Editing Cuneiform (section)

==Transliteration==
[[File:Cyrus cylinder extract.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|An extract from the [[Cyrus Cylinder]] (lines 15–21), giving the genealogy of [[Cyrus the Great]] and an account of his capture of [[Babylon]] in 539&nbsp;BC]]
[[File:Cuneiform sign EN, for Lord or Master (evolution).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|The cuneiform sign "[[:Wiktionary:𒂗|EN]]", for "Lord" or "Master": the evolution from the pictograph of a throne circa 3000&nbsp;BC, followed by simplification and rotation down to circa 600&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite web |title=Site officiel du musée du Louvre |url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=9643 |website=cartelfr.louvre.fr}}</ref>]]
{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=270|caption_align=center
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| header=Cylinder of Antiochus I<br /><small>(c.250 BC)</small>
| image1   = Cylinder of Antiochus I Soter with translation (Color).jpg
| caption1 = The [[Antiochus cylinder]], written by [[Antiochus I Soter]] as great king of kings of [[Babylon]], restorer of the temples [[Esagila|E-sagila]] and [[E-zida]], circa 250 BC. Written in traditional Akkadian (with the same text in [[Babylonian language|Babylonian]] and [[Akkadian language|Assyrian]] given here for comparison).<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":12" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Antiochus cylinder |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1351032&partId=1&object=23121&page=1 |website=British Museum}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wallis Budge |first1=Ernest Alfred |title=Babylonian Life and History |date=1884 |publisher=Religious Tract Society |page=[https://archive.org/details/babylonianlifea03budggoog/page/n114 94] |url=https://archive.org/details/babylonianlifea03budggoog |language=en}}</ref>
| image2   = Antiochus I Soter with titles on the cylinder of Antiochus.jpg
| caption2 = [[Antiochus I Soter]] with titles in Akkadian on the cylinder of Antiochus:<br /> ''"Antiochus, King, Great King, King of multitudes, King of Babylon, King of countries".'' <br/> Note that while the images above transcribe the Akkadian pronunciation of the text, the actual spelling is highly logographic and would be  strictly transliterated as follows, with the logograms (Sumerograms) capitalised and the syllabograms (phonetic signs) italicised:<br /> 1. <sup>DIŠ</sup>''an-ti-ʾu-ku-us'' LUGAL GAL-''ú'' <br /> 2. LUGAL ''dan-nu'' LUGAL ŠÁR LUGAL E.KI LUGAL KUR-KUR <br /> 3. ''za-ni-in'' É.SAG.ÍL ''ù'' É.ZI.DA<ref>Cf. [https://www.academia.edu/800795/The_Antiochus_Cylinder The Cylinder of Antiochus I from the Ezida temple in Borsippa (BM 36277), p.4 by M. Stol and R.J. van der Spek] and [https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon10/Q004179 Antiochus I 01 by The Royal Inscriptions of Babylonia online (RIBo) Project].<br /> The transliteration here differs slightly from these sources by rendering the determinative for male personal names 𒁹 with the Sumerian reading of the sign <sup>DIŠ</sup>, whereas it is more commonly transcribed with the conventional letter <sup>M</sup> today. The spellings 𒂍𒊕𒅍 (É.SAG.ÍL) and 𒂍𒍣𒁕 (É.ZI.DA) can also be read phonetically in Akkadian (as they are in the second source), because the names themselves have been borrowed into Akkadian with their Sumerian pronunciations. Conversely, the sign 𒆗, which may have the phonetic value ''dan'' in Akkadian, was nevertheless originally a Sumerian logogram KAL 'strong'. Finally, 𒅇 (''ù'') was the word for 'and' not only in Akkadian, but also in Sumerian.</ref><br />In Unicode:<br /> 1. 𒁹𒀭𒋾𒀪𒆪𒊻𒈗𒃲𒌑<br /> 2. 𒈗𒆗𒉡𒈗𒎗𒈗𒂊𒆠𒈗𒆳𒆳<br /> 3. 𒍝𒉌𒅔𒂍𒊕𒅍𒅇𒂍𒍣𒁕
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Cuneiform has a specific format for [[transliteration]]. Because of the script's [[wikt: polyvalent|polyvalence]], transliteration requires certain choices of the transliterating scholar, who must decide in the case of each sign which of its several possible meanings is intended in the original document. For example, the sign [[dingir]] (𒀭) in a Hittite text may represent either the Hittite syllable ''an'' or may be part of an Akkadian phrase, representing the syllable ''[[ilah|il]]'', it may be a [[Sumerogram]], representing the original Sumerian meaning, 'god' or the [[determinative]] for a deity. In transliteration, a different rendition of the same glyph is chosen depending on its role in the present context.<ref>Kudrinski, Maksim. "Hittite heterographic writings and their interpretation" {{Lang|de|Indogermanische Forschungen}}, vol. 121, no. 1, pp. 159–176, 2016</ref>

Therefore, a text containing DINGIR (𒀭) and A (𒀀) in succession could be construed to represent the Akkadian words "ana", "ila", god + "a" (the [[accusative case]] ending), god + water, or a divine name "A" or Water. Someone transcribing the signs would make the decision how the signs should be read and assemble the signs as "ana", "ila", "Ila" ("god"+accusative case), etc. A transliteration of these signs, would separate the signs with dashes "il-a", "an-a", "DINGIR-a" or "<sup>D</sup>a". This is still easier to read than the original cuneiform, but now the reader is able to trace the sounds back to the original signs and determine if the correct decision was made on how to read them. A transliterated document thus presents the reading preferred by the transliterating scholar as well as an opportunity to reconstruct the original text.

