What 𒁰 means
Its usual Sumerian value is “wild goat” or “ibex.”
Scholars write this sign as DARA₃; its Sumerian readings include dara₃ and durah. Ancient word and sign lists also connect it to a goat figurine and to the Akkadian word turāhu, meaning “wild goat.” The surrounding text, not the standalone glyph, chooses the value.
How did this sign enter writing?
Its earliest recognizable forms appear in proto-cuneiform.
The sign is represented in the Uruk IV/III proto-cuneiform corpus, an early stage of cuneiform writing. Those early records served institutional accounting; later cuneiform also used signs for words and syllables. The Unicode glyph is a reference form, while tablet signs vary by period, scribal style, and writing surface.
Ur III administrative texts place DARA₃ in formulas pairing domestic goats with wild-animal terms; some are interpreted as hybrid-animal formulas. In a literary phrase, dara₃-maš is translated “mountain goat.”
What does it mean when someone sends 𒁰?
A bare 𒁰 identifies a sign; it does not tell you the sender means “goat.”
Treat it as a cuneiform reference unless the sender supplies a transliteration or surrounding text. Its historical animal value fits only when the rest of the writing supports it.
An ancient writing sign: the mark itself does not settle which reading fits.
A lone modern 𒁰 does not, by itself, say “goat.”
What it means when someone sends it to you
4 readingsDon't confuse it with
1Combination ideas
3Questions people ask
1Why does 𒁰 look different in a tablet photograph?
It varies. Unicode fonts provide a reference design, while tablet shapes reflect different periods, scribal styles, and writing surfaces; compare a tablet sign with signs from its own context.
How to type 𒁰
𒁰\12070Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.