuneiform, there are often cases when all of the preserved readings are connected to different language families in the Babylonian mess:

𒆗𒌅 lap-tu לֶפֶת lefet “turnip”
𒆗𒌅 rub-tu Rübe™ “turnip”
𒆗𒌅 nap-tu napo™ “turnip”
𒆗𒌅 lap-tu tulip reverse
𒆗𒌅 turnip

The 𒌅 abstract noun suffix is sometimes silent, sometimes vocalized as ty tum tion ...

UGN = UD.GAL.NUN only during the ED III

Fara Orthogrophie
In the Sumerian cryptography known as UD.GAL.NUN the sign KU substitutes UR 𒌨 for DOG (Krebernik 1998: 300)
KU für UR kommt jedoch auch außerhalb der UGN-Orthogrophie vor, so daß sich die Grenzen zwischen Normal- und UGN nicht ganz scharf ziehen lassen. Doubtful: "Die UGN-Schreibweise ist eine Kryptographie und repräsentiert keine dialektale Variante des Sumerischen."
• texts written in strict grid left top to bottom right
• grammatical morphemes can be omitted
• the pronominal suffix -ni-ra can be omitted
• determinatives can be omitted (KI, d for places and gods)

Lexical variations:
ᵈNin-TU => ᵈTU
PA.DÙN for hursag (mountain)
GÌR.UNUG for gú.du8.a (KI) city Kuta (so what!!)

𒀀𒉈𒁕𒉡𒈨𒀀 a-ne-da nu-me-a /anēda nûmeâ/ without him (literally, “when it is not with him”)

The /a/ of 𒀀𒉈𒉈 a-ne-ne /anēnē/ contracts with a preceding vowel:

𒅆𒉈𒉈𒂠 ― igi-ne-ne-še₃ /igînēnēše/ ― before their eyes

𒂍𒈬 ― e₂-g̃u₁₀ /eg̃ûm/ ― it's my house

compound nouns

compound noun order is inverse to Germanic etc: 𒆠𒆤 place(of)mat(s) matted place