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Thecuneiform sign 𒀀 (DIŠ, DIŠ OVER DIŠ) fora, and in theEpic of Gilgamesh thesumerogramA,Akkadian formû,[1] "water", which is used in theGilgamesh flood myth, Chapter XI of the Epic, or other passages. The sign is also used extensively in theAmarna letters.
Cuneiforma is the most common of the four vowels in theAkkadian language,a,e,i, andu. All vowels can be interchangeable, depending on thescribe, though spellings of Akkadian words in dictionaries, will be formalized, and typically: unstressed, a 'long-vowel', or thirdly, a 'combined' vowel (often spelled with two signs (same vowel, ending the first sign, and starting the next sign), thus combined into the single vowel,â,ê,î, orû.). Cuneiforma is the most common of the four vowels, as can be shown by usage in theEpic of Gilgamesh, the usage numbers being (ú (u, no. 2) is more common thanu, (no. 1), which has additional usages, numeral "10", and "and", "but", etc.):a-(1369),e-(327),i-(698),ú-(493). (For u, only:u-(166));[2] The usage fora, includes the usage for Akkadiana-na, (ana),[3] the preposition, "for", "to", etc., about 250 usages (therefore usage: 1369–250).
The combined voweli,
, connected (ligatured, attached toa)
, ligatured to cuneiforma is theia (cuneiform)
. It has usages in the Akkadian language for words starting with "ia", for example "iā'u", (English "mine"), "iāši", (English "(to) me"), and "iāti", (English "me").
In the Amarna lettersia is also used as a suffix:-ia, for exampleAmarna letter EA 325,"To King (Pharaoh)-Lord-mine (-ia),God-mine,Sun-God-mine, ...." ("A-na Lugal-bēlu-ia, An-meš-ia, An-UTU-ia, ....")
TheAmarna letter usage of cuneiforma has the same high usage for Akkadian languageana (a-na) as does theEpic of Gilgamesh.
Two other high usages fora and typical to the Amarna letters is the negative:lā, Akkadian language, "lā", used before the spelling of theverb, which follows. In theEpic of Gilgamesh it almost exclusively is spelled justlā, without the extraa. The opposite is true for the Amarna letters, which has it spelled almost exclusivelyla-a, (for "lā") thus making it very easy to find and read in the letters, and thus the verb usually follows.
Because the Amarna letters often state the condition of events in the regions where the letters originate, the events are often previewed byNow..., orWhen..., which are topicalsegues. They sometimes start new paragraphs. At a minimum, they simply continue the text, as 'seque transition points'. (Some letters,EA 19, Para 2, also include spaces, as part of the segue.)
The segue word: Akkadian language "enūma",[4] (English "when") is only used three times in theEpic of Gilgamesh, as opposed to the Amarna letters where it is used hundreds of times (reverse side ofEA 362, 7 times, lines 33–68, mostly spelled "inûma"). In the Amarna letters, Akkadaianenūma is used and spelled starting with eitheri,e, ora, thusinūma,enūma, oranūma, all for Akkadian language "enūma". The usage is probably specific to the scribe, as the writer of the letter (not necessarily the 'author' of the letter).
Akkadian language "eninna", (English "now") is used far less in the Amarna letters.Anūma,enūma, andinūma is the common adverb, fornow, orwhen, (now, ("now, at this time", as the segue)).
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