There are differing conventions for transliterating different languages written with Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform. The following conventions see wide use across the different fields:

* To disambiguate between homophones, i.e. between signs pronounced identically, the letters that express the pronunciation of a sign are supplemented with subscript numbers. For example, ''u<sub>1</sub>'' stands for the glyph 𒌋, ''u<sub>2</sub>'' stands for 𒌑, and ''u<sub>3</sub>'' stands for 𒅇, all thought to have been pronounced /u/. No.&nbsp;1 is usually treated as the default interpretation and not indicated explicitly, so ''u'' is equivalent to ''u<sub>1</sub>''. For the numbers 2 and 3, accent [[diacritic]]s are often used as well: an [[acute accent]] stands for no.&nbsp;2 and a [[grave accent]] for no.&nbsp;3. Thus, ''u'' is equivalent to ''u<sub>1</sub>'' (𒌋), ''ú'' is equivalent to ''u<sub>2</sub>'' (𒌑) and ''ù'' to ''u<sub>3</sub>'' (𒅇). The sequence of numbering is conventional but essentially arbitrary and a consequence of the history of decipherment. 
* As shown above, signs ''as such'' are represented in [[capital letter]]s. The specific reading selected in the transliteration is represented in small letters. Thus, capital letters can be used to indicate a so-called Diri compound, in which a sequence of signs does not stand for a combination of their usual readings, as in the spelling 𒅆𒀀 IGI.A for the word ''imhur'' 'foam' [[#Early Dynastic cuneiform (circa 2500 BC)|given above]]. Capital letters may also be used to indicate a Sumerogram, for example, KÙ.BABBAR 𒆬𒌓 – Sumerian for "silver" – being used with the intended [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] reading ''kaspum'', "silver", or simply a sign sequence of whose reading the editor is uncertain. Naturally, the "real" reading, if it is clear, will be presented in small letters in the transliteration: IGI.A will be rendered as imhur<sub>4</sub>. An Akkadogram in Hittite is indicated by capital letters as well, but they are ''italicised'': e.g. ''ME-E'' transcribes the sign sequence ''𒈨𒂊'' when the intended reading is Hittite ''wātar'' "water", based on Akkadian ''mê'' "water (accusative-genitive case)". 
* Another convention is that [[determinative]]s are written in superscript: thus, the sequence 𒀕𒆠 (the name of the city [[Uruk]]) is transliterated as ''unug<sup>ki</sup>'' to show that the second sign, KI, meaning "earth", isn't intended to be pronounced, but only specifies the type of meaning the former sign has. In this case, that it is a place name. A few common determinatives are transliterated with abbreviations: for example, <sup>d</sup> represents the sign 𒀭 DINGIR when it serves as an indicator that one or more following signs form the name of a deity, as seen in the transliteration of 𒀭𒂗𒆤 as ''<sup>d</sup>en-líl'' "[[Enlil]]". 𒁹 DIŠ 'one' and 𒊩 MUNUS 'woman' as prefixed determinatives for male and female personal names, uncommon in Sumerian, but subsequently used for some other languages, are often rendered with the abbreviations <sup>m</sup> and <sup>f</sup> for "masculine" and "feminine".
* In Sumerian transliteration, a multiplication sign ('×') is used to indicate [[typographic ligature]]s. For example, the sign 𒅻 NUNDUM, which stands for the word ''nundum'' "lip", can also be designated as KA×NUN, which indicates that it is a compound of the signs 𒅗 KA "mouth" and 𒉣 NUN "prince".

Since the Sumerian language has only been widely known and studied by scholars for approximately a century, changes in the accepted reading of Sumerian names have occurred from time to time. Thus the name of a king of [[Ur]], 𒌨𒀭𒇉, read ''Ur-Bau'' at one time,{{Citation needed|reason=can't find anything that says this, rather [[Ur-Bau]] is a king of Lagash|date=July 2024}} was later read as ''Ur-Engur'', and is now read as [[Ur-Nammu]] or Ur-Namma; for [[Lugal-zage-si]] (𒈗𒍠𒄀𒋛), a king of [[Uruk]], some scholars continued to read ''Ungal-zaggisi''; and so forth. With some names of the older period, there was often uncertainty whether their bearers were Sumerians or Semites. If the former, then their names could be assumed to be read as Sumerian. If they were Semites, the signs for writing their names were probably to be read according to their Semitic equivalents. Though occasionally, Semites might be encountered bearing genuine Sumerian names.

There was doubt whether the signs composing a Semite's name represented a phonetic reading or a logographic compound. Thus, e.g. when inscriptions of a Semitic ruler of Kish, whose name was written 𒌷𒈬𒍑, ''Uru-mu-ush'', were first deciphered, that name was first taken to be logographic because ''uru mu-ush'' could be read as "he founded a city" in Sumerian, and scholars accordingly retranslated it back to the original Semitic as ''Alu-usharshid''. It was later recognized that the URU sign (𒌷) can also be read as ''rí'' and that the name is that of the [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] king [[Rimush]].