The cuneiform sign za is a common use sign in the Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. It is used syllabically for á¹£a, za, and ZA (ZA as parts of personal names, places, or common words, etc.), and alphabetically for "á¹£" (s), "z", or "a". (All the 4 vowels, a, e, i, o are interchangeable.)
In the 14th century BC Amarna letters, "za" is used in the spelling of the word for "mayor" (city, city-state administrator), Akkadian hazannu. For example, in EA 144 (from Zimreddi of Sidon), obverse, line 5: "man-hazzanu", <sup>Lú</sup>-Ha-za-nu. Za has a fairly high usage in the vassal states sub-corpus of the Amarna letters.
Epic of Gilgamesh use
For the Epic of Gilgamesh, the following usage is found in Tablets I-XII: á¹£a-(79 times); za-(32); ZA-(15 times).
Symbol
âÂÂCuneiform sign ZA
- Borger (2003): 851
- Borger (1981):
- HZL: 366
phonetic values:
- Sumerian: ZA
- Akkadian: za, sà, ṣa
- Hittite:
References
- 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, )
- 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. 119âÂÂ145), 165 pages.
- Rainey, 1970. El Amarna Tablets, 359-379, Anson F. Rainey, (AOAT 8, Alter Orient Altes Testament 8)