Wiktionary:About Sumerian

Cuneiform

 * Sumerian entries are always created in cuneiform script.
 * The best practice is to copy/paste it from the ePSD2 site.
 * To type cuneiform signs when you know their transliteration you can use one of the following online editors:
 * Qantuppi 𒄀𒁾
 * Cuneify
 * Akkadian Keyboard - Advanced
 * Cuneiform IME for macOS
 * We use the template right under   to link the individual signs in the term. See:
 * In individual cuneiform entries (like, , etc.) we add the template under the   section (right before  ).

Transliteration

 * We use the parameter tr in the, , , etc. templates to give the transliteration of Sumerian cuneiform signs.
 * We transliterate each cuneiform sign in lowercase, separated by a dash (-). See for example.
 * If more than one transliteration is possible for a sign, we can enter more then one by separating them with a comma (,). See for example.
 * For indexing we use subscripts numbers (₀ ₁ ₂ ₃ ₄ ₅ ₆ ₇ ₈ ₉). You can find them at the bottom of the edit window if you choose Akkadian and Sumerian from the drop-down menu on the left.
 * We use the same transliteration system used by ePSD2, with the only exception of the sound, that we transliterate as g̃. You can insert this letter by choosing Akkadian and Sumerian from the drop-down menu on the bottom left of the editing window and clicking on "g̃" (or "G̃" if you need it capitalised). This is done to keep consistency with older transliteration/Akkadian sumerograms that might only have a g where more recent reconstructions have g̃, and facilitate their searching. The character ⟨ŋ⟩ used in some publications doesn't have the same flexibility.
 * Determinatives will use the template . See for example.

Normalisation

 * We use the parameter ts in the, , , etc. templates to give the normalisation of a Sumerian word. A word's normalisation is the reconstructed "pronunciation" of a Sumerian word and correspond to the spelling of entries on ePSD2. See for example 𒀀𒀊𒁀 a'abak.
 * When a word's transliteration is identical to its normalisation, we will only use the transliteration parameter (tr. See for example.
 * When a word's transliteration is not identical to its normalisation, we will always indicate its normalisation, even if the only difference is the lack of an index. See for example.
 * Proper nouns are capitalised. See for example.
 * To separate two vowels belonging to different elements of a compound, we use the straight apostrophe ( ' ). See for example.
 * We indicate vowel contraction with a circumflex (similarly to how it is done in normalizing Akkadian lemmas). See for example.
 * Enclitic particles (case endings, possessives, etc) and verbal elements are written attached to the noun or verb they refer to without a dash. See for example or.

Verbs
In the following two cases, we use the template.


 * Compound verbs
 * Sumerian phrasal verbs (known in the field as "compound verbs") follow the layout of.


 * Verbs with reduplicated forms
 * Verbs with reduplicated forms follow the layout of and.

Alternative forms

 * Alternative forms are given using the template right under   (if they refer to the main entry) or under   if they refer to just one individual meaning of the entry. See for example  and.

Emesal

 * Emesal words corresponding to Emegir (Standard Sumerian) entries are given using the template . See for example . For the template to work, you will need to add the corresponding Emegir and Emesal data to the list in Module:sux-registers/data (follow the format of previus entries).

Romanization of cuneiform signs

 * To facilitate searches of cuneiform signs by their transliteration, we use a simplified romanization system that represents all diacritics/subscript indexes in a way that makes them easy to type on a keyboard. This is identical to the one used on the ePSD2 site. Most letters are identical to the proper transliteration system. Here is a list of those that are different:
 * {| class="wikitable"

! Transliteration !! Romanization
 * g̃ || j
 * š || sz
 * ḫ || h
 * ₀-₉ || 0 - 9
 * ₓ || X (see for example: sigX)
 * }
 * Here you can see all currently existing Sumerian romanisation entries: Category:Sumerian_romanizations
 * ₀-₉ || 0 - 9
 * ₓ || X (see for example: sigX)
 * }
 * Here you can see all currently existing Sumerian romanisation entries: Category:Sumerian_romanizations
 * Here you can see all currently existing Sumerian romanisation entries: Category:Sumerian_romanizations


 * There are still a lot of romanizations missing. If you find that a romanization doesn't exist, you can create it following the model of mesz3.

Grammars

 * A descriptive grammar of Sumerian, Abraham Hendrik Jagersma
 * An Introduction to the Grammar of Sumerian, Gábor Zólyomi
 * Introduction to Sumerian Grammar, Daniel A. Foxvog

Dictionaries

 * The electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary
 * Elementary Sumerian Glossary, Daniel A. Foxvog
 * Sumerian Lexicon, John A. Halloran
 * List of Emesal words in ETCSL