The cuneiform lu sign is a common, multi-use sign, a syllabic for lu, and an alphabetic sign used for l, or u; it has many other sub-uses, as seen in the Epic of Gilgamesh over hundreds of years, and the 1350 BC Amarna letters. Its other uses show other syllabic and alphabetic forms that it can be used for: other vowels, or consonants;. There are also four sumerogrammic sub-forms for "lu" in the Epic of Gilgamesh, LU, and UDU, and DAB and DIB; LU transposes to Akkadian language, "lullû", for English language, (primitive) man; DAB transposes to ṣabātu, English for to seize, capture.
Amarna letter EA 19 is a tall clay tablet letter of 13 paragraphs, in relatively pristine condition, with some minor flaws on the clay, but a complete enough story that some included words can complete the story of the letter. Entitled "Love and Gold", the letter is about gold from Egypt, love between father-king ancestors and the current relationship between the King of Mitanni and the Pharaoh of Misri (Egypt), and marriage of women from King Tushratta of Mitanni to the Pharaoh of Egypt.
The cuneiform sign KÁ, for gate is the Sumerogram-(logogram) used in the Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh; as just KÁ it means "gate" or "doorway", Akkadian language, "bābu"; as "Gate-Great", KÁ.GAL for City-Gate, it is from Akkadian "abullu",. Both uses are in the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Epic, it is only used as the sumerogram, a total of 19 times,. In the Epic, all spellings for city gate use KÁ.GAL; for gate ('bābu') only one spelling uses the alphabetic letters for b-a-b-u; the rest use KÁ along with other added cuneiform signs.
The cuneiform Ne sign, is found in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Amarna letters, it is especially used in the opening, and introductory paragraph of the clay tablet letter, when addressing the Pharaoh (King), or when sent to another individual who is part of the Pharaoh's correspondence, for the alternate syllabic usage of "bil",. In the Amarna letters, it is used as Bil (cuneiform), for the spelling of speaks, or "says", in the opening statement; the Akkadian language word is "qabû", for to say, tell.
The cuneiform Ri sign, or Re, is found in both the 14th-century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh; it is in the top 25 most used cuneiform signs for ri, or re, but has other syllabic or alphabetic uses, as well as the Sumerogram usage for RI.
The cuneiform U sign is found in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. It can be used for the alphabetic u, instead of the more common 2nd u, (ú). It has two other uses, commonly. It can be used for the number 10, but its probable greater use is for the conjunction, u, with any of the conjunction meanings: and, but, else, etc.
The cuneiform pa sign,, has many uses in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. It is routinely and commonly used to spell the Akkadian language word "pānu", face, presence, and with a preposition, before. In the photo of the obverse of EA 364, it is used to spell Akkadian "eperu", 'dust', (EA 364, lines 7,8: "...andand \ dust"-.
The cuneiform DAGAL sign, which is a capital letter (majuscule) Sumerogram with the Akkadian language meaning of to be wide, or extensive; also "many", Akkadian "rapāšu", is a minor usage cuneiform sign used in the Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. An equivalent usage sign for DAGAL is used in the Amarna letters, gáb, for Akkadian language "gabbu", and is found in such letters as EA 362, EA 367, and others. Gáb has other syllabic values, which are used for separate Akkadian word components.
Cuneiform sign nu is a common use syllabic, or alphabetic. It is restricted to "nu", but in the Epic of Gilgamesh, or elsewhere has a Sumerogram use NU, and probably mostly for a component in personal names (PN), god's names, or specialized names for specific items that use Sumerograms.
The cuneiform sign LÚ is the sign used for "man"; its complement is the symbol for woman: šal. Cuneiform LÚ, is found as a Sumerogram in the Epic of Gilgamesh. It also has a common usage in the 1350 BC Amarna letters as the Sumerogram for "man".
