The cuneiform sign MÁ denotes a ship or boat. It is used in Sumerian and as a Sumerogram for the Akkadian word eleppu (also 'ship'/'boat'). MÁ is usually preceded by the determinative for items made of wood, namely 
GIŠ: GIŠ.MÁ, or .MÁ, .
Examples
The Epic of Gilgamesh lists sixteen wood-related words written with the GIŠ determinative, among them GIŠ.MÁ/eleppu. The epic also uses the 'ship'/'boat' Sumerogram in Tablet XI (the Gilgamesh flood myth), and elsewhere when Gilgamesh is taken by boat.
Some of the Amarna letters using the Sumerogram are EA 86, EA 153, EA 149, EA 245, and EA 364.
See also
References
- Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Glossary, pp. 119-145, eleppu, p. 124.
- Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Glossary and Indices, Logograms and Their Readings, pp. 117-18, p. 117.
- Image. GIŠ.MÁ, found in line 10.
- Image. GIŠ.MÁ found in line 4 of the reverse.
- Image. From Ayyab, it is one of the shorter Amarna letters.
Bibliography
- Simo Parpola; Kalle Fabritius (1997). Simo Parpola; Mikko Luukko; Kalle Fabritius (eds.). The standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh : cuneiform text, transliteration, glossary, indices and sign list. Translated by Simo Parpola. Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project (Contributor). Helsinki: Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project. ISBN 951-45-7760-4. OCLC 38502035. (Volume 1) in the original Akkadian cuneiform and transliteration; commentary and glossary are in English
External links
- Amarna letter EA 153-(Obverse), line 10 (7th line from bottom)
- Amarna letter EA 245-(Reverse), line 4(=line 28) (4th line from top-of-reverse)
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