Cuneiform Diaries

[nemequm]

us4-he2-gal2, when I'm saying 'us' it's usually me and a friend of mine studying assyriology with me here in Helsinki. Not very big group actually

I started learning assyriology just because I thought cuneiform is cool and I think the same thing got my friend there. And since I have done all kinds of handicrafts in my life, it's been very logical to really practise writing cuneiform and not only read it in classroom. So it's not actually recommended to me/us by anybody, just a feeling from heart.

But I/we have hosted couple of events teaching cuneiform to layman and first of those were organized by our teachers. We have hosted those events in the university and also in random places, it's really fun to teach cuneiform to people Often they know almost nothing about it beforehand and the technique of writing is not easy, but it's wonderful to see them learning it! Maybe some of them will be interested in assyriology some day!

By the way, very big help for writing stuff in Babylonian cuneiform has been this chart made by our teachers. It's optimised for Finnish so that people could write for example their names, but perhaps it is some interest to some of you still.

[42below]

Hi,
Sorry to barge into this thread, but I see that, in the past, others with my type of queries have been directed here. I have made a similar post in the "tatoo request" sub-board, but I'm not sure if anyone saw it, so am copying here just in case.

Firstly I would like to say thank you for the amazing resource that is your forum. I could not believe my luck when I found it.

I'm guessing you probably get quite a few requests for help like mine and so I will understand if you would prefer not to respond to my queries below. However, I'm really hopeful that you will.

Over the last few weeks I have been trawling the Internet to get my head around the basics of Sumerian language and cuneiform script in order to write some text for what would be my first tattoo.

I have a few reasons for using Sumerian cuneiform. Yes it is probably the oldest written language - that's what seems to attract a lot of people, myself included. Sumerians gave this amazing gift to humanity - the written word - and it made us more human. Yet, it's a language with no apparent ancestors and no descendants - no current nation or country owns it. I am a third culture kid, and I really do not have a culture, nation or country I can call 100% my own. I was born in Soviet Russia, from the age of 12 I grew up in New Zealand, and have been living in Australia for 8 years. I identify with humanity as a whole and so using an ancient language that cannot be claimed by any modern country or society seems right in that respect.

There are two parts to the tattoo and so two sets of questions.

Part 1: phonetically writing two female names:

"Irisha", with both "i"s pronounced as in the word "reed" or "ski" and with the "sha" pronounced as in "shut".

"Sasha", with "sa" as in "sum" and "sha" as in "shut".

Based on the research I did, I believe I could use the following characters for Irisha:

i = 1213F (meaning "5"),
ri = 12291 (meaning "place") OR 12337 (meaning "civilisation"),
sha = 122AE or 122AD (both meaning "heart") I know there is one more option for sha, but its meaning is unclear and I'd prefer not to use it.

For Sasha:

Sa = 12137 and 1223E (meaning "bird and "incense") I know there are other, simpler options, but I prefer this one because of the meaning.
Sha = 122AE or 122AD (both meaning "heart")

Is my understanding above correct?

If so, what is the difference between the two possible "sha" characters? They seem to have the same meaning and almost the same pronunciation, yet look different. Is it just that 122AE is definitely a long "a", whereas 122AD could be long or short? Or are they separated by time of occurrence?

Do I need a determinative to symbolise that each of these is a female name? If so, which determinative should I use and does it come before or after the name?

Finally, would it be erroneous to write one name horizontally and the other vertically, meeting on the "sha" character? I understand that Sumerian was originally written vertically, and only later switched to "left to right" writing. Though I also understand that at the time the orientation switched, the characters were rotated. So, if I wrote Irisha "left to right" and then added "sa" above the "sha", I presume that would be incorrect? Are there historical examples of vertical Sumerian writing where the characters are oriented in the same way as when the text is horizontal?

Part 2: translating a motto

I would like to write the following motto in Sumerian:

(One must) transform/change/adapt (in order) to thrive/succeed

I understand that "to transform" is šu dug4

But how do I turn it into an imperative form?

I also understand that "to thrive" is "gu2 mar-mar" or "gu2me-er-me-er"

But do I need to do anything to this verb to tie it into the sentence to form a motto, which is a call to action?

Apologies for the length and number of queries. I just want to make sure it's right.

I hope you can help. Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

42below

[sheshki]

This years cuneiform birthday cake with an inscription inspired by the lovely drawing i got as a present.

[Lu-uri-ning-tuku]

I have some old tablets I made back in the day. I was using OB script back then though, which I now find aesthetically lacking. I will make some more some day.

