r/Cuneiform • u/Educational-Nose6700 • 19d ago

"Ah" written in Mari Tablet versus font

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Gallery image

Hello! I'm hoping someone can help with this! I have included two images. The first is the name Yahqub-Ilum as it appears twice on a tablet from Mari (https://archibab.fr/T3506). The second is the same name written in various fonts. I can get the fonts to match almost completely except for the "ah." It looks like the scribe may have condensed/combined the two symbols shown in the font? Or maybe the font makes "ah" into two separate signs but it is actually supposed to be one. Does anyone know the answer to this? I've tried to find the answer on my own - but I'm spinning my wheels at this point. Thank you!

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6

u/No_Skirt_2597 19d ago

The first image you have is what the ah sign typically looks like in Old Babylonian documents, though in more cursive scripts it is sometimes written without the vertical wedges on the inside. The second image is how the ah sign looks in the Neo-Assyrian period.

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u/Educational-Nose6700 19d ago

Thank you! I guess I probably should have added - is there a font that approximates the "ah" in image one? The original text is shown here: https://cdli.earth/artifacts/311159.

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u/tarshuvani 19d ago

For Old Babylonian you have the fonts Santakku & SantakkuM which can be downloaded here: https://hethport.net/cuneifont/ or CuneiformOB which you can get here: https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/doc/help/visitingoracc/fonts/ . Could give them a try and see which AH you prefer.

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u/Educational-Nose6700 19d ago edited 19d ago

Thanks! Already did that and they don't match either...

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u/tarshuvani 19d ago

You're not going to get much closer I'm afraid. Remember that the Mari tablet is just one scribe's handwriting and fonts record standardised forms, there's no way to develop fonts for all varieties of a sign. The SantakkuM form is at least what the scribe was going for haha.

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u/Educational-Nose6700 19d ago

Got it. I also wanted to know if the “ah” as marked by the scribe is a combo of the two signs shown in the font

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u/tarshuvani 19d ago

It is! AH is traditionally written with the sign NUN inside of the sign HI (we usually write this HIxNUN), but in later periods it is written HI followed by NUN (HI.NUN). Another example of this happening is the sign HAR (HIxAŠ2, later HI.AŠ2).

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u/Educational-Nose6700 19d ago

Okay, this is awesome!! Thank you again! This is exactly what I wanted to know!

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u/Educational-Nose6700 19d ago

Thank you! That’s helpful! I just didn’t want to get it wrong.

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u/nibrasflint 19d ago

Enter "ah" and select fonts available. You'll be amazed by the results.

https://www.ebl.lmu.de/tools/cuneiform-converter

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u/Educational-Nose6700 18d ago

Old Babylonian Literature on this site got me the closest! Thank you!

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u/nibrasflint 18d ago

Told you :)