(PDF) Translation Of The Ur-Nammu Law Code Based On Mapping Of ...

Log InSign Up

• Log In
• Sign Up
• more
• • About
  • Press
  • Papers
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • We're Hiring!
  • Help Center
  • less

Outline

keyboard_arrow_downTitleAbstractKey TakeawaysFAQsAll TopicsLanguages and LinguisticsNear Eastern Languages and Societiesdownload

Download Free PDF

Download Free PDFTranslation of the Ur-Nammu Law Code based on Mapping of Sumerian Signs onto Chinese CharactersXi F Xuhttps://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.19880.42248visibility

…

description

15 pages

descriptionSee full PDFdownloadDownload PDF bookmarkSave to LibraryshareShareclose

Sign up for access to the world's latest research

Sign up for freearrow_forwardcheckGet notified about relevant paperscheckSave papers to use in your researchcheckJoin the discussion with peerscheckTrack your impact

Abstract

The origin of Chinese writing has been remaining unsettled with many Chinese characters etymologically puzzling. This author has mapped about 1,300 Sumerian signs or compounds onto their corresponding Chinese characters. In this article, the Ur-Nammu law code is chosen as an example to show how the mappings are made and how the results can improve our understanding of Sumerian language and in a bigger picture the status quo of Sumerology.

... Read more

Key takeaways

AI

1. The article maps approximately 1,300 Sumerian signs to Chinese characters, enhancing Sumerology.
2. The Ur-Nammu Law Code demonstrates legal principles through its translations and comparisons to Chinese law.
3. Translation reveals nuanced meanings of terms like 'marriage' and 'divorce' in both cultures.
4. Key legal penalties include five shekels for seduction and sixty shekels for divorce.
5. The analysis highlights cultural differences in marital laws and societal norms between Sumer and ancient China.

Related papers

The Literary Sumerian of Old Babylonian Ur: UET 6/1 in Transliteration and Translation with Select Commentary (Cuneiform Digital Library Preprints 15)Jeremiah PetersondownloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightPopular character forms (suzi) and semantic compound (huiyi) characters in medieval Chinese manuscriptsImre Galambos

Traditional Chinese scholarship saw orthographic structure in terms of the system of liùshū, explained as six principles of character formation. Of these, modern palaeographers have repeatedly called into question the category of semantic compounds (hùiyì), challenging its historical role in the development of the script. At the same time, while in general such misgivings may be well founded with regard to the formative stage of Chinese writing, it is also apparent that for people in medieval China the hùiyì principle was a perfectly viable way of understanding the orthography of existing characters and creating alternate forms. This is corroborated by numerous non-standard variants recorded in traditional dictionaries or some of the popular character forms (súzì) in the Dūnhuáng manuscripts. Many of these variant forms represent hùiyì-type combinations of two or more semantic components, and these are often folk-etymological rationalizations of the xíngshēng composition of standard characters, especially when the standard structure has lost its transparency. The aim of this paper is to look at medieval orthography synchronically and demonstrate that hùiyì forms were by no means uncommon among the non-standard forms of the manuscript tradition. In sum, hùiyì forms were an inherent feature of the writing system during this period, even if they are largely absent from standard orthography.

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightThe Role of Ancient Written Signs in the Preservation and Development of the Chinese Language. Features of the Study and Analysis of Intricately Located Hieroglyphic Inscriptions JiaguwenAleksandr Egorov

2021

The article raises the question of the role and significance of ancient Chinese writing for the preservation and development of the Chinese language, the study of which is impossible without analyzing the monuments of writing and culture of China-Jiaguwen (writing on turtle shells and animal bones, XIV-XI centuries BC). The article raises the question of the need to search for new auxiliary research methods for such valuable and significant written monuments. The authors proposed and considered a statistical method for studying signs (keys / hieroglyphs) on turtle shells, thanks to which the possibility of a sufficiently accurate determination of the surface of the shell by digital photometry data was demonstrated. Thanks to this method, the number of characters (ancient keys / hieroglyphs) was determined in a number of complex areas. This method could be additional, primarily for visual research by specialists in various fields of science. The research of the ancient written language plays a vital role in understanding human history and enriching human civilization.

