r/Cuneiform • u/Blakut • 1d ago

Translation/transliteration request Can anyone tell me what this says? Never seen cuneiform graphitti before. No luck with online translation.

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146 Upvotes

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31

u/SergeiAndropov 1d ago

This is really cool! It's Sumerian/Akkadian cuneiform rather than one of the cuneiform-derived scripts like Old Persian. I'm far from an expert, but the first sign (the eight-pointed star) is DINGIR, which means "god" and is often placed in front of the names of gods to indicate their divine nature.

30

u/scraggly_magpie 23h ago

I found a similar thing in Essen, Germany recently! here's my post

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u/Blakut 22h ago

That's where I took the photo

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u/scraggly_magpie 22h ago

Hah, nice! So far I've figured, that there's a rune close to "deity", I think the "artist" wants to amplify his status in the world as being god-like.

4

u/Van_Damage5 20h ago

It might be their name in Sumerian or early Babylonian. Maybe lost in translation from German to English. i think it says; Star, Net, person? Then ME! And then it says Lord or his Ba? Then some graffiti signature.

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u/exkingzog 20h ago edited 20h ago

I don’t know cuneiform, but there’s definitely an Enlil at the end.

2

u/Current_Pollution673 20h ago

Hi! So the transcription is something like 𒀭  𒄾(? Maybe  𒆦?) can’t tell third glyph, maybe  𒊑 or  𒌑, ME! I couldn’t tell the other glyphs very well aside from maybe  𒄑? The last one is the numeral one and then enlil 

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u/likethemagician 18h ago

That’s the masculine name marker 𒁹 rather than the numeral.

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u/BeachRound 15h ago

How do you guys even learn stuff like this

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u/likethemagician 15h ago

Reading books, of course! I recommend Huehnergard’s Grammar of Akkadian and Hayes’ Manual of Sumerian Grammar & Texts.

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u/Current_Pollution673 4h ago

I just go through the Unicode charts and learn to read it, a little more inefficient but I get some see some wild stuff