For a list of all numerals encoded in Unicode, see Numerals in Unicode.
Cuneiform Numbers and Punctuation
BlocknameCuneiform Numbers and Punctuation
Rangestart12400
Rangeend1247F
Script 1Cuneiform
5 0103
7 013
Note[1][2]

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

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.

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.

SignCode pointNameBorger
(2003)		Borger
(1981)		Comments
U+12038one AŠ001 1, from general Cuneiform (Unicode block) not this block
U+12400two AŠ00222, = U+1212C
U+12401three AŠ0043, EŠ6
U+12402four AŠ215124,424, LIMMU2, LIMM2, TAB.TAB
U+12403five AŠ2165, IA7, TAB.TAB.AŠ
U+12404six AŠ2176, AŠ4, TAB.TAB.TAB
U+12405seven AŠ2187, IMIN2, TAB.TAB.TAB.AŠ
U+12406eight AŠ2198, USSU2, TAB.TAB.TAB.TAB
U+12407nine AŠ2209, ILIMMU2, TAB.TAB.TAB.TAB.AŠ
U+12408three DIŠ8345933, 180, EŠ5
U+12409four DIŠ851; 852; 8533164, 240, ZA, LIMMU5, NIGIDALIMMU, = U+1235D
U+1240Afive DIŠ861598a5, 300, IA2
U+1240Bsix DIŠ862598b6, 360, AŠ3
U+1240Cseven DIŠ863598c7, 420
U+1240Deight DIŠ864598d8, 480
U+1240Enine DIŠ9, 540
U+1240Ffour U71347440, NIMIN
U+12410five U71447550, NINNU
U+12411six U71547660
U+12412seven U71647770
U+12413eight U71747880
U+12414nine U71847990
U+12415one GEŠ2
U+12416two GEŠ2
U+12417three GEŠ2
U+12418four GEŠ2
U+12419five GEŠ2
U+1241Asix GEŠ2
U+1241Bseven GEŠ2
U+1241Ceight GEŠ2
U+1241Dnine GEŠ2
U+1241Eone GEŠU824534GEŠ2.U; 600 or 70
U+1241Ftwo GEŠU1200 or 80
U+12420three GEŠU1800 or 90
U+12421four GEŠU2400 or 100
U+12422five GEŠU3000 or 110
U+12423two ŠAR2
U+12424three ŠAR2
U+12425three ŠAR2 variant form
U+12426four ŠAR2
U+12427five ŠAR2
U+12428six ŠAR2
U+12429seven ŠAR2
U+1242Aeight ŠAR2
U+1242Bnine ŠAR2
U+1242Cone ŠARU65340936,000
U+1242Dtwo ŠARU72,000
U+1242Ethree ŠARU108,000
U+1242Fthree ŠARU variant form108,000
U+12430four ŠARU144,000
U+12431five ŠARU180,000
U+12432ŠAR2 x GAL.DIŠ651408216,000
U+12433ŠAR2 x GAL.MIN652408432,000
U+12434one BURU662350,8U gunû
U+12435two BURU
U+12436three BURU
U+12437three BURU variant form
U+12438four BURU
U+12439five BURU
U+1243AEŠ165053, = U+1203C
U+1243BEŠ212103
U+1243CLIMMU859; 8604, NIG2, GAR, NINDA
U+1243DLIMMU45064
U+1243E
U+1243F
U+12440AŠ95366, EŠ16.EŠ16
U+12441IMIN35377, UMUN9
U+12442IMIN8637
U+12443IMIN variant form8667
U+12444USSU8678
U+12445USSU35388
U+12446ILIMMU8689
U+12447ILIMMU35399, EŠ16.EŠ16.EŠ16
U+12448ILIMMU45779
U+12449DIŠ / DIŠ / DIŠ865v9
U+1244Atwo AŠ tenû593
U+1244Bthree AŠ tenû629
U+1244Cfour AŠ tenû854379; 380ZA tenû, ERIM tenû
U+1244Dfive AŠ tenû
U+1244Esix AŠ tenû
U+1244Fone BAN2122= U+12047
U+12450two BAN2
U+12451three BAN2
U+12452four BAN2
U+12453four BAN2 variant form
U+12454five BAN2
U+12455five BAN2 variant form
U+12456NIGIDAMIN847, 848
U+12457NIGIDAEŠ850
U+12458one EŠE3= U+12041, U+12300
U+12459two EŠE3= U+12049
U+1245Aone third826571ŠUŠANA
U+1245Btwo thirds832572
U+1245Cfive sixths838573KINGUSILA
U+1245Done third variant form
U+1245Etwo thirds variant form
U+1245Fone eighth
U+12460one quarter
U+12461Old Assyrian one sixth630Kültepe only
U+12462Old Assyrian one quarter
U+12470Old Assyrian word divider
U+12471vertical colon592Glossenkeil
U+12472diagonal colon592Glossenkeil
U+12473diagonal tricolon