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightGRAPHIC MODULATION IN THE ANCIENT CHINESE WRITING SYSTEM 1Chrystelle Maréchal

Journal of Chinese Linguistics 34.1, p. 25-43, 2006., 2006

This paper studies a particular formational process in the ancient Chinese writing system known as bianti 變體 ‘graphic modulation’, by means of which cognate characters (not cognate words) are created. Graphic pairs such as zuo 左 ‘left’ – you 右 ‘right’, and shang 上 ‘above’ – xia 下 ‘below’ in their ancient forms are classical examples of this kind of graphical branching (through a reversing process). In the case of ji 即 ‘immediate’ (tone 2) and ji 既 ‘already’ (tone 4), a similar mechanism is found in their graphic formation. However, in most cases, these graphic pairs are not phonologically cognate terms. The approach in this paper is mainly inspired by Klima – Bellugi (l979) and Yau (1987, 1990), who have both observed modulation processes in the lexical branching of deaf people’s sign languages which have essential features in common with Chinese characters in their ancient forms. The two media are visual, gestural and often iconic. By drawing a parallel between this graphic phenomenon in Chinese and observations made by specialists in other linguistic areas, a case has been made for the modulation mechanism as a universal device for lexical creation on the representation level. https://www.jclhk.com.hk/jcl-2001-2010/jcl2006/

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightSome Variant Characters in a Traditional Zhuang Manuscript: A New Angle on the Chinese ScriptDavid Holm

Bulletin Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 2006

My concern in this paper is with the variant characters (yitizi 異體字) and vernacular characters (tusuzi 土俗字) found in Zhuang manuscripts. It can be demonstrated that most of the variant characters have direct antecedents elsewhere in China, often dating back to Tang times or even earlier. My argument here turns out to have a wider dimension, which has to do with the nature of the Chinese character script of which the Zhuang script was a part. On the one hand, the Chinese script is a unified script, standardised by government decree first during the Qin and then by subsequent dynasties; one in which, for the most part, one morpheme has a standardised graphic representation throughout the empire, north and south. On the other hand-and this is my point here-such is the graphic nature of the script itself and the inheritance from the pre-Qin classical past that this strong tendency toward government-imposed orthography coexisted in creative tension with centripetal tendencies leading to the retention and recreation of graphic variation, right up to the present. In fact, when viewed from another angle, it can be shown that even the forced imposition of orthography by the Qin did not succeed in imposing total uniformity of the script, and that precursors of many variant graphs found in later centuries can also be found in pre-Qin documents. Both variant characters and vernacular characters are terms used in contradistinction to orthodox characters (or "correct characters," zhengzi 正字). It is commonly said, and oft repeated, that the Chinese script has been unified since the time of the First Emperor of Qin, who instigated a policy of "unifying the script" (shu tong wenzi 書同文字). Successive Chinese imperial administrations, particularly powerful and energetic administrations like the Tang that have come after periods of political disunity, have sought to re-establish a unified and orthodox script that could be used for communication within the imperial bureaucracy and was also orthodox in the sense that it was based on the script in which the ancient classics of the Confucian canon were written. Broadly speaking, variant characters (yitizi) were variants of character graphs found in the Confucian classics as the text of these had been transmitted. 2 "Vernacular characters" (tusuzi), by contrast, was the term for variant characters that were unofficial and were widely used among literate people and scribes, either for everyday use or for unofficial purposes. Both yitizi and tusuzi represented the same morphemes and were pronounced in the same way as zhengzi. Historically, graphic variants tended to proliferate in times of political disunity. Which characters were defined as orthodox and which were defined as vernacular or variant was something that varied from dynasty to dynasty, and sometimes from reign to reign. In many cases, characters which were adjudged to be vernacular characters in one dynasty were later accepted as variant or orthodox characters. Graphic variation in the use of the Chinese script has always attracted official disapproval, when it has not simply been ignored. Even now, variation is seen as a sign of disunity, and hence as a potential threat to national-level communication and national unity.

