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Lesson Introduction
- Learn about the Sumerian genitive case
- Learn how to create simple and complex genitive constructions in Sumerian
- Learn how to use the Sumerian genitive case with the ergative postposition
Lesson Vocabulary
Here are the new vocabulary words you’ll encounter in this lesson. Remember, you can see the full vocabulary list for all lessons, and the detailed definition in the Online Sumerian Dictionary.
a-bí-sí-im-ti: 𒀀𒉈𒍣𒋾 n., queen or noble woman from Ur III period.
banšur: 𒍎 n., table; altar, offering table.
bí: 𒉈 part., pref., conjugational prefix (variation of ba-); syllable used in spelling.
ereš: 𒎏 n., lady, queen.
ereš-diĝir: 𒎏𒀭 n., priestess.
eš5: 𒐈 num., three.
gi: 𒄀 n., reed, unit of length (approx. 3 meters). part., syllable used in spelling.
ḫa: 𒄩 part., pref., verbal prefix may, let, indeed (precative, affirmative); syllable used in spelling.
itud (itim, itid) 𒌗 n., month; moon; moonlight.
ka 𒅗 n., mouth; opening; beginning, inception, origin. part., syllable used in spelling.
kam 𒄰 v., to tune.
ke4 𒆤 part., syllable used in spelling {ak + e = a-ke4}
ki-en-gi-ra: 𒆠𒂗𒄀𒊏 n. prop., Sumer (Sumeria).
kiš 𒆧 n., totality, world, geopolitical world.
kiški𒆧𒆠 n., prop., Sumerian city occupied from 5300 – 4300 BC, located near Tell al-Uhaymir in modern Iraq.
maḫ 𒈤 v., to be high, lofty, exalted, great, large, magnificent. adj., high, exalted, great, lofty; foremost; sublime.
na4 𒎎 n., stone, pebble, rock, stone weigh; token; hailstone. part., pref., determinative prefix indicating a type of stone.
nun 𒉣 n., prince; noble, master. adj., best, foremost, great, noble, fine; deep.
sa 𒊓 n., sinew, tendon; gut; catgut string (instrument); v., to roast, parch. part., syllable used in spelling.
sí 𒍣 part., syllable used in spelling.
sìla 𒋡 n., unit of capacity (approx. 1 liter).
šul 𒂄 n., youth, young man; warrior; invader. v., to be manly. adj., manly, masculine, young, strong, heroic, splendid, proud.
dšul-gi 𒀭𒂄𒄀 n., an equid. n., prop., Son of Ur-Nammu, the first Sumerian king of the Third Dynasty of Ur, who reigned for 48 years, sometime between c 2100-1980 BCE. He is credited with building the Great Ziggurat of Ur.
The Sumerian Genitive Case
The case marker likely to cause the most confusion is the genitive postposition -ak 𒀝.
Like the word ‘genesis’, the Sumerian genitive case relates to a noun’s origin, whether it is a person, place, thing, or concept. In a sense, it conveys derivation or possession.
Consider the following examples:
of the king (person)
of heaven (place)
of stone (material)
of destiny (abstract concept)
of earth (material/place)
of three sìla (numerical value)
NOTE: 1 sìla 𒋡 = approximately 1 liter or 4.25 cups.
Expressing these in Sumerian requires suffixing -ak 𒀝 to the noun of origin, or the possessor.
Note the brackets in the following constructions:
lugal-la[k]: 𒈗𒆷 of the king
an-na[k]: 𒀭𒈾 of heaven
na4[-ak]: 𒎎 of stone
nam-ma[k]: 𒉆𒈠 of destiny
ki[-ak]: 𒆠 of the earth
eš5-sìla[-ak]: 𒐈𒋡 of three sìla
Spelling or Omitting the /a/ of -ak 𒀝
In most cases, when -ak 𒀝 follows a consonant-final word, only the /a/ appears.
lugal-la: 𒈗𒆷 of the king {lugal + a[k]}
NOTE: OS texts often omit the /a/ after a consonant too.
After a vowel-final word, -ak 𒀝 is omitted altogether.
na4: 𒎎 of stone {na4 + [ak]}
However, where a glottal stop /ɂ/ is presumed after a vowel, the /a/ of ak 𒀝 appears. Since most transliterations don’t write the consonant /ɂ/, it can be hard to tell where a glottal stop appears. However, when you encounter a CV+a[k] construction in transliteration, it’s a good indicator that the CV word is actually CVɁ.
lú-a: 𒇽𒀀 of a man {lúɂ-ɂa}
To Duplicate or Not to Duplicate the Auslaut
When the /a/ of ak 𒀝 appears, the preceding auslaut is usually duplicated:
diĝir-ra: 𒀭𒊏of god
However, after the fricatives /ḫ/, /s/, /š/, and /z/, you may or may not see a reduplicated auslaut. In fact, you might not see the /a/ of ak 𒀝 at all!
munus-sa: 𒊩𒊓 of the woman
munus-a: 𒊩𒀀 of the woman
munus: 𒊩 of the woman
In my examples and explanations, I’ll be reduplicating the auslaut after all consonants, except after the fricatives, in which case, I’ll use -a 𒀀.
