🧵Cuneiform Signs and Scientific Terminology, a meta-thread🧵
In an effort to help me memorize/internalize both cuneiform signs and their myriad uses in Babylonian astronomical texts, I want to feature a new sign each day and describe some of its meanings.
In an effort to help me memorize/internalize both cuneiform signs and their myriad uses in Babylonian astronomical texts, I want to feature a new sign each day and describe some of its meanings.
First up, šú (or šu2, but I guess Twitter doesn't love subscripts?)
𒋙
A nice vertical wedge with a Winkelhaken (or sometimes diagonal-down) wedge right at the bottom.
𒋙
A nice vertical wedge with a Winkelhaken (or sometimes diagonal-down) wedge right at the bottom.
šú has a syllabic reading of the sound "shu," which often indicates third-person posession : "his" or "its".
BUT it has tons of other logographic readings used in astronomy!
BUT it has tons of other logographic readings used in astronomy!
ŠÚ can indicate the direction "west," often in a phrase like ana ŠÚ, "to the west."
𒁹 𒋙
𒁹 𒋙
This is because ŠÚ can mean erēbu, or "to set." We often see ŠÚ in the phrase ŠÚ šamši, or "the setting of the sun." Which is an event that happens in the west!
𒋙 𒌋𒌋
𒋙 𒌋𒌋
So ALSO ŠÚ can mean "the evening" (because, well, the setting sun?) but also means the last appearance of the moon or planets.
Unrelatedly (maybe?), it's also used to represent Month IV, so ŠÚ = dûzu
Also probably unrelated, ŠÚ can mean "overcast"
We can see a lot of these uses in action in the Goal-Year Text LBAT 1251
(Image from the @britishmuseum: britishmuseum.org/research/colle…)
(Image from the @britishmuseum: britishmuseum.org/research/colle…)
In line 26, we see the signs ana ŠÚ ina LAL-šú, "in its moving backward to the west", talking about the motion of the planet Saturn. This gives us ŠÚ as "west" and šú as the possessive marker "its".
𒁹 𒋙 𒀸 𒇲 𒋙
𒁹 𒋙 𒀸 𒇲 𒋙
Hmmm actually maybe this is only ŠU, not ŠÚ. SCRATCH THIS ONE.
In the section on Mercury, we can see ŠÚ used for "last visibility" on line 12
TODAY IS THE DAY OF UD!
In the 1st millennium and most astronomical texts, this sign appears as one vertical wedge with two Winkelhakens placed to its left. Earlier variations had two diagonal wedges instead of the Winkelhakens and even two wedges instead of the one vertical.
𒌓
In the 1st millennium and most astronomical texts, this sign appears as one vertical wedge with two Winkelhakens placed to its left. Earlier variations had two diagonal wedges instead of the Winkelhakens and even two wedges instead of the one vertical.
𒌓
This sign has a ton of phonetic values: not just ud and the predictable ut, but also tam, par, liḫ, ḫiš, and u₄.
More interesting are ud’s logographic readings!
More interesting are ud’s logographic readings!
ͩͩUTU, for instance! Preceded by a dingir (𒀭 — the small little d!), this sign refers to Šamaš (Shamash), the sun god.
Because Šamaš is the sun god, ͩUTU can also be “the sun”, or šamšu. (Note the similarity of the name of the god and the name of the star)
We see this combined with yesterday’s ŠÚ sign in ͩUTU.ŠÚ(-A) to mean ereb šamšu, or “the setting of the sun.”
𒀭 𒌓 𒋙 𒀀
@sarabmohr and I saw this recently in our Historical Texts class in a chronicle (BM 26472 and BM 96152), excerpted below.
𒀭 𒌓 𒋙 𒀀
@sarabmohr and I saw this recently in our Historical Texts class in a chronicle (BM 26472 and BM 96152), excerpted below.
Probably related to the association with the sun and the sun god, this sign can also be read UD, meaning ūmu, or “day”
You can imagine how “day” and “sun” might be common in astronomical texts, but THAT’S NOT ALL!
This sign also appears in the name of the planet Mercury, GU₄.UD, “muštarīlu,” which is an abbreviation of UDU.IDIM.GU₄.UD
𒄞 𒌓
This sign also appears in the name of the planet Mercury, GU₄.UD, “muštarīlu,” which is an abbreviation of UDU.IDIM.GU₄.UD
𒄞 𒌓
Here's an example of what this looks like on an actual tablet, even though it's incredibly difficult (for me) to read.
(Also, bad form, but I don't know what tablet this is — I'm translating and dating it as part of my assignment this week, so hopefully I'll know more by tues!)
(Also, bad form, but I don't know what tablet this is — I'm translating and dating it as part of my assignment this week, so hopefully I'll know more by tues!)
