Cuneiform sign DIB

The words around it choose the reading. Sumerian texts use dib for “go through” or “cross”; the same sign also writes dab, “seize,” and dib, the noun “board.” Lexical lists preserve two further values: “burn” and a term for “threshold” written dab/idib.

Cuneiform began as a record-keeping tool

Cuneiform developed as a way to keep records: an Early Dynastic tablet tracks the distribution of copper knives. A comparison of proto-cuneiform—the early signs that preceded later cuneiform—includes a DIB image. The recorded Sumerian dib reading spans Early Dynastic IIIa, an early Sumerian period, through Hellenistic texts from the age of Greek successor kingdoms.

A bilingual word list from Nippur pairs Sumerian and Akkadian terms and includes a DIB compound in an entry about a water clock, an instrument that measures time with flowing water. It records scribal vocabulary, not a picture of a clock.

Which signs are connected to DIB?

Compound lists place DIB inside larger sign readings. Sign lists associate DIB with LAGAB×PA and record compounds I.DIB, IGI.DIB, and ANŠE.IGI.DIB. Unicode’s reference glyph follows an Ur III style, a period in Sumerian history; written forms vary, and later forms of DIB can resemble LU. A font shows one reference outline, not the universal shape of every tablet inscription.