Cuneiform Numbers and Punctuation explained

Blockname:	Cuneiform Numbers and Punctuation
Rangestart:	12400
Rangeend:	1247F
Script1:	Cuneiform
Symbols:	Numeric signs Fractions Punctuation
5 0:	103
7 0:	13
Note:	^[1] ^[2]

In Unicode, the Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform script is covered in three blocks in the Supplementary Multilingual Plane (SMP):

U+12000 - U+123FF Cuneiform
U+12400 - U+1247F Cuneiform Numbers and Punctuation
U+12480 - U+1254F Early Dynastic Cuneiform

The sample glyphs in the chart file published by the Unicode Consortium^[3] show the characters in their Classical Sumerian form (Early Dynastic period, mid 3rd millennium BCE). The characters as written during the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE, the era during which the vast majority of cuneiform texts were written, are considered font variants of the same characters.

Organization

The final proposal for Unicode encoding of the script was submitted by two cuneiform scholars working with an experienced Unicode proposal writer in June 2004.^[4] The base character inventory is derived from the list of Ur III signs compiled by the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative of UCLA based on the inventories of Miguel Civil, Rykle Borger (2003), and Robert Englund. Rather than opting for a direct ordering by glyph shape and complexity, according to the numbering of an existing catalogue, the Unicode order of glyphs was based on the Latin alphabetic order of their 'main' Sumerian transliteration as a practical approximation.

Block

Signs

See also list of cuneiform signs.

The following table allows matching of Borger's 1981 and 2003 numbering with Unicode characters ^[5] The "primary" transliteration column has the glyphs' Sumerian values as given by the official glyph name, slightly modified here for legibility by including traditional assyriological symbols such as "x" rather than "TIMES". The exact Unicode names can be unambiguously recovered by prefixing, "CUNEIFORM [NUMERIC] SIGN", replacing "TIMES" for "x", "PLUS" for "+" and "OVER" for "/", "ASTERISK" for "*", "H" for "Ḫ", "SH" for "Š", and switching to uppercase.

