Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Map
- Introduction
- Lesson 1
- Lesson 2
- Lesson 3
- Lesson 4
- Lesson 5
- Lesson 6
- Lesson 7
- Lesson 8
- Lesson 9
- Lesson 10
- Appendix 1 Paradigms
- Appendix 2 Sources of exercise material
- Appendix 3 Grammatical Index
- Appendix 4 Cuneiform sign list
- Appendix 5 Glossary
Appendix 4 - Cuneiform sign list
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Map
- Introduction
- Lesson 1
- Lesson 2
- Lesson 3
- Lesson 4
- Lesson 5
- Lesson 6
- Lesson 7
- Lesson 8
- Lesson 9
- Lesson 10
- Appendix 1 Paradigms
- Appendix 2 Sources of exercise material
- Appendix 3 Grammatical Index
- Appendix 4 Cuneiform sign list
- Appendix 5 Glossary
Summary
The following list contains all cuneiform signs given at the end of the preceding ten Lessons, as well as all signs contained in the KBo 3.4 exemplar of Muršili II’s Ten-Year Annals. The signs are listed in the order given in C. Rüster and E. Neu, Hethitisches Zeichenlexikon (abbreviated HZL; Wiesbaden 1989), the standard sign inventory in the field. The first column gives the number in HZL. The signs are ordered according to their shape, that is, starting with the simple horizontal wedge and all signs that start with one or more horizontal wedges ( through ). Then follow the slanted wedges and signs starting with them ( through ), and the same principle applies to the Winkelhaken-signs ( through ) and vertical wedges ( through ).
If a variant shape is given, this is usually a later variant, although the older variant keeps being used alongside the newer one. Normally, a wedge more or less or its position in the overall build-up of a sign is distinctive, and small differences will have important consequences, resulting in a different sign with a different sound value (compare, for instance, the difference between I and DUMU , DI and KI , or PÁR and QA ). In other cases, however, small variations have no consequences, like the height of the inscribed vertical in, for instance, ŠA, GA, or TA, either below the upper horizontal or sticking out over it ( vs. ). The sign KÁN in its standard form has three inscribed verticals, but one often encounters variants with either two or four. The same is true for MEŠ, which sometimes shows four Winkelhaken instead of the regular three. Truth is, that on the tablet itself it is often difficult to see, because the signs usually are small with an average line height of 3–4 mm. The signs LA and AT are often difficult to tell apart. In all these things, experience is the only solution.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Elements of Hittite , pp. 183 - 188Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011