To Summarize, here are some examples of basic genitives:
dumu lugal-la: 𒌉𒈗𒆷 son of the king
diĝir an-na: 𒀭𒀭𒈾 god of heaven
banšur na4: 𒍎𒎎 table of stone
dub nam-ma: 𒁾𒉆𒈠 tablet of destiny
níĝ-zi-ĝal ki: 𒃻𒍣𒅅𒆠 creature of the earth
eš5-sìla: 𒐈𒋡 of three sìla
Spelling or Omitting the /k/ of -ak 𒀝
In the above constructions, ak 𒀝 is the last word in the sentence. In all cases, the /k/ of ak 𒀝 is omitted. However, if ak 𒀝 precedes another word, it may or may not appear. If it does, it won’t be in the same form.
When ak 𒀝 precedes the Sumerian genitive case marker -e 𒂊, it appears as (a)-ke4 [𒀀]𒆤:
dumu lugal-la-ke4: 𒌉𒈗𒆷𒆤 by the son of the king {dumu + lugal + ak + e}
diĝir an-na-ke4: 𒀭𒀭𒈾𒆤 by the god of heaven {diĝir + an + ak + e }
níĝ-zi-ĝal ki-ke4: 𒃻𒍣𒅅𒆠𒆤 by the creature of the earth {níĝziĝal + ki + ak + e}
dumu lugal-la-kam: 𒌉𒈗𒆷𒄰 He is the son of the king. {dumu + lugal + ak + àm}
diĝir an-na-kam: 𒀭𒀭𒈾𒄰She is the goddess of heaven. {diĝir + an + ak + àm}
níĝ-zi-ĝal ki-kam: 𒃻𒍣𒅅𒆠𒄰 It is a creature of the earth. {niĝziĝal + ki + ak + àm}
HINT: You can hear ak + e , and ak + àm when you read a-ke4 𒀀𒆤 and a-kam 𒀀𒄰 aloud. When encountering a long Sumerian sentence, try reading it aloud, as it may help you identify word boundaries and elements.
ak 𒀝 experiences other changes depending on the succeeding vowel or consonant, and we’ll explore these in the coming lessons.
Genitive Construction
Simple Genitive Construction
A genitive construction can be said to have a possessor and a possession:
dumu nin-na: 𒌉𒎏𒈾child of the queen
In the above construction, dumu 𒌉is the possession and nin 𒎏 is the possessor. In other words, it’s the queen’s child. In fact, many genitive constructions can be read this way:
dumu nin-na: 𒌉𒎏𒈾 child of the queen, queen’s child
dumu lugal-la: 𒌉𒈗𒆷 son of the king, the king’s son
níĝ-zi-ĝal ki: 𒃻𒍣𒅅𒆠 creature of the earth, earth’s creature
If it helps you to read them this way, or you find it increases clarity in your translations, feel free to do so. Personally, I prefer my translations as literal as possible, regardless of how cumbersome they get, but that’s me!
A basic genitive construction follows the following pattern:
- possession | possessor | ak
- dumu | lugal | a[k]
- dumu lugal-la: 𒌉𒈗𒆷 son of the king
Genitive Construction with Adjectives
We can add adjectives to the possessor and/or possession :
Genitive Construction with Possessive and Demonstrative Pronouns
We can also add possessive or demonstrative pronoun to the possession and/or possessor. However, while the pronouns modifying the possessor are added before ak 𒀝, the pronouns modifying the possession are found after ak 𒀝.
REMEMBER: Before ak 𒀝, the final vowels of ĝu10 𒈬, zu 𒍪, (a/e)ni (𒀀/𒂊)𒉌, and bi 𒁉 become /a/:
Genitive Construction with Plurals
We can also add the plural marker (e)ne (𒂊)𒉈to the possession and/or possessor. Either way, the plural marker will immediately follow the pronouns, adjectives, or nouns respectively:
NOTE: bi + (e)ne = bé-ne: 𒁉𒉈 those
Genitive Construction with Case Markers
If we want, we can add a case marker to the entire construction:
Genitive Construction with Verbs
Or a verbal chain:
- possession + adjective | possessor + adjective + pronoun + (e)ne | ak | pronoun + (e)ne | case | object | verb
- dumu + tur | lugal + maḫ + za + (e)ne | [ak ] | bi + (e)ne | [-e] | iri | ba-an-dù-uš
- dumu-tur lugal-maḫ-za-ne-bé-ne iri ba-an-dù-uš
- 𒌉𒌉𒈗𒈤𒍝𒉈𒁉𒉈𒌷𒁀𒀭𒆕𒍑
- The city was built by those young sons of the exalted kings.