UD can also be read BABBAR meaning peṣû or “white.” This is often found in the term KÙ.BABBAR, meaning “pure/shining white” or “silver” — like the raw material but also currency $$$
More interesting for *me*, BABBAR is used in the name of the planet Jupiter, MUL₂.BABBAR or nēberu, the “white star.”
𒋼𒌓
MUL₂.BABBAR is a late way of writing Jupiter; the earlier version is SAG.ME.GAR
𒋼𒌓
MUL₂.BABBAR is a late way of writing Jupiter; the earlier version is SAG.ME.GAR
Here's an example of Jupiter on the same as-yet-unidentified-by-me tablet!
Today’s sign is AN! AN is a v. common sign, so it’s worth knowing it’s old form of four crossed wedges (that looks a lot like an asterisk) and it’s later form of two horizontal wedges in a row that cross a vertical wedge.
Take a look at it's evolution according to Labat!
Take a look at it's evolution according to Labat!
When read syllabically, AN predominately has the value an, but it can also be read ilu, il₃, and ili₃.
But AN is often read logographically!
But AN is often read logographically!
AN can be read as DINGIR, meaning ilu or “god.” It’s likely this meaning of ilu that contributed to the other syllabic readings in fact!
The DINGIR sign is also used as a determinative before god names to indicate their god-ness — we saw this with ͩUTU, the sun-god Šamaš, yesterday!
DINGIR is probably the most common reading of AN *in general* and it’s certainly the one they focus on in introductory Akkadian classes. BUT I’ve been calling it “the AN sign” because in astronomical texts, it has another more frequent reading...
...AN! AN means šamû, “the sky” — obvious astronomical uses!
But AN is also the later name for the planet Mars, ṣalbatānu. (The earlier name was just the phonetic reading ṣal-bat-a-nu — see the AN in it?)
[gif: image of Mars rotating on its axis]
[gif: image of Mars rotating on its axis]
Here’s tablet BM 34566 that showcases this use of AN, circled. (You might recognize some other planet names in the same line — a MUL₂.BABBAR right at the beginning and ~the middle a GU₄.UD. This line is listing all the planets!)
It also appears in the phrase AN KU₁₀, meaning “eclipse”.
𒀭 𒈪
Here’s the reverse of the Goal-Year text LBAT 1251 that we’ve looked at before, but this part is talking about eclipses!
𒀭 𒈪
Here’s the reverse of the Goal-Year text LBAT 1251 that we’ve looked at before, but this part is talking about eclipses!
AN is also an abbreviation for A.AN meaning zunnu, or “rain”. Weather phenomena like this are frequently included in texts like the Astronomical Diaries.
One tangential bit here at the end: a common sign found in astronomical texts is MUL, which means kakkabu or “star”. MUL looks like the sign AB followed by the sign AN.
This is not, strictly, a use of the sign AN, but it’s worth remembering that if you see an AN in an astronomical text, it might just be the final part of a MUL.
This week I want to focus on a series of signs that I frequently confuse, especially when reading on actual tablets.
First up, MAŠ!
𒈦
First up, MAŠ!
𒈦
MAŠ is one vertical wedge with one horizontal wedge crossing it, a bit like a wedge plus-sign. It's phonetic readings — bar and maš, for instance — seem to come from different original signs that only eventually ended up looking similar. Here Labat shows the changing signs.
Logographically, MAŠ can be read as šumma, or “if” — I haven’t run across this much yet (must be the only person who has studied Akkadian without reading any of the Hammurabi laws...)
Instead, astronomical texts frequently use maš.MAŠ to refer to the zodiacal constellation “The Twins”
MAŠ also has a logographic reading of BAR, which can mean zūzu, or 1/2!
BAR is also used for the first month of the year, nisannu. (NB: their year started with the spring equinox, and their months started at night w/ the sighting of the new moon, so this is super not in line with what we often think of as the first month.” Think March/April instead)
If we return to the Mercury section of LBAT 1251 again, we can see many of these logographic uses in action!
And how far below maš.MAŠ is Mercury? Well, 3 and 1/2 cubits!
Closing out this week with IGI!
𒅆
IGI looks like a MAŠ sign if the vertical and horizontal wedges didn’t cross, with a Winklehaken out in front. Labat shows that it hasn’t really changed that much over time and has only a few variations.
𒅆
IGI looks like a MAŠ sign if the vertical and horizontal wedges didn’t cross, with a Winklehaken out in front. Labat shows that it hasn’t really changed that much over time and has only a few variations.
IGI has some pretty disparate syllabic readings: ši, lim, ina₂, gi₈, even (unsurprisingly) igi.
It also has a logographic reading of BAD₅, which weirdly enough came up in my historical texts class last week as BAD₅.BAD₅ meaning dabdû or “defeat”. Take a look at line 15 in the tablet we were reading (BM 26472)!