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightA Full Inspection on Chinese Characters Used in the Secrete History of the MongolsDi Jiang

The Secrete History of the Mongols (SHM) is a special Mongolian historical document transliterated with Chinese characters as phonetic symbols, which feature causes many multivariate analyses in later ages. The discussion of this paper mainly focuses on the data of used Chinese characters, the frequencies, and the rules of transliteration on SHM. All the statistic data and the analysis are based on the electronic text of SHM, which provides those important data in an allround way, including the whole Chinese-transliterated characters, aligned Chinese glosses by the side of Chinese-transliterated characters, and Chinese translational paragraphs. Furthermore, four types of Chinese characters as phonetic symbols and their statistic information have been discussed, which are type C, xC, Cy, and xCy as in the main body of the text: ᅝ, Ё ᬅ, ┃ࢦ, and ა ‫.څ̣‬ Shortly, this statistics is so far the most completed inspection on the text of the Secrete History of the Mongols.

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightA Dictionary of the Sumerian Royal Inscriptions of the 3rd Millennium BCAnna Krisztina Pintér, Gábor Zólyomi

Research plan of the project that will run between 2020.10.01 and 2023.09.30, funded by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA).

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightBetween the Sumerians, Egyptians, Mayans and Ancient Japanese – deciphering the IK glyphMatthias Ifejika

The T-shaped Mayan glyph inscribed on a drum as shown below has received several interpretations from scholars of repute although its exact interpretation can be found not only in the Mayan language but also the Sumerian and Japanese languages. As indicated in the Wise Men From the East – Tracing the Origin of Sumerians and their civilisation, Sumerian is Igbo language continuum and in this write-up is about deciphering this glyph and explaining its meaning in diverse contexts.

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightGrammatology and digital technologies. Different applications of the concept of ‘character’ in unicode and other non-technical problems about ancient scriptsAlfredo Rizza

Natalia Bolatti-Guzzo / Silvia Festuccia / Massimiliano Marazzi (ed.), Centro Mediterraneo preclassico: Studi e Ricerche III. Studi vari di egeistica, anatolisticae del mondo mediterraneo, pp. 225-251., 2012

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightSumerian Literature (in From an Antique Land: An Introduction to Ancient Near Eastern Literature, 2009)Gonzalo RubiodownloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightSee full PDFdownloadDownload PDF

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

FAQs

AI

What does tukum reveal about legal implications in Sumerian society?add

The analysis indicates that tukum signifies conditional actions, such as seduction leading to capital punishment, underscoring strict marital fidelity laws.

How does the mapping to Chinese characters clarify Sumerian terms?add

The research demonstrates that terms like tukum are accurately represented through Chinese equivalents such as 苟, enhancing understanding of ancient legal language.

What are the consequences of seduction according to this law code?add

The code stipulates death for a man seducing a betrothed woman, reflecting the severe societal norms governing sexual conduct.

How is responsibility assigned in cases of adultery?add

The findings state that if a woman commits adultery and is killed, the killer is exempt from punishment, showcasing gender biases in legal accountability.

What economic penalties exist for marital disputes or neglect?add

The code imposes specific fines, such as sixty shekels for divorcing a wife, reflecting the intertwined nature of marriage and economic transactions.

Xi F XuaddFollowmailMessage

An independent researcher on history

Papers21Followers57View all papers from Xi F Xuarrow_forward

Related papers

Translating Sumerian Symbols into French Lettersarwahamid78 اروى حامد صالحdownloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_right2024_Selz-Zhang Classification in Sumerian Cuneiform Journal of Chinese Writing SystemGebhard J . Selz

