Cuneiform Numbers and Punctuation

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

  • U+12000โ€“U+123FF Cuneiform
  • U+12400โ€“U+1247F Cuneiform Numbers and Punctuation
  • U+12480โ€“U+1254F Early Dynastic Cuneiform
Cuneiform Numbers and Punctuation
RangeU+12400..U+1247F
(128 code points)
PlaneSMP
ScriptsCuneiform
Symbol setsNumeric signs
Fractions
Punctuation
Assigned116 code points
Unused12 reserved code points
Unicode version history
5.0103 (+103)
7.0116 (+13)
Note: [1][2]

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.

Block
Cuneiform Numbers and Punctuation[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
U+1240x ๐’€ ๐’ ๐’‚ ๐’ƒ ๐’„ ๐’… ๐’† ๐’‡ ๐’ˆ ๐’‰ ๐’Š ๐’‹ ๐’Œ ๐’ ๐’Ž ๐’
U+1241x ๐’ ๐’‘ ๐’’ ๐’“ ๐’” ๐’• ๐’– ๐’— ๐’˜ ๐’™ ๐’š ๐’› ๐’œ ๐’ ๐’ž ๐’Ÿ
U+1242x ๐’  ๐’ก ๐’ข ๐’ฃ ๐’ค ๐’ฅ ๐’ฆ ๐’ง ๐’จ ๐’ฉ ๐’ช ๐’ซ ๐’ฌ ๐’ญ ๐’ฎ ๐’ฏ
U+1243x ๐’ฐ ๐’ฑ ๐’ฒ ๐’ณ ๐’ด ๐’ต ๐’ถ ๐’ท ๐’ธ ๐’น ๐’บ ๐’ป ๐’ผ ๐’ฝ ๐’พ ๐’ฟ
U+1244x ๐’‘€ ๐’‘ ๐’‘‚ ๐’‘ƒ ๐’‘„ ๐’‘… ๐’‘† ๐’‘‡ ๐’‘ˆ ๐’‘‰ ๐’‘Š ๐’‘‹ ๐’‘Œ ๐’‘ ๐’‘Ž ๐’‘
U+1245x ๐’‘ ๐’‘‘ ๐’‘’ ๐’‘“ ๐’‘” ๐’‘• ๐’‘– ๐’‘— ๐’‘˜ ๐’‘™ ๐’‘š ๐’‘› ๐’‘œ ๐’‘ ๐’‘ž ๐’‘Ÿ
U+1246x ๐’‘  ๐’‘ก ๐’‘ข ๐’‘ฃ ๐’‘ค ๐’‘ฅ ๐’‘ฆ ๐’‘ง ๐’‘จ ๐’‘ฉ ๐’‘ช ๐’‘ซ ๐’‘ฌ ๐’‘ญ ๐’‘ฎ
U+1247x ๐’‘ฐ ๐’‘ฑ ๐’‘ฒ ๐’‘ณ ๐’‘ด
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

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 "แธช", "SH" for "ล ", and switching to uppercase.