[us4-he2-gal2]

Hello Lu-uri3-ning-tuku -




These aren't too bad! Reminds me a bit of the experiments I did one summer with a little bit of clay, although I never quite figured out how I wanted to go about it. Summer has just started here, so I have no classes. So with 5 month of free time ahead, I suppose its time to return to self-directed studies and more enenuru activities hehe. By the way, should you want to dabble in the languages, let me know. I also manage a online chat group who practice Akkadian (basic) every week and may soon practice basic Sumerian every week as well.

[nicolas]

Hello
I've been thinking in having a Sumerian tattoo and while I was trying to make a translation I got really interested in learning how to write and read Sumerian,
Nevertheless I found nothing on internet, but apparently you guys are really good on cuneiform writing, I was hopping you could help me telling me
where can I learn (A book, internet, anything), please I'm very interested in learning but not a clue where or how.

[Lu-uri-ning-tuku]

May 27, 2017 12:01:14 GMT -5 nicolas said:

Hello
I've been thinking in having a Sumerian tattoo and while I was trying to make a translation I got really interested in learning how to write and read Sumerian,
Nevertheless I found nothing on internet, but apparently you guys are really good on cuneiform writing, I was hopping you could help me telling me
where can I learn (A book, internet, anything), please I'm very interested in learning but not a clue where or how.

Welcome Nicolas! If you want to learn the grammar there are some books on it available for free online. For a basic treatment there is Daniel Foxvog's introduction to Sumerian grammar, for a more extensive treatment there is Bram Jagersma's very lengthy book. You should be able to find both with a simple google search. For the vocabulary ePSD in the go-to tool: psd.museum.upenn.edu/epsd/nepsd-frame.html

Learning cuneiform is tougher though. I believe there are some here who have taught themselves with only a book. Good luck!

[us4-he2-gal2]

Hello Nicholas:




Yes, Sumerian is exceptionally difficult to learn. Not just because of the language itself and the difficulty of the writing system, but more than anything, because of the trouble with finding any advice or inroads. Well...bear in mind the language has been dead for over 4,000 years, and is today read by perhaps 1,000 university trained persons. 1,000 in a world of 7 + billion isn't really that many people.


While I encourage you to post here on enenuru for general questions and discussions of Mesooptamian culture, I will send an invitation to your e-mail address to join our slack. The slack service is more chat based and its where we talk language learning because it is more real time, more conducive to language learning than a message board like this where posts may go a week or two before getting replies. Once you log on to your e-mail, should you accept the invitation, you can log on to assyriology.slack.com and message me there (I go by my first name, Bill). I can give further instructions at that point.

[sheshki]

On this day 10 years ago i joined Enenuru. I learned alot since then.
Met interesting people here, and during the years some of them in person.

So, invisible drinks for everyone!
...and a little trip down memory lane.

[us4-he2-gal2]

Very glad that you did find you way here. There is no enenuru without Sheshki

[sheshki]

Birthday cuneiform cake, 2018 edition

Here is a rough translation
"For Sheshki the scribe, Andrea created this.
Year Temple of Ninegal was created.
It´s name is "Great house of meau meau".
The black cat be praised!"
The grammar will be hair raising, but we ate it anyway.
Below the cake pix are pictures of Egal Meau Meau,
which we made for our little feline overlord.

[sheshki]

Here are some more pictures from this years cuneiform cake
plus the lovely drawing i got.

[us4-he2-gal2]

Hey folks -



Now that I am done course work at university, thought I would add my a few photos of my flash card collection to the cuneiform diaries thread here. These represent the bulk (but not all) of the flash cards I have had to make to cram hundreds and hundreds of signs into my short term memory over the years before tests. Bear in mind that I only write a flash card when a sign is difficult to recognize on first glance, or the word is new or difficult for me to translate (usually a verbal form). So all of these cards are my 'trouble sign' 'trouble word' collections only - as this collection demonstrates, this has been a long and arduous journey. This is the nature of pedagogy in the typical ancient Near Eastern language course, cram signs, dump values onto test paper, relax, cram, test, repeat, cram, test, repeat. I'm sure there must be a better pedagogical method, perhaps not one that would fit into a university timeline. Nonetheless, I'm pleased to have learned many signs after years of the practice, I really have no idea how many.

[sheshki]

This years cuneiform birthday cake, i chose two lines from "A šir-namšub to Nisaba"
"In the moonlight, in the pure place of moonlight I lie down alone.
In the moonlight which fills the hills, the pure place, I lie down alone."

[sheshki]

Another year has passed. Here is the cake with the inscription i made and the drawing by my girlfriend.

The drawing was inspired by a cult niche decoration and ivory inlays from 2300 BCE Ebla.



