What follows are some notes on possible translations of the transliterated cuneiform on the Old Babylonian Tag in this collection. Meanings are from http://www.sumerian.org/sumerian.pdf.

Obverse side

1. 1(disz) u8 1(disz) udu-nita2

1(disz) = 1

u8= ewe (female sheep)

1(disz) = 1

nita2 = ram (male sheep)

2. ri-ri-ga = fallen

3. ki dumu-i-hu-ur = from mar(dumu)-ihur

uncertain

Reverse side

blank space

seal impression

1. iti sig4-a

iti = calendar month

sig4: sun-dried unbaked brick; brickwork; wall(s) [? SIG4 archaic frequency: 2].

a, e4: n., water; watercourse, canal; seminal fluid; offspring; father; tears; flood. [A archaic frequency: 519] interj., alas!. prep., locative suffix - where; in; when - denotes movement towards or in favor of a person.

def. article, nominalizing suffix for a noun or noun clause, denoting ‘the’.

2. mu inim {d}en-lil2 x

mu: n., name; word; year; line on a tablet, entry; oath (cf., ñu10) [MU archaic frequency: 99].

v., to name, speak (cf., mug).

prep., because.

conjugation prefix, suggests involvement by speaker, used especially before dative infixes, preferred for animate and agentive subjects.

inim: word; statement; command, order, decree; oath, agreement; matter, affair, concern, subject (in, ‘one discrete individual’, + eme, ‘speech’).

{d} King?

en: n., dignitary; lord; high priest; ancestor (statue); diviner [EN archaic frequency: 1232; concatenates 3 sign variants] .

uncertain

seal 1

column 1

1. {d}li-pi2-it-esz18-dar = Lipit-Ishtar

2. lugal kal-ga = “dedicated to the esteemed King Lipit-Ishtar”;

lugal: king; owner, master (lú, ‘man’, + gal, ‘big’) [LUGAL archaic frequency: 80].

kal-(l): v., to esteem, value; to be rare; to make dear, endear; to be appreciated (cf., kalag) (ka,

‘mouth’ + la, ‘youthful beauty, abundance’) [KAL archaic frequency: 60; concatenates 3 sign variants] .

ga: n., milk (chamber + water) [GA archaic frequency: 245; concatenation of 3 sign variants] .

conjugation prefix, ‘also’; ‘and then’.

modal prefix, cohortative, used with hamtu forms.

3. lugal i3-si-in{ki} = of Isin

4. […]

column 2

1. lu2-{d}x-x-x

lú: grown man; male; human being; someone, anyone, no one; gentleman [LU2 archaic frequency: 85].

lu: n., many, much; man, men, people; sheep.

v., to be/make numerous, abundant; to multiply; to mix; to graze, pasture (reduplication class [?]) (cf., lug).

2. dub-sar dub-sar: scribe (‘tablet’ + ‘to write’).

3. dumu x-x-x

dumu: child; son; daughter (dú,’to bear, give birth’, + mú,’to sprout, grow’; probably pronounced domu).

4. ARAD2-zu

arad(2),urdu(2),ir3,11: (male)slave;servant;subordinate(Akk.loanwordfromwardum,’male slave, man-servant’) [IR11 archaic frequency: 10].

zu,sú: n.,wisdom,knowledge.

v., to know; to understand; to inform, teach (in marû reduplicated form); to learn from someone (with -da-); to recognize someone (with -da-); to be experienced, qualified.

Dictionary - http://www.sumerian.org/sumerian.pdf


Pages linked to this page

Creative Commons License This work by Jim Falk is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License Click on the logo to the left to see the terms on which you can use it.


Page last modified on 03 May 2014