The cuneiform ru sign is found in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. As ru it is used for syllabic ru, and alphabetic 'r', or 'u'. In the I-XII Tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh, it has specific uses showing alternate renderings besides ru; as sign no. 068, ru, 250 times, šub, 6, šup, 3, and as Sumerogram ŠUB, 1 time. In the Amarna letters, the sign is mostly used for ru, r, and u in the spelling of various words. Notably, for "bird", Akkadian language "iṣṣūru", in Amarna letter EA 28,, titled "Messengers Detained and a Protest"; the messengers are referenced as "uncaged" birds, and "aren't they free to come and go as birds do?".
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 sign for tur is used to denote one syllabic usage, tur, or the sign's Sumerograms; it is used in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the 14th century BC Amarna letters. The sign is based on the i (cuneiform) sign, with the one small added vertical stroke.
The cuneiform qut sign, sign is found in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. It is a multi-use sign with 9 syllabic/alphabetic uses in the Epic of Gilgamesh; in the Amarna letters it is extremely common in the prostration formula, typical first paragraph of a letter, saying typically: "7 and 7 times,I bow down" ; a small group of Amarna letters are addressed to a different distinct personage in Egypt, under the Pharaoh.
The cuneiform Aš sign, is found in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Epic, it has the following meanings, besides aš:
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 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 ia sign 𒅀, is a combined sign, containing i (cuneiform) ligatured with a (cuneiform); it has the common meaning in the suffix form -ia, for the meaning of "-mine". In the Amarna letters, the letters written to the Pharaoh of Egypt, the Pharaoh is often referenced as "Lord-mine", or especially: King-Lord-mine: "My King, My Lord". In Akkadian, the form is "Šarru-Bēlu-ia"-(King-Lord-mine), since the spelling in some Amarna letters is sometimes ŠÁR-RI for Šarru,.
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 ka sign is a common, multi-use sign, a syllabic for ka, and an alphabetic sign used for k, or a; it is common in both the Epic of Gilgamesh over hundreds of years, and the 1350 BC Amarna letters. Cuneiform "ka" is nearly identical to a similar 'mid-size' to larger cuneiform sign, ša (cuneiform); because both ka, and ša have two separate specific uses, once these usage sites are identified on a specific Amarna letter, for example, the difference between the two can be followed.
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 sign URU is a relatively distinctive sign in the cuneiform sign lists; with its two verticals at the sign's right, and the central long horizontal stroke, it is not easily confused with other signs. It is commonly found in the intrigues of the 14th century BC Amarna letters since the letters often concern city-state locations, or surrounding regions or cities/towns. URU is also used in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The cuneiform sign is almost exclusively used as a Sumerogram, and in the Akkadian language, it is the Akkadian for "ālu", city, or town. The usage of URU in the Epic of Gilgamesh is only for Sumerogram "URU",. All uses in the Epic for URU are for various spellings of ālu, and usually an added sign complement; there is one usage in the Epic of URU for the city Shuruppak: URU.Šu-ri-ip-pak,.
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 bi sign, also pí, and used for other syllabic forms, as well as a sumerogram, is a common use syllabic and alphabetic cuneiform sign used in both the mid-14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Amarna letters, it is sometimes used for the spelling of the archers, 'pí-t(x)-t(x)', an often requested need from the Pharaoh in the vassal state sub-corpus of the letters.
The cuneiform sign MÁ denotes a ship or boat. It is used in Sumerian and as a Sumerogram for the Akkadian word eleppu. MÁ is usually preceded by the determinative for items made of wood, namely GIŠ: GIŠ.MÁ, or GIŠ.MÁ, .
The cuneiform sign mu, is a common-use sign of the Amarna letters, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and other cuneiform texts. It is also used as MU.
The cuneiform kur 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 "mātu", for "land", "country"; also possiblly "region". In EA 288, a letter from the Abdi-Heba, the Governor of Jerusalem, the kur sign is used eight times.