SignCode pointNameBorger
(2003)		Borger
(1981)		Comments
๐’€U+12400two Aล 00222, = U+1212C
๐’U+12401three Aล 0043, Eล 6
๐’‚U+12402four Aล 215124,424, LIMMU2, LIMM2, TAB.TAB
๐’ƒU+12403five Aล 2165, IA7, TAB.TAB.Aล 
๐’„U+12404six Aล 2176, Aล 4, TAB.TAB.TAB
๐’…U+12405seven Aล 2187, IMIN2, TAB.TAB.TAB.Aล 
๐’†U+12406eight Aล 2198, USSU2, TAB.TAB.TAB.TAB
๐’‡U+12407nine Aล 2209, ILIMMU2, TAB.TAB.TAB.TAB.Aล 
๐’ˆU+12408three DIล 834593180, Eล 5
๐’‰U+12409four DIล 851; 852; 853316240, ZA, LIMMU5, NIGIDALIMMU, = U+1235D
๐’ŠU+1240Afive DIล 861598a300, IA2
๐’‹U+1240Bsix DIล 862598b360, Aล 3
๐’ŒU+1240Cseven DIล 863598c420
๐’U+1240Deight DIล 864598d480
๐’ŽU+1240Enine DIล 540
๐’U+1240Ffour U71347440, NIMIN
๐’U+12410five U71447550, NINNU
๐’‘U+12411six U71547660
๐’’U+12412seven U71647770
๐’“U+12413eight U71747880
๐’”U+12414nine U71847990
๐’•U+12415one GEล 2
๐’–U+12416two GEล 2
๐’—U+12417three GEล 2
๐’˜U+12418four GEล 2
๐’™U+12419five GEล 2
๐’šU+1241Asix GEล 2
๐’›U+1241Bseven GEล 2
๐’œU+1241Ceight GEล 2
๐’U+1241Dnine GEล 2
๐’žU+1241Eone GEล U824534GEล 2.U; 600 or 70
๐’ŸU+1241Ftwo GEล U1200 or 80
๐’ U+12420three GEล U1800 or 90
๐’กU+12421four GEล U2400 or 100
๐’ขU+12422five GEล U3000 or 110
๐’ฃU+12423two ล AR2
๐’คU+12424three ล AR2
๐’ฅU+12425three ล AR2 variant form
๐’ฆU+12426four ล AR2
๐’งU+12427five ล AR2
๐’จU+12428six ล AR2
๐’ฉU+12429seven ล AR2
๐’ชU+1242Aeight ล AR2
๐’ซU+1242Bnine ล AR2
๐’ฌU+1242Cone ล ARU65340936,000
๐’ญU+1242Dtwo ล ARU72,000
๐’ฎU+1242Ethree ล ARU108,000
๐’ฏU+1242Fthree ล ARU variant form108,000
๐’ฐU+12430four ล ARU144,000
๐’ฑU+12431five ล ARU180,000
๐’ฒU+12432ล AR2 x GAL.DIล 651408216,000
๐’ณU+12433ล AR2 x GAL.MIN652408432,000
๐’ดU+12434one BURU662350,8U gunรป
๐’ตU+12435two BURU
๐’ถU+12436three BURU
๐’ทU+12437three BURU variant form
๐’ธU+12438four BURU
๐’นU+12439five BURU
๐’บU+1243AEล 165053, = U+1203C
๐’ปU+1243BEล 212103
๐’ผU+1243CLIMMU859; 8604, NIG2, GAR, NINDA
๐’ฝU+1243DLIMMU45064
๐’พU+1243E
๐’ฟU+1243F
๐’‘€U+12440Aล 95366, Eล 16.Eล 16
๐’‘U+12441IMIN35377, UMUN9
๐’‘‚U+12442IMIN8637
๐’‘ƒU+12443IMIN variant form8667
๐’‘„U+12444USSU8678
๐’‘…U+12445USSU35388
๐’‘†U+12446ILIMMU8689
๐’‘‡U+12447ILIMMU35399, Eล 16.Eล 16.Eล 16
๐’‘ˆU+12448ILIMMU45779
๐’‘‰U+12449DIล  / DIล  / DIล 865v9
๐’‘ŠU+1244Atwo Aล  tenรป593
๐’‘‹U+1244Bthree Aล  tenรป629
๐’‘ŒU+1244Cfour Aล  tenรป854379; 380ZA tenรป, ERIM tenรป
๐’‘U+1244Dfive Aล  tenรป
๐’‘ŽU+1244Esix Aล  tenรป
๐’‘U+1244Fone BAN2122= U+12047
๐’‘U+12450two BAN2
๐’‘‘U+12451three BAN2
๐’‘’U+12452four BAN2
๐’‘“U+12453four BAN2 variant form
๐’‘”U+12454five BAN2
๐’‘•U+12455five BAN2 variant form
๐’‘–U+12456NIGIDAMIN847, 848
๐’‘—U+12457NIGIDAEล 850
๐’‘˜U+12458one Eล E3= U+12041, U+12300
๐’‘™U+12459two Eล E3= U+12049
๐’‘šU+1245Aone third826571ล Uล ANA
๐’‘›U+1245Btwo thirds832572
๐’‘œU+1245Cfive sixths838573KINGUSILA
๐’‘U+1245Done third variant form
๐’‘žU+1245Etwo thirds variant form
๐’‘ŸU+1245Fone eighth
๐’‘ U+12460one quarter
๐’‘กU+12461Old Assyrian one sixth630Kรผltepe only
๐’‘ขU+12462Old Assyrian one quarter
๐’‘ฐU+12470Old Assyrian word divider
๐’‘ฑU+12471vertical colon592Glossenkeil
๐’‘ฒU+12472diagonal colon592Glossenkeil
๐’‘ณU+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[lower-alpha 1]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, Karljรผrgen (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, Karljรผrgen; 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, Karljรผrgen; 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, Karljรผrgen (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, Karljรผrgen; 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
  1. Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and names

See also

References
  1. "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  2. "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  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
  • Akkadian (reproduces the Sumerian (3rd millennium BC) glyphs given in the Unicode (reference chart), by George Douros.
  • (in German) FreeIdgSerif (branched off FreeSerif), encodes some 390 Old Assyrian (2nd millennium BC) glyphs used in Hittite cuneiform.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.