Tu (cuneiform)

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The cuneiform sign tu, and for TU-(the Sumerogram, capital letter (majuscule), 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 Sumerian-language version is similar to the usage in the Amarna letters, with the three horizontal strokes connecting the four angled wedges on the left, and connected to the vertical horizontal single stroke, at right. Varieties exist: for example, Amarna letter EA 271 shows four horizontal long strokes, with two short strokes, between the two long ones, (see here, 2nd line from bottom (tablet Obverse): [1].

The Hittite language version of tu, (and ideogram TU) is identical in common form to the Sumerian.^[1]

The composition of the sign is effectively the four-wedge strokes at left, (being še (cuneiform)) connected to the rest of the cuneiform sign. Cuneiform še is also a common-use syllabic sign, with few subvarieties. (Two example angled wedges: ).

• 
  Cuneiform tu, 3rd row, 2nd cuneiform sign.

For the Epic of Gilgamesh, the following usage is found in Tablets I-XII: tu (193), tú (2), and TU (9) times.^[2] TU is used for the name of the king of Shuruppak (father of Utnapishtim), Ubara-Tutu, and it is spelled: ^mUBARA-^dTU.TU.^[3]

Two other uses of TU^[4] in the Epic are as follows: TU is also the Akkadian language verb, erēbu, for English language 'to enter', 'to set', used in Tablet III and VII. For the Sumerogram TU.MUŠEN, for Akkadian summu, the English 'dove', it is used twice in the Gilgamesh flood myth, Tablet XI.

• Held, Schmalstieg, Gertz, 1987. Beginning Hittite. Warren H. Held, Jr, William R. Schmalstieg, Janet E. Gertz, c. 1987, Slavica Publishers, Inc. w/ Glossaries, Sign List, Indexes, etc., 218 pages.
• Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. 393 pages.(softcover, ISBN 0-8018-6715-0)
• Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Parpola, Simo, Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, c 1997, Tablet I through Tablet XII, Index of Names, Sign List, and Glossary-(pp. 119–145), 165 pages.
• EA 271 Obverse, "tu", 2nd row from bottom
• Held, Schmalstieg, Gertz, 1987. Beginning Hittite. Warren H. Held, Jr, William R. Schmalstieg, Janet E. Gertz, c. 1987, Slavica Publishers, Inc. w/ Glossaries, Sign List, Indexes, etc, 218 pages.
• Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. 393 pages.(softcover, ISBN 0-8018-6715-0)
• Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. The Amarna Letters. EA 147, A Hymn to the Pharaoh, pp. 233-235.
• Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Parpola, Simo, Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, c 1997, Tablet I through Tablet XII, Index of Names, Sign List, and Glossary-(pp. 119–145), 165 pages.
• Rainey, 1970. El Amarna Tablets, 359-379, Anson F. Rainey, (AOAT 8, Alter Orient Altes Testament 8, Kevelaer and Neukirchen -Vluyen), 1970, 107 pages.
• Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Sign List, pp. 155-165, no. 068, p. 156.
• Rainey, 1970. El Amarna Tablets, 359-379, Glossary:Vocabulary, pp. 55-87, p. 24.
• Rainey, 1970. El Amarna Tablets, 359-379, EA 365, Biridiya of Megiddo to the King, pp. 24-27.
• Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Glossary, pp. 119-145, aššum, p. 122.
• Rainey, 1970. El Amarna Tablets, 359-379, Glossary:Vocabulary, saparu, pp. 55-87, p. 81.
• Buccellatti, Giorgio, (Ugarit-Forschungen 11, 1979). Comparative Graphemic Analysis of Old Babylonian and Western Akkadian, pp. 95-100.
• Ugarit Forschungen (Neukirchen-Vluyn). UF-11 (1979) honors Claude Schaeffer, with about 100 articles in 900 pages. pp 95, ff, "Comparative Graphemic Analysis of Old Babylonian and Western Akkadian", ( i.e. Ugarit and Amarna (letters), three others, Mari, OB,Royal, OB,non-Royal letters). See above, in text.
• Buccellatti, Giorgio. Comparative Graphemic Analysis of Old Babylonian and Western Akkadian, from Ugarit-Forschungen 8, (Neukirchen-Vluyen).
• Rainey, 1970. El Amarna Tablets, 359-379, Anson F. Rainey, (AOAT 8, Alter Orient Altes Testament 8, Kevelaer and Neukirchen -Vluyen), 1970, 107 pages.
• Held, Schmalstieg, Gertz, 1987. Beginning Hittite, Sign List, page 194, page 200.
• Rainey, 1970. El Amarna Tablets, 359-379, Anson F. Rainey, (AOAT 8, Alter Orient Altes Testament 8, Kevelaer and Neukirchen -Vluyen), 1970, 107 pages.
• Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. 393 pages.(softcover, ISBN 0-8018-6715-0))
• Rainey, 1970. El Amarna Tablets, 359-379, EA 365, Biridiya of Megiddo to the King, pp. 24-27.