For the cake i chose the line

"Enlil rejoiced over Suen and spoke kindly:
"Give sweet cakes to my little fellow who eats sweet cakes.
Give sweet cakes to my Nanna who loves eating sweet cakes."

from "Nanna-Suen´s Journey to Nibru"

[us4-he2-gal2]

Sheshki -



This drawing is fantastic! I think the best of its type. So ornate with the geometric designs, really must have taken some time and planning. And for the design in the middle, the Anzu bird and a pair of human headed bulls. Now I am curious about the original Eblaite material used as inspiration. Such designs demonstrate how far and wide the Mesopotamian cultural shadow had extended in the third millennium, as Ebla was so far west as to nearly touch the 'upper sea' / the Mediterranean. As for the cake inscription, very fitting

[us4-he2-gal2]

Hey everyone -



Some of you long time readers (or persons reading back into older posts) may have encountered references to clay, a mysterious entity which oversees cuneiform wedge creation and compels persons to create wedges. What does clay have to do with Prof. Clay? Are they somehow related, i.e. is one the ghost of the other?

While it may be impossible for me to answer that question, I am in any case writing today about Prof. Clay who lived from 1866–1925 and who did many things for assyriology. Particularly relevant to this thread, he published some useful instructions on how to go about writing on clay with a stylus, and how to make an authentic stylus. The career of Prof. Clay is described at CDLI, but more details are actually included in his wiki entry. Prof. Clay's time overlapped with an era of great philanthropy — when rich American industrialists were motivated to donate millions, acting as benefactors to American assyriology so that scholars might acquire massive cuneiform tablet collections and found new departments and museum collections. A prime example is the relationship between J. Pierpont Morgan and Prof. Clay, whereby, thanks to the patronage of the former, the latter was able to establish the Yale Babylonian collection and to acquire and publish thousands of cuneiform tablets (for example, the YOS series, the first and third volume of which were published by Clay). Morgan further enabled Prof. Clay to have a career and a paying research job. For this history, see the Yale Babylonian Collection homepage.

The specific work I am writing about was published by Prof. Clay in 1907 and is entitled Document from the Temple Archives of Nippur: Dated in the Reigns of Cassite Rulers (=BE 14). The book has been digitized and is now available at archive.org. One can turn to pages 17-20 and see Prof. Clay's advice on making a stylus and writing on clay. I make attachments of the relevant pages below however because the photo quality at archive.org is not very good. I will have a follow up post below this to add more attachments.


The following attachments show Prof. Clay's analysis of how an authentic cuneiform stylus would have looked and how it would have been used. He believed that it would have been a metal or wood material with a definite square shape - the 90 degree corners being used to shape the perfect wedge. Armando Bramanti, in a recent investigation, had a different finding: Bramanti believes the material of the stylus would have been reed. The reed stylus would have been a reed segment cut from a reed stalk (although, the shape he believes is authentic still has basically 90 degree corners despite the overall shape of the reed stylus not being square). Bramanti's study can be found here. Rather like the cuneiform adventures of sheshki, which go back to 2008, Bramanti's study included the chopstick as a possible modern day stylus material.

The first 4 attachments are Prof. Clay's analysis; the final attachment displays the stylus shapes that Bramanti examined, with the very left one being the one he selects as most authentic. The main difference between Clay and Bramanti is the material that would have been used, but they have in common, I think, the basic argument that a square 90 degree angle is the key.

Attachments:

[us4-he2-gal2]

Additional attachments from previous post:

Attachments:

[sheshki]

Here is my latest project, a cuneiform lampshade.

The text is from "Inana and Ebiḫ", line 1-9 (the last 5 signs from line 9 are missing).

Right now i´m pondering if i should close the top of the cylinder.

[sheshki]

Birthday cake, edition 2022.

I was a bit lazy and just used the text from Project Lampshade.

[us4-he2-gal2]

An excellent result - this is the 12th year in a row you have shared an inscribed birthday cake on the cuneiform diaries thread Sheshki making you, yes, the most ritualistic follower of clay known to the modern world Creature of habit would be an understatement. Here is a look back to the first cuneiform cake of 2011. It's developed since then:

[sheshki]

Oh nice, i kind of forgot this one

[sheshki]

Almost forgot to show you this years drawing i got.

[hukkana]

Feb 5, 2022 11:47:45 GMT -5 sheshki said:

Almost forgot to show you this years drawing i got.

Looks pretty nice, who drew this ? Sorry if it was mentioned before but I didn't notice ;>>

[sheshki]

Drawing is as always by my girlfriend.