Wiktionary:About Sumerian

Sumerian entries

Cuneiform

• Sumerian entries are always created in cuneiform script.
• The best practice is to copy/paste it from the ePSD2 site.
• To type cuneiform signs when you know their transliteration you can use one of the following online editors:
  • Qantuppi 𒄀𒁾
  • Cuneify
  • Akkadian Keyboard - Advanced
  • Cuneiform IME for macOS
• We use the {{sux-signs}} template right under ==Sumerian== to link the individual signs in the term. See: 𒂼𒅈𒄄 (ama-ar-gi₄ /⁠amargi⁠/)
• In individual cuneiform entries (like 𒂼 (ama), 𒀭 (dig̃ir), etc.) we add the {{sux-signsee}} template under the ===See also=== section (right before ===References===).

Transliteration

• We use the parameter |tr= in the {{head}}, {{l}}, {{m}}, etc. templates to give the transliteration of Sumerian cuneiform signs.
• We transliterate each cuneiform sign in lowercase, separated by a dash (-). See for example 𒀀𒂵𒄠 (a-ga-am /⁠agam⁠/).
• If more than one transliteration is possible for a sign, we can enter more then one by separating them with a comma (,). See for example 𒆍 (ka₂, kan₄ /⁠kan⁠/).
• For indexing we use subscripts numbers (₀ ₁ ₂ ₃ ₄ ₅ ₆ ₇ ₈ ₉). You can find them at the bottom of the edit window if you choose Akkadian and Sumerian from the drop-down menu on the left.
• We use the same transliteration system used by ePSD2, with the only exception of the sound /ŋ/, that we transliterate as g̃. You can insert this letter by choosing Akkadian and Sumerian from the drop-down menu on the bottom left of the editing window and clicking on "g̃" (or "G̃" if you need it capitalised). This is done to keep consistency with older transliteration/Akkadian sumerograms that might only have a g where more recent reconstructions have g̃, and facilitate their searching. The character ⟨ŋ⟩ used in some publications doesn't have the same flexibility.
• Determinatives will use the template {{sup}}. See for example 𒀭𒂗𒆤 (^den-lil₂ /⁠Enlil⁠/).

Normalisation

• We use the parameter |ts= in the {{head}}, {{l}}, {{m}}, etc. templates to give the normalisation of a Sumerian word. A word's normalisation is the reconstructed "pronunciation" of a Sumerian word and correspond to the spelling of entries on ePSD2. See for example 𒀀𒀊𒁀 a'abak.
• When a word's transliteration is identical to its normalisation, we will only use the transliteration parameter (|tr=. See for example 𒀯 (mul).
• When a word's transliteration is not identical to its normalisation, we will always indicate its normalisation, even if the only difference is the lack of an index. See for example 𒀳 (uru₄ /⁠uru⁠/).
• Proper nouns are capitalised. See for example 𒂍𒐐 (e₂-ninnu /⁠Eninnu⁠/).
• To separate two vowels belonging to different elements of a compound, we use the straight apostrophe ( ' ). See for example 𒀀𒀊𒁀 (a'abak).
• We indicate vowel contraction with a circumflex (similarly to how it is done in normalizing Akkadian lemmas). See for example 𒁀 (ba /⁠bâ⁠/).
• Enclitic particles (case endings, possessives, etc) and verbal elements are written attached to the noun or verb they refer to without a dash. See for example 𒆠𒁀 (ki-ba /⁠kibâ⁠/) or 𒀀𒀊𒁀 (a'abak).

Verbs

In the following two cases, we use the {{sux-verb}} template.

• Compound verbs

  Sumerian phrasal verbs (known in the field as "compound verbs") follow the layout of 𒆠𒉘 (ki ag̃₂ /⁠ki ag̃⁠/).

• Verbs with reduplicated forms

  Verbs with reduplicated forms follow the layout of 𒆯 (ku₇ /⁠kud⁠/) and 𒆯𒆯 (ku₇-ku₇ /⁠ku-ku⁠/).

Alternative forms

• Alternative forms are given using the {{sux-alts}} template right under ==Sumerian== (if they refer to the main entry) or under ===Etymology=== if they refer to just one individual meaning of the entry. See for example 𒀲𒋙𒀭 (^anšekunga₂ /⁠kunga⁠/) and 𒁺 (tum₂ /⁠tum⁠/).

Emesal

• Emesal words corresponding to Emegir (Standard Sumerian) entries are given using the template {{sux-registers}}. See for example 𒅆 (igi). For the template {{sux-registers}} to work, you will need to add the corresponding Emegir and Emesal data to the list in Module:sux-registers/data (follow the format of previus entries).

References

• In this section we try to always give the link to the corresponding ePSD2 entry. We do so with the references template {{R:sux:ePSD2|<--ePSD2 entry number-->|<--normalisation-->|<--mening-->}}. We only give the meaning when it's needed to differentiate two references that would otherwise have the same normalisation. See for example:
  1. Standard ePSD2 reference: 𒀯 (mul)
  2. ePSD2 references differentiated by their meanings: 𒅗
• You can find the ePSD2 entry number by right-clicking on the normalisation of an ePSD2 entry and selecting copy link address. If you paste the address, you will get a string like this:

  javascript:p3Article('/epsd2/cbd/sux/o0023213.html')

The entry number is the name of the html page minus ".html". In our example that would be: o0023213.

Further reading

• We use the {{pedia}} template to link eventual Wikipedia articles under this section. See an example at 𒂼𒅈𒄄 (ama-ar-gi₄ /⁠amargi⁠/).

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Romanization of cuneiform signs

• To facilitate searches of cuneiform signs by their transliteration, we use a simplified romanization system that represents all diacritics/subscript indexes in a way that makes them easy to type on a keyboard. This is identical to the one used on the ePSD2 site. Most letters are identical to the proper transliteration system. Here is a list of those that are different:

Transliteration	Romanization
g̃	j
š	sz
ḫ	h
₀-₉	0 - 9
ₓ	X (see for example: sigX)

Here you can see all currently existing Sumerian romanisation entries: Category:Sumerian_romanizations

• There are still a lot of romanizations missing. If you find that a romanization doesn't exist, you can create it following the model of mesz3.

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Grammars and dictionaries

Grammars

• A descriptive grammar of Sumerian, Abraham Hendrik Jagersma
• An Introduction to the Grammar of Sumerian, Gábor Zólyomi
• Introduction to Sumerian Grammar, Daniel A. Foxvog

Dictionaries

• The electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary
• Elementary Sumerian Glossary, Daniel A. Foxvog
• Sumerian Lexicon, John A. Halloran
• List of Emesal words in ETCSL