Journal of Chinese Writing Systems, 2024

Writing surfaced in ancient Mesopotamia shortly after the middle of the 4th millennium BCE. Its evolution from earlier symbolic systems-accounting devices and visual representations-is generally accepted. The various stages are well documented: sealed number tablets and spherical clay balls bearing numbers and seal-impressions are understood as devices developed in order to ease accounting and controlling the movement of goods. An important role in this development was played by the 'token system', a term that refers to small clay pieces of different shapes that are mostly abstract and therefore based on arbitrary semantics, but also include a considerable number resembling or representing objects from the natural environment (

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightCuneiform Digital Library Preprints Title: " Introduction to Sumerian Grammar "Petar StanisicdownloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightThe Structure of the Chinese Characters (III)Ana Maria BASARABĂ

Transilvania, 2018

The present article is a section from a larger study entitled The History and Culture of the Chinese Characters and serves as a continuation to my second article named The Evolution of Chinese Characters (II). The article aims to provide the reader with a short background on the methods used in order to create the Chinese Characters. I will mainly refer to the Ancient Characters, thus leaving the Current Characters for another detailed explanation. The foundation of the article lays on the contribution or Xu Shen brought to the development of the characters. Keywords: Ancient Characters, Xu Shen, “The Six Methods”, Single-Component Characters, Composed Characters

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightThe Sumerian Writing System and the Question of its Origin.docxDavid KrouwerdownloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightThe Literary Sumerian of Old Babylonian Ur: UET 6/2 in Transliteration and Translation with Select Commentary (Cuneiform Digital Library Preprints Title 16)Jeremiah Peterson

UET 6, 124 = U 16900E CDLI P346209 Lamentation over Sumer and Ur 1f., Michalowski MC 1, source BB, Attinger La lamentation sur Sumer et Ur (2.2.3) obverse 1. ud šu bal ke3 -de3 [...]-lam? -e-de3 In order to overturn the day, in order to destroy the plans 2. ud -de3 mar-rux(TE)-gin7 [...] x-gu7-e The storm ravages like a stormwind 3. me ki -en-gi-ra šu bal ke3-de3 In order to overturn the cosmic powers of Sumer 4. bal sag9-ga e2 -ba gi4-gi4-de3 In order to confine the good reign in its house 5. iri gul -gul-u3-de3 e2 gul-gul-u3-de3 In order to destroy the city, in order to destroy the temple 6. tur3 gul-gul-u3-de3 amaš tab-tab-be2-de3 In order to destroy the cattlepen, in order to flatten the sheepfold 7. gud-bi tur3-bi-a nu-gub-bu-de3 So that the ox does not does not stand in its cattlepen 8. udu-bi amaš-bi-a nu-daĝal-e-de3 So that the sheep does not expand (in number?) in its sheepfold 9. id2-bi a mun4-na tum3-u3-de3 So that the canal irrigates with (only) brackish water 10. gan2-ne2 zid-de3 u2 hirim mu2-mu2-de3 So that hirin grass grows in the fertile field 11. eden-e u2 a-nir mu2-mu2-de3 So that the "lamentation plant" grows in the plain 12. ama dumu-ni-ir ki nu-kiĝx-kiĝx(UR4-UR4)-de3 So that the mother does not seek the whereabouts of her child 13. ad-da a dam-ĝu10 nu-di-de3 So that the father does not say "ah, my wife" 14. dam banda3 ur2-ra nu-hul2-le-de3 So that the junior spouse does not delight in (his) lap 15. TUR-TUR dub3-ba nu-buluĝ3-ĝe26-e-de3 So that the little ones do not grow on the knee 16. emeda da -e u5-a nu-di-de3 So that the nursemaid does not sign a lullaby 17. nam-lugal-la ki -tuš-bi kur2 -ru-de3 So that the dwelling of kingship is changed 18. eš-bar kiĝx(UR4)-ĝa2 [...]-e-de3 In order to paralyze/actively diminish(?) decision making note: For the debated meaning of eš-bar kiĝ₂ (... dug₄), see Attinger ELS, 508, Steinkeller RAI 60, 8-9.

