Answers to cuneiform exercises 2

Here are the answers to Cuneiform exercises 2, with some explanatory notes. You may also find it helpful to look again at the page on Possession and existence for more explanations.

𒌉 𒇽

DUMU LU₂
mār awīlim
"the man's son"

Note: we could of course also interpret these logograms as mārum awīlum, "the son, the man", but this would be less likely.
𒌉 𒊩 𒈗

DUMU.MUNUS LUGAL
mārat šarrim
"the king's daughter"

Note: the extra a is added to *mārt because Akkadian words cannot begin or end in two or more consonants (as explained on the Sound rules page).
𒄿 𒈾 𒋗 𒂗

i-na ŠU EN
ina qāt bēlim
"in/from the lord's hand"
𒀀 𒈾 𒂗 𒋗

a-na EN-šu
ana bēlišu
"to/for his lord"

Note: we could technically read this as a-na EN ŠU for ana bēl qātim, "the hand's owner", but that would make little sense.
𒆠 𒈠 𒀀 𒉿 𒅆

ki-ma a-wi-lim
kīma awīlim
"like a/the man"
𒈠 𒀜 𒇽 𒈨𒌍

ma-at LU₂-MEŠ
māt awīlī
"the men's land"
𒊩 𒅇 𒌉 𒊭

MUNUS u₃ DUMU-ša
sinništum u (or ū) māruša
"the woman and/or her son"

Note: we could also read accusative sinništam u māraša or genitive sinništim u māriša. Like other nouns for close male relatives, mārum keeps its case vowel before possessive suffixes.
𒌉 𒈨𒌍 𒋗 𒉡

DUMU-MEŠ-šu-nu
mārūšunu or mārīšunu
"their sons" (masculine "their") — in nominative or oblique case

Note: it is also possible to read this as DUMU-MEŠ šu-nu for mārū šunu, "they are sons" or the stative TUR-MEŠ šu-nu for ṣehrū šunu, "they are small" (masculine).
𒌉 𒈨𒌍 𒅆 𒈾

DUMU-MEŠ-ši-na
mārūšina or mārīšina
"their sons" (feminine "their")

Note: it is also possible to read this as the stative TUR-MEŠ ši-na for ṣehrā šina, "they are small" (feminine).
𒀭 𒂗 𒆠 𒈗 𒀭 𒈨𒌍

^dEN.KI LUGAL DINGIR-MEŠ
Ea šar ilī (or ilānī)
"Ea, king of the gods"

Note: it is also theoretically possible to read the last word as AN-MEŠ for šamê, "heavens" but in practice this word was always written AN-e to avoid confusion with ilī.
𒈗 𒃲 𒀀 𒈾 𒆪

LUGAL GAL a-na-ku
šarrum rabûm anāku
"I am a great king!"

Note: the first two words must be in the nominative case, to agree with anāku.
𒊩 𒈨𒌍 𒃲 𒈨𒌍 𒉌 𒉡

MUNUS-MEŠ GAL-MEŠ ni-nu
sinnišātum rabâtum nīnu
"We are great women!"
𒄿 𒈝 𒊭 𒀀 𒉿 𒅆

i-lum ša a-wi-lim
ilum ša awīlim
"the god of the man"

Note: in practice, this idea was much more likely to be expressed as il awīlim, "the man's god", unless an adjective qualified the first word.
𒀀 𒈝 𒌉 𒊭 𒂗

a-lum TUR ša EN
alum ṣehrum ša bēlim
"the lord's small town", or (literally) "the small town of the lord"
𒋫 𒂗 𒅀

TA EN-ia
ištu bēlia or ultu bēlia
"from my lord"

Note: ištu and ultu are two forms of the same word. In logographic writing, it is often impossible (and unimportant) to know which of the two is meant.
𒈗 𒅗 𒄿 𒈾 𒂍 𒃲 𒈠

LUGAL-ka i-na E₂.GAL-ma
šarraka ina ēkallimma
"Your king is in the palace."
𒀜 𒋫 𒈠 𒉡 𒌉 𒄿

at-ta-ma NU DUMU-i
attāma ul mārī
"You are not my son!"
𒌉 𒊩 𒉡 𒌉

DUMU MUNUS NU TUR or DUMU.MUNUS NU TUR
mār sinništim ul ṣehir or mārtum ul ṣehret
"The woman's son is not small." or "The daughter is not small." (That is, they are adults.)

Note: Of course, we could also read the final sign as another DUMU for mārum, "son", but that would make less sense, especially in the first case.
𒀜 𒈨𒌍 𒋗 𒉡 𒈠

AD-MEŠ šu-nu-ma or AD-MEŠ-šu-nu-ma
abbū šunuma or abbūšunuma
"They are fathers." or "It is their fathers."
𒋾 𒀜 𒈠 𒋾 𒅎

TI-aṭ ma-ti-im
balāṭ mātim
"the life of the land"

Note: For more on phonetic complements, go to the page on Categories of signs.

Content last modified on 07 Jul 2012.

Eleanor Robson

Eleanor Robson, 'Answers to cuneiform exercises 2', Knowledge and Power, Higher Education Academy, 2012 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/knpp/cuneiformrevealed/learningsigns/cuneiformexercises/answers2/]