History

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

VersionFinal code points[a]CountL2 IDWG2 IDDocument
5.0U+12400..12462, 12470..12473103L2/00-128Bunz, Carl-Martin (2000-03-01), "Scripts from the Past in Future Versions of Unicode"
L2/00-153Bunz, Carl-Martin (2000-04-26), "Further comments on historic scripts"
L2/00-398Snyder, Dean (2000-11-07), "Cuneiform: From Clay Tablet to Computer"
L2/00-419N2297Everson, Michael (2000-11-20), "Legacy cuneiform font implementations and the ICE project"
L2/03-162N2585Everson, Michael & Feuerherm, Karljürgen (2003-05-25), "Basic principles for the encoding of Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform"
L2/03-415Snyder, Dean (2003-11-01), "Proposal to Encode the Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform Script in the UCS"
L2/03-393RN2664REverson, Michael; Feuerherm, Karljürgen; Tinney, Steve (2003-11-03), "Preliminary proposal to encode Cuneiform script in the SMP of the UCS"
L2/03-416Anderson, Lloyd (2003-11-03), "The Cuneiform Encoding Proposal -- a View of its Current Status"
L2/04-080Tinney, Steve (2004-01-24), "Rationale for changes to N2664R"
L2/04-036N2698Everson, Michael; Feuerherm, Karljürgen; Tinney, Steve (2004-01-29), "Revised proposal to encode Cuneiform script in the SMP of the UCS"
L2/04-041Anderson, Lloyd (2004-01-29), "Fitting Cuneiform Encoding to Cuneiform Script"
L2/04-059Feuerherm, Karljürgen (2004-01-30), "Short Response to L2/04-041 "Fitting Cuneiform Encoding to Cuneiform Script""
L2/04-063Gewecke, Tom (2004-01-30), "Re: Cuneiform at UTC"
L2/04-056Veldhuis, Niek (2004-01-31), "Letter re "Cuneiform Unicode""
L2/04-057Jones, Charles E. (2004-02-01), "Letter re "Cuneiform""
L2/04-058Michalowski, Piotr (2004-02-01), "Letter re "cuneiform unicode""
L2/04-064Cooper, Jerry (2004-02-01), "Letter re "unicode proposal""
L2/04-066Durusau, Patrick (2004-02-02), "Letter re "Proposal N2698""
L2/04-081Black, Jeremy (2004-02-02), "Letter re "cuneiform Unicode proposal""
L2/04-086Anderson, Lloyd (2004-02-03), "Notes for verbal presentation to UTC meeting, 3 February 2004"
L2/04-099Anderson, Lloyd (2004-02-09), "Unification of cuneiform numbers"
L2/04-225Anderson, Lloyd (2004-06-07), "Proposed modifications to introductory text of N2798 = L204-189 Proposal for Cuneiform Encoding"
L2/04-189N2786Everson, Michael; Feuerherm, Karljürgen; Tinney, Steve (2004-06-08), "Final proposal to encode Cuneiform script"
L2/04-223RAnderson, Lloyd (2004-06-11), "Proposed modifications to delete and add signs to N2798 = L204-189 Proposal for Cuneiform Encoding"
L2/04-354McGowan, Rick (2004-09-20), "Cuneiform Properties"
L2/05-135Tinney, Steve (2005-05-10), "Corrections to N2786"
L2/05-174Everson, Michael (2005-07-28), "Irish comments on Cuneiform"
L2/05-108RMoore, Lisa (2005-08-26), "Cuneiform (C.17)", "UTC #103 Minutes"
N2953 (pdf, doc)Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2006-02-16), "M47.12", "Unconfirmed minutes of WG 2 meeting 47, Sophia Antipolis, France; 2005-09-12/15"
L2/12-112Moore, Lisa (2012-05-17), "Consensus 131-C30", "UTC #131 / L2 #228 Minutes" Change the numeric values for 1240F..12414 to 40..90, for Unicode 6.2.
L2/12-240Davis, Mark (2012-07-20), "Property Issues for U6.2"
L2/12-239Moore, Lisa (2012-08-14), "Consensus 132-C19", "UTC #132 Minutes" Give U+12432 and U+12433 the numeric type "numeric" and the numeric values 216,000, and 432,000 respectively. Make U+12456 and 12457 have the numeric type "numeric" and value "-1".
L2/12-328Anderson, Deborah (2012-10-16), "Numeric value fixes for two cuneiform characters"
L2/12-343R2Moore, Lisa (2012-12-04), "Consensus 133-C30", "UTC #133 Minutes" Change the numeric value of U+12456 to 2 and U+12457 to 3, for Unicode 6.3.
7.0U+12463..1246E, 1247413L2/12-002N4178REverson, Michael & Tinney, Steve (2012-01-16), "Proposal for additions and corrections to Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform"
L2/12-207RN4277REverson, Michael & Tinney, Steve (2012-07-31), "Proposal for additions and corrections to Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform"
L2/12-239Moore, Lisa (2012-08-14), "C.3", "UTC #132 Minutes"

See also

References

  1. ^ "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  2. ^ "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  3. ^ Cuneiform Unicode.org chart (PDF)
  4. ^ Unicode cuneiform
  5. ^ (after Anderson's sign list Archived 2010-04-08 at the Wayback Machine)

Font packages

  1. ^ final