The cuneiform mi, sign is a distinctive sign in the wedge-stroke group, and is used as a syllabic for mi, me, and an alphabetic for m, i, or e; it is also a Sumerogram for MI, used for Akkadian language, "mūšu", night. MI, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, is used in (Chapters) Tablets I, II, III, and XII as either MI, or MI.MEŠ, a total of six times; other spellings of mūšu in other sections are alphabetic/syllabic, four times.
The cuneiform ud sign, also ut, and with numerous other syllabic and Sumerogram uses, is a common sign for the mid 14th-century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. The sign is constructed upon the single vertical stroke , with various positionings of two wedge-strokes at the left, sometimes approximately centered, or often inscribed upwards to the left, the second wedge-stroke, occasionally inscribed/ligatured upon the first. The wedge-strokes can have any size, are often smaller than the vertical, but as an example, Amarna letter EA 256, can be almost as large as the vertical.
The cuneiform ŠEŠ sign, as a capital letter (majuscule), is a Sumerogram for Akkadian language ahu, for "brother". It is the cuneiform sign for ŠEŠ, as it can be used for a variety of lower case syllabic values, using š + vowel + š,. Sumerogram ŠEŠ has a high usage in the mid-14th century BC, ~1350-1330 BC Amarna letters from the brother kingdoms to the Pharaoh's Egypt. The brother kingdoms were Babylon, Alashiya, and Mittanni, where King Tushratta authored 13 El Amarna letters.
The cuneiform na sign is a common, multi-use sign, a syllabic for na, and an alphabetic sign used for n, or a; it is common in both the Epic of Gilgamesh over hundreds of years, and the 1350 BC Amarna letters. In the Epic of Gilgamesh it also has sumerogramic usage for NA. An example usage for NA in the Epic is for the spelling of NA.GAD,, for Akkadian language "nāqidu", "herdsman". The usage for NA in herdsman is only for 3 spellings.
The cuneiform ha sign comes in two common varieties in the 1350 BC Amarna letters. It is also found in the large 12-chapter (Tablets I-XII) work of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Cuneiform ha is used as a syllabic for ha, and an alphabetic for h, or a; from the Epic of Gilgamesh it also has two sumerogramic uses (capital letter (majuscule)), for HA (Akkadian language zittu, for "share"), and KU6, for nūnu, "fish".
The cuneiform bad, bat, be, etc. sign is a common multi-use sign in the mid 14th-century BC Amarna letters, and the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Epic it also has 5 sumerogram uses. From Giorgio Buccellati 'comparative graphemic analysis', of 5 categories of letters, the usage numbers of the bad sign are as follows: Old Babylonian Royal letters (71), OB non-Royal letters (392), Mari letters (2108), Amarna letters (334), Ugarit letters (39).
The cuneiform sign tu, and for TU-(the Sumerogram, capital letter, in the Hittite language and other cuneiform texts, is a common-use syllabic sign for tu, and also with a syllabic use for "t", or "u". It is not a multi-use sign, with other alphabetic sub-varieties.
The cuneiform sign ib, is a common-use sign in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Amarna letters, and other cuneiform texts. Its common usage is syllabic for ib, or alphabetic for i or b/p; the "i" is also exchanged for "e" when spelling specific words in the Akkadian language. Cuneiform ib also can be found as sumerogram URTA,, and for example it is used in the Epic of Gilgamesh for the god's name: Ninurta, spelled DNIN.URTA.
The cuneiform di sign, also de, ṭe, ṭi, and sumerograms DI and SÁ is a common-use sign of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the 1350 BC Amarna letters, and other cuneiform texts. In the Akkadian language for forming words, it can be used syllabically for: de, di, ṭe, and ṭi; also alphabetically for letters d, ṭ, e, or i. Some consonant-pairs (d/t), are also interchangeable.
The cuneiform hi/he sign,, has many uses in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh; also other texts, for example Hittite texts. It is also used to form a second usage of the plural HI.A, . The more common plural is Meš, found in sub-varieties of the sign, a vertical (left), and a horizontal, with 3 wedges, in various poisitions (right); -.
, after "left vertical").
, (mostly used for a conjunction, and numeral 10), is also substituted for the "alphabetic u".
