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KÚR

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cuneiform sign for KÚR, from the Amarna letters, and minor usage in Epic of Gilgamesh.
Photo, Side B of cylinder seal using KÚR.
(high resolution, expandible photo)

The cuneiform KÚR sign is used extensively in the Amarna letters. It also has a minor usage in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Its usage in the Amarna letters is due to the letters' topics of "hostilities", "war", or "warfare" in the discord amongst the city-states and the regional discord in the Canaan region. A large subset of the Amarna letters are written by vassal kings in governorship of cities, towns or regions in Canaan.

The sign is a simple two-stroke sign, a horizontal (or slight upward-stroke) with a stroke slashing downwards across its center. The end result cuneiform sign is easily compared to a "squashed-X" alphabetic.

KÚR is used and is defined as a capital-letter Sumerogram (majuscule), and specifically in the Akkadian language has the meaning of "warfare", "hostility", Akkadian nukurtu.[1] Any syllabic cuneiform sign with 'n' or 't' can supply the beginning or end of "nukurtu".

Usage, and Amarna letters list

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In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the KÚR sign is only used twice and only once for nukurtu, Tablet VI, line 40: "...a battering ram (Akkadian "iašubû") that attracts the enemy-('nukurtu', "hostility", nu-KÚR-ti)[2] land,...."

List usage in Amarna letters

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A partial of letters and the spelling of "nukurtu":

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References

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  1. ^ Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Glossary, pp. 119-145, nukurtu, p. 135.
  2. ^ Kovacs, Maureen Gallery, transl. with intro. (1985,1989) The Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet VI, (VI, l. 40, (38 in Kovacs)), p. 52.
  • Kovacs, Maureen Gallery, transl. with intro. (1985,1989) The Epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford University Press: Stanford, California. (Softcover ISBN 978-0-8047-1711-3), Glossary, Appendices, Appendix (Chapter XII=Tablet XII) A line-by-line translation (Chapters I-XI).
  • Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. 393 pages.(softcover, ISBN 0-8018-6715-0)
  • Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Parpola, Simo, Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, c 1997, Tablet I thru Tablet XII, Index of Names, Sign List, and Glossary-(pp. 119–145), 165 pages.