Multiple Genitives
Sometimes a second, and even a third genitive can be found in a single construction. In these instances, the ak 𒀝 of each construction gets added to the one before it.
- dam | dumu | [ak ]
- dam dumu
- 𒁮𒌉
- wife of the son
When a second genitive is added, the first ak 𒀝 appears, but the /k/ of the final ak 𒀝 is omitted:
- dam | dumu | lugal | ak | a[k]
- dam dumu lugal-la-ka
- 𒁮𒌉𒈗𒆷𒅗
- wife of the son of the king
When a third genitive is present, the final ak 𒀝 is omitted.
- dam | dumu | lugal | kiš[ki] | ak | a[k] | [ak]
- dam dumu lugal kiški-a-ka
- 𒁮𒌉𒈗𒆧𒆠𒀀𒅗
- wife of the son of the king of Kiš
Lesson Seven Summary
Congratulations! You’ve just taken another major step forward in your Sumerian language journey!
In this lesson, you learned:
Exercises
As you work through the exercises below, you may need to refer to the Online Sumerian Dictionary, although most of the translations are going to use words you should be familiar with by now.
Translate Sumerian into English
Translate English into Sumerian
HISTORICAL NOTE: Šulgi is known to have had many wives, three of whom are named as queens. We don’t exactly how many wives or queens he had. A queen by the name of Abi-Simti is listed as a queen around the time Šulgi’s reign, so I’m using her in my examples.
Transliterate and Translate Cuneiform
- 𒀀𒁀𒈗𒆠𒂗𒄀𒊏𒀀𒀭 | 𒀭𒂄𒄀𒀀𒀭
- 𒀀𒁀𒎏𒆠𒂗𒄀𒊏𒀀𒀭 | 𒎏𒀭𒀭𒋀𒆠𒀀𒀭
- 𒌉𒉈𒉣𒆠𒂗𒄀𒊏𒀀𒀭
Answer Key
Translate Sumerian into English
- lú-bi lugal ki-en-gi-ra-àm
- 𒇽𒁉𒈗𒆠𒂗𒄀𒊏𒀀𒀭
- That man is the king of Sumer.
- a-ne é-gal na4za-gin3-na in-dù
- 𒀀𒉈𒂍𒃲𒎎𒍝𒆳𒈾𒅔𒆕
- He built a palace of lapis lazuli.
- dam lugal-la-ke4 nin ki-en-gi-ra ba-an-ku4
- 𒁮𒈗𒆷𒆤𒎏𒆠𒂗𒄀𒊏𒁀𒀭𒆭
- The wife of the king became queen of Sumer.
- a-ne dumu-nita lugal-la in-dú
- 𒀀𒉈𒌉𒀴𒈗𒆷𒅔𒌅
- She gave birth to the son of the king.
Translate English Into Sumerian
1) Shulgi was the king of Sumer
dšul-gi lugal ki-en-gi-ra-àm
𒀭𒂄𒄀𒈗𒆠𒂗𒄀𒊏𒀀𒀭
2) Nanna was the god of the moon
dnanna diĝir itud-àm
𒀭𒋀𒆠𒀭𒌗𒀀𒀭
3) Abisīmti was a priestess of Nanna
a-bí-sí-im-ti ereš-diĝir dnanna-àm
𒀀𒉈𒍣𒅎𒋾𒎏𒀭𒀭𒋀𒆠𒀀𒀭
4) Abisīmti was a wife of Shulgi
a-bí-sí-im-ti dam dšul-gi-àm
𒀀𒉈𒍣𒅎𒋾 𒁮𒀭𒂄𒄀𒀀𒀭
5) The son of Šulgi was the prince of Sumer
dumu(-nita) dšul-gi-ke4 nun ki-en-gi-ra-àm
𒌉(𒀴)𒀭𒂄𒄀𒆤𒉣𒆠𒂗𒄀𒊏𒀀𒀭
6) The prince of Sumer was the son of the priestess of Nanna
nun ki-en-gi-ra-ke4 dumu(-nita) ereš-diĝir dnanna-ka-ke4-àm
𒉣𒆠𒂗𒄀𒊏𒆤𒌉(𒀴)𒎏𒀭𒀭𒋀𒆠𒅗𒆤𒀀𒀭
Transliterate and Translate Cuneiform
- Are you my mother? a-ba ama-ĝu10-me-en
- Is he a deity? (a/e-ni) diĝir-àm
- Who is king? a-ba lugal-àm
- Who is that man? a-ba lú-àm
- What is this place? a-na ki-àm
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