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_right2021_ THE PUZZLING LOGOGRAM: WRITING AND REASONING IN EARLY MESOPOTAMIAGebhard J . Selz, Karenleigh A Overmann

Signs - Sounds - Semantics, 2021

The widely accepted typology of writing systems designates the historically dominant type of the cuneiform scripts as “logo-syllabic,” especially the Sumerian writing. Within this typology, the logogram,” is perceived as referring to one (or sometimes more) word(s). However, as is well known, many “logograms” represented by simple or complex (compounded) signs—sometimes also by sign combinations—have a variety of different readings and therefore strictly speaking trespass on the limits of a simple “logographic” system. In contrast perhaps to the earlier Chinese systems1, it is very likely that in Mesopotamia, the earlier (Uruk IV–Uruk III) signs are hesitatingly and rarely phonetized.

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightChinese origin of proto cuneiform characters on "Blau Monuments"Thomas Tao

2023

This paper constitutes the study of the Sumerian inscription found on the obelisk of "Blau Monuments" 5,000 years of age. As a part of research undertaken on the Sumerians and ancient Chinese, the study indicates that those Sumerian proto-cuneiform characters are archaic Chinese. Now inscription on the obelisk is fully deciphered, translated, interpreted, and presented in detail in their native Chinese and highlighted in English as well. The study is based on Sumerian and ancient Chinese texts, the genealogy of Oracle Bone Scripts (1,200 BC), and the genealogy of cuneiform as well. The title of the Sumerian obelisk is revealed as "Spring Mansion". Its content appears to be a royal document of its two highest-ranking officers, the Queen, and a senior administrator. "Spring Mansion", the royal ministry of Ritual and Worship, is one of six administrative ministries of royal courts in ancient China.

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightYet Another Suggestion about the Origins of the Sumerian LanguageEvangelos C Papakitsos

International Journal of Linguistics, 2013

The Sumerian language still keeps the prestigious position of being the first ever written language. In this paper there are some presented linguistic data and examples, suggesting that the Sumerian is not a language isolate, as it is regarded so far, but that it may be classified as an r-Altaic language of the Bolgar branch. A proposed methodology for deducing such an inference is also presented, along with the outcomes of its application in the form of thirty-nine phonological rules.

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightThe Chinese Script in the Chinese Scriptworld: Chinese Characters in Native and Borrowed TraditionsEdward McDonald

The exclusivist ideology characterizing the Chinese writing system as " ideographs " was constructed in the West, and later reimported into China where it influenced popular and nationalistic understandings of the characters. For the West, the Chinese script held out the promise, embraced particularly eagerly by the literary and artistic worlds, of a visual language not complicated by questions of sound, and thus by the arbitrary impositions of individual languages (Bush). For China, the Chinese script came to function as one of the key cultural characteristics marking the Chinese off from the rest of the world (Shen). This paper will attempt to provide some conceptual groundwork for understanding these complex and overlapping discourses, and set out the fundamental graphological basis through which the differing functions of Chinese characters in both the historical and the contemporary Chinese Scriptworld (Handel) can be understood. Keywords Chinese characters – ideograph – graphological – linguistic sign Orientation Cultural evolution is multi-dimensional and unpredictable. Cultural practices, like material objects, can be passed on from culture to culture and take on completely new meanings in new contexts. The modern academy tends to val-orize this process as one of " hybridity " , but whether this should be celebrated as a good in itself, or to what extent the competing pull of native and borrowing cultures should be acknowledged, is perhaps still problematic. The script

downloadDownload free PDFView PDFchevron_rightkeyboard_arrow_downView more papers

Related topics

Sumerian LanguageaddFollow

• Explore
• Papers
• Topics

• Features
• Mentions
• Analytics
• PDF Packages
• Advanced Search
• Search Alerts

• Journals
• Academia.edu Journals
• My submissions
• Reviewer Hub
• Why publish with us
• Testimonials

• Company
• About
• Careers
• Press
• Help Center
• Terms
• Privacy
• Copyright
• Content Policy

580 California St., Suite 400San Francisco, CA, 94104© 2026 Academia. All rights reserved