But the logographic reading IGI is much more common in scientific texts! IGI can mean “visible” or “visibility,” as in when a planet is visible. Here’s a tablet I’m working on translating now that starts off by talking about "visibilities" — IGI.MEŠ
𒅆 𒈨𒌍
𒅆 𒈨𒌍
But IGI can also mean "appearance," and specifically the “first appearance” of a planet — meaning the first time the planet is far enough away from the sun to be seen in the sky before the sun rises. This is one of the synodic phenomena of a planet and is frequently recorded
(This is the counterpart to the ŠU₂ meaning "last visibility" that we saw last week!!)
In fact, we see this IGI in the second line of that same tablet (third sign)! This line is cool because it starts by listing all the synodic phenomena — last appearance, first appearance, first station, acronychal rising, second station.
𒋙 𒅆 𒍑 𒂊 𒀀 𒍑 𒌒
𒋙 𒅆 𒍑 𒂊 𒀀 𒍑 𒌒
IGI is also frequently used in combination with other signs and in phrases in astronomical texts.
IGI.LA₂ means “rising,” as in the rising of a star above the horizon.
IGI.LA₂ means “rising,” as in the rising of a star above the horizon.
ina IGI-et, with the preposition ina in front and the phonetic complement -et added to the end, means meḫret or “opposite.” In astronomical texts, we find this in the phrase “opposite the chest of the observer” as a way of describing the location of stars in the sky.
With a different phonetic complement we get ini IGI-at, which just means “before." We find it in phrases like “30 days before [a planet’s] last visibility.”
ina IGI alone can also describe where a planet is in relation to a star or constellation — ina IGI means “in front of” which (perhaps unintuitively) refers to a longitude to the right of a star/constellation.
(We also see IGI meaning pānu, or “face” in phrases like niš IGI-ka, or “lifting your face” to see particular stars. IGI seems to be used frequently in describing the process of observing the stars, it seems!)
We're returning to the crossed-wedge signs that I easily confuse this week with ME!
ME has one vertical wedge and then a horizontal wedge placed at mid level.
N.B.: These wedges do not cross, like in a MAŠ. (𒈨, not 𒈦)
N.B.: These wedges do not cross, like in a MAŠ. (𒈨, not 𒈦)
ME has phonetic readings like the predictable me, but also šib.
(When I first tried to memorize it, I imagined the horizontal wedge was the thumb pointing at the vertical wedge body, saying "me"!)
[gif: Jim from the office pointing both thumbs at himself. Caption: "This guy!"]
(When I first tried to memorize it, I imagined the horizontal wedge was the thumb pointing at the vertical wedge body, saying "me"!)
[gif: Jim from the office pointing both thumbs at himself. Caption: "This guy!"]
Logographically, ME means me’atu, or "hundred." This is super common in things like dates.
We can see this on the reverse of our old friend LBAT 1252, where the date is specified as "Year 1 hundred 22 of King Antiochus" (MU 1 ME 22 an LUGAL)
We can see this on the reverse of our old friend LBAT 1252, where the date is specified as "Year 1 hundred 22 of King Antiochus" (MU 1 ME 22 an LUGAL)
ME is sometimes also used to mark plurality of the preceding word, which is a frequent way to write one of the zodiacal signs: zib. ME, or "The Tails". zib is short for zibbatu, which means "tail", and the ME at the end makes it a plural "tails." Here BM 34566 showcases this:
(We call this zodiac sign Pisces, btw. So these tails are like the tails of the fish?)
ME can also mean ūmu, or "day". We see this in procedure texts in phrases like ša₂ ME, which roughly means "per day" and allows us to talk about the movement of astronomical bodies each day.
Now we move on to LAL!
If you raise the horizontal wedge of a ME sign up to the top of a vertical, you get a LAL! Like ME, LAL has minimal variation, which Labat displays here.
LAL is read syllabically as lal or la₂.
As a logogram, LAL is often used to mean maṭû, meaning “subtract,” “minus,” or “decrease.” We see it in procedure texts in the phrase TAB u LAL, or ṭepû u maṭû, “add and subtract,” as in BM 54120 here.
As a logogram, LAL is often used to mean maṭû, meaning “subtract,” “minus,” or “decrease.” We see it in procedure texts in the phrase TAB u LAL, or ṭepû u maṭû, “add and subtract,” as in BM 54120 here.
In Astronomical Diaries that discuss river levels, we often see LAL used to describe the “decreasing” river level, as in the bottom lines of the reverse of LBAT 347 here. (This is maybe not the best example, since it doesn't look very LAL-like, which Hunger has noted in the copy)
Read as LA₂, this sign shows up in the cool term UD. DA. ZAL. LA₂, or uddazallû, the “correction." In the tablet series MUL.APIN, it’s used to discuss the correction to deal with the diff between schematic and solar years. Here’s tab II, col ii of MUL.APIN
