List of cuneiform signs

The following is a list of cuneiform signs, ordered by their 2004 Borger number (MesZL).

Users and font designers of Unicode conform cuneiform fonts have to cope with the following problems:

* missing codepoints,
* signs that have to be "combined" by two or more codepoints (in the third millennium some signs may be "splittable", but not in other periods) and
* sign names that are sometimes unusual and misunderstandable.

The difference between the conventional sign names - they are used in MesZL, HA, aBZL and other standard publications - and the names in the Unicode 5.0 cuneiform encoding standard is often very significant. So the Unicode names as well as the standard ones are listed.

The tables of the list contain:

# The sign numbers of Borger, MesZL = "Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon";
# ŠL/HA - the Deimel Numbers (Šumerisches Lexikon), completed and accommodated in Ellermeier and Studt, HA = "Handbuch Assur";
# The numbers of Mittermayer, aBZL = "Altbabylonische Zeichenliste der sumerisch-literarischen Texte";
# The numbers of Rüster and Neu, HethZL = "Hethitisches Zeichenlexikon";
# The Neo-Assyrian signs, from the Ellermeier and Studt font NeoAssyrian.ttf (see Ellermeier and Studt, Sumerisches Glossar, Band 3 Teil 6, Hardegsen 2003, Handbuch Assur, together with CD-ROM; with the aid of AutoText circa 9000 Sumerian and Akkadian transliterations can be converted into cuneiform signs, bitmaps as well as TrueTypes). A few signs were additionally digitized especially for this sign list;
# Sign Name according to MesZL, HA etc.;
# The Unicode codepoints numbers (»A & B« and »A & B & C« indicates the numerous characters that must be written by combining two or three shorter signs);
# The Unicode sign names;
# Comments.

In MesZL, signs are sorted by their leftmost parts, beginning with horizontal strokes (single , then stacked , ), followed by the diagonals and , the "Winkelhaken" and finally the vertical . The relevant shape for the classification of a sign is the Neo-Assyrian one (after ca. 1000 BC); the standardization of sign shapes of this late period allows systematic arrangement by shape.

At [http://www.sumerisches-glossar.de/download/SignListNeoAssyrian.pdf Sumerisches-Glossar.de] the complete sign list as PDF with all cuneiform signs and with an introduction by Rykle Borger is to be found.

AŠ

GE₂₃ (DIŠ-tenû)

References

* R. Borger, "Assyrisch-Babylonische Zeichenliste", 2nd ed., Neukirchen-Vluyn (1981).
* R. Borger, "Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon", Münster (2004). [http://www.jhu.edu/ice/BorgerMZ/BorgerMZ.html]
* A. Deimel, "Šumerisches Lexikon", Rom (1928ff.).
* F. Ellermeier, M. Studt, "Sumerisches Glossar Band 3 Teil 6: Handbuch Assur mit CD-ROM, Ausgabe für PC.", Hardegsen (2003). [http://www.sumerisches-glossar.de]
* Y. Gong, "Die Namen der Keilschriftzeichen", AOAT 268, Münster (2000).
* M. Krebernik, "Mesopotamien", at: P. Attinger, M. Wäfler "Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis" (OBO) 160/1, Fribourg and Göttingen (1998).
* C. Mittermayer, P. Attinger, "Altbabylonische Zeichenliste der sumerisch-literarischen Texte", Fribourg (2006).
* Chr. Rüster, E. Neu, "Hethitisches Zeichenlexikon", Wiesbaden (1989).

ee also

* Unicode cuneiform

External links

* [http://www.sumerisches-glossar.de/download/SignListNeoAssyrian.pdf sign list at sumerisches-Glossar.de] PDF file of the complete sign list with Neo-Assyrian glyphs by M. Studt, with an introduction by R. Borger.
* [http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U12000.pdf Unicode 5.0 Cuneiform]
* [http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U12400.pdf Unicode 5.0 Cuneiform Numbers]
* [http://cdli.ucla.edu/wiki/index.php/Sign_lists CDLI online sign lists]
* [http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/edition2/signlist.php ETCSL sign list]
* [http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/epsd/ ePSD (electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary)]