Code point	Name	Borger (2003)	Borger (1981)	Comments
U+12038	one AŠ	001		1, from general Cuneiform_(Unicode_block) not this block
U+12400	two AŠ	002	2	2, = U+1212C
U+12401	three AŠ	004		3, EŠ₆
U+12402	four AŠ	215	124,42	4, LIMMU₂, LIMM₂, TAB.TAB
U+12403	five AŠ	216		5, IA₇, TAB.TAB.AŠ
U+12404	six AŠ	217		6, AŠ₄, TAB.TAB.TAB
U+12405	seven AŠ	218		7, IMIN₂, TAB.TAB.TAB.AŠ
U+12406	eight AŠ	219		8, USSU₂, TAB.TAB.TAB.TAB
U+12407	nine AŠ	220		9, ILIMMU₂, TAB.TAB.TAB.TAB.AŠ
U+12408	three DIŠ	834	593	3, 180, EŠ₅
U+12409	four DIŠ	851; 852; 853	316	4, 240, ZA, LIMMU₅, NIGIDALIMMU, = U+1235D
U+1240A	five DIŠ	861	598a	5, 300, IA₂
U+1240B	six DIŠ	862	598b	6, 360, AŠ₃
U+1240C	seven DIŠ	863	598c	7, 420
U+1240D	eight DIŠ	864	598d	8, 480
U+1240E	nine DIŠ			9, 540
U+1240F		713	474	40, NIMIN
U+12410	five U	714	475	50, NINNU
U+12411	six U	715	476	60
U+12412	seven U	716	477	70
U+12413	eight U	717	478	80
U+12414	nine U	718	479	90
U+12415	one GEŠ₂
U+12416	two GEŠ₂
U+12417	three GEŠ₂
U+12418	four GEŠ₂
U+12419	five GEŠ₂
U+1241A	six GEŠ₂
U+1241B	seven GEŠ₂
U+1241C	eight GEŠ₂
U+1241D	nine GEŠ₂
U+1241E	one GEŠU	824	534	GEŠ₂.U; 600 or 70
U+1241F	two GEŠU			1200 or 80
U+12420	three GEŠU			1800 or 90
U+12421	four GEŠU			2400 or 100
U+12422	five GEŠU			3000 or 110
U+12423	two ŠAR₂
U+12424	three ŠAR₂
U+12425	three ŠAR₂ variant form
U+12426	four ŠAR₂
U+12427	five ŠAR₂
U+12428	six ŠAR₂
U+12429	seven ŠAR₂
U+1242A	eight ŠAR₂
U+1242B	nine ŠAR₂
U+1242C	one ŠARU	653	409	36,000
U+1242D	two ŠARU			72,000
U+1242E	three ŠARU			108,000
U+1242F	three ŠARU variant form			108,000
U+12430	four ŠARU			144,000
U+12431	five ŠARU			180,000
U+12432	ŠAR₂ x GAL.DIŠ	651	408	216,000
U+12433	ŠAR₂ x GAL.MIN	652	408	432,000
U+12434	one BURU	662	350,8	U gunû
U+12435	two BURU
U+12436	three BURU
U+12437	three BURU variant form
U+12438	four BURU
U+12439	five BURU
U+1243A	EŠ₁₆	505		3, = U+1203C
U+1243B	EŠ₂₁	210		3
U+1243C	LIMMU	859; 860		4, NIG₂, GAR, NINDA
U+1243D	LIMMU₄	506		4
U+1243E
U+1243F
U+12440	AŠ₉	536		6, EŠ₁₆.EŠ₁₆
U+12441	IMIN₃	537		7, UMUN₉
U+12442	IMIN	863		7
U+12443	IMIN variant form	866		7
U+12444	USSU	867		8
U+12445	USSU₃	538		8
U+12446	ILIMMU	868		9
U+12447	ILIMMU₃	539		9, EŠ₁₆.EŠ₁₆.EŠ₁₆
U+12448	ILIMMU₄	577		9
U+12449	DIŠ / DIŠ / DIŠ	865v		9
U+1244A	two AŠ tenû	593
U+1244B	three AŠ tenû	629
U+1244C	four AŠ tenû	854	379; 380	ZA tenû, ERIM tenû
U+1244D	five AŠ tenû
U+1244E	six AŠ tenû
U+1244F	one BAN₂	122		= U+12047
U+12450	two BAN₂
U+12451	three BAN₂
U+12452	four BAN₂
U+12453	four BAN₂ variant form
U+12454	five BAN₂
U+12455	five BAN₂ variant form
U+12456	NIGIDAMIN	847, 848
U+12457	NIGIDAEŠ	850
U+12458	one EŠE₃			= U+12041, U+12300
U+12459	two EŠE₃			= U+12049
U+1245A	one third	826	571	ŠUŠANA
U+1245B	two thirds	832	572
U+1245C	five sixths	838	573	KINGUSILA
U+1245D	one third variant form
U+1245E	two thirds variant form
U+1245F	one eighth
U+12460	one quarter
U+12461	Old Assyrian one sixth	630		Kültepe only
U+12462	Old Assyrian one quarter
U+12470
U+12471	vertical colon	592		Glossenkeil
U+12472	diagonal colon	592		Glossenkeil
U+12473	diagonal tricolon

History

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Cuneiform Numbers and Punctuation block:

References

Rylke Borger, Assyrisch-Babylonische Zeichenliste, 2nd ed., Neukirchen-Vluyn (1981)
Rylke Borger, Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon, Münster (2003). *Michael Everson, Karljürgen Feuerherm, Steve Tinney, "Final proposal to encode the Cuneiform script in the SMP of the UCS", ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2786 (2004).

Web site: Unicode character database. The Unicode Standard. 2023-07-26.
Web site: Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard. The Unicode Standard. 2023-07-26.
https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U12000.pdf Cuneiform Unicode.org chart (PDF)
http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2786.pdf Unicode cuneiform
(after Anderson's sign list)

External links

cuneiformsigns.org by Lloyd Anderson
Cuneiform Unicode.org chart (PDF)
Cuneiform Numbers and Punctuation Unicode.org chart (PDF)

Font packages

Akkadian (reproduces the Sumerian (3rd millennium BC) glyphs given in the Unicode (reference chart), by George Douros .
FreeIdgSerif (branched off FreeSerif), encodes some 390 Old Assyrian (2nd millennium BC) glyphs used in Hittite cuneiform.

		Count	WG2 ID
5.0	U+12400..12462, 12470..12473	103


			N2297
			N2585

			N2664R


			N2698












			N2786





			doc)





7.0	U+12463..1246E, 12474	13	N4178R
			N4277R