Cuneiform Sign DUN₃

It has several readings, not one fixed translation. DUN₃ is a scholarly sign-list label; its subscript distinguishes it from other entries called DUN and does not mean the number three. Sumerian sign lists record readings such as du₅, dulₓ, dun₃, and tun₃, and connect the sign with word entries for covering, container, lip, axe, fish, lower, and a unit. These are not interchangeable translations: the written word and neighboring signs help determine which reading fits.

Read the sign in the word it belongs to. In the compound DUN₃@g, it is linked to a caulker—a worker who seals joints. That compound is attested from Early Dynastic IIIa, an early Mesopotamian writing period, through the Neo-Assyrian period, a later Assyrian era. The compound has its own reading; it does not give DUN₃ one fixed meaning.

How far back is DUN₃ attested?

An administrative tablet records it by ca. 2600–2500 BC.

The clay tablet P010060 from Shuruppak/Fara uses DUN₃ inside the personal name ur-dun3-esz3. It is dated to Early Dynastic IIIa, a period of early Mesopotamian record-keeping. This witness shows the sign was in use by then; it does not establish when the sign began or what its first graphic form meant.

What does 𒂅 mean if someone sends it?

A lone 𒂅 points to cuneiform, not one specific ancient word.

The glyph alone does not tell you which ancient word or reading the sender intends. Treat it as a cuneiform reference until they provide a transliteration or surrounding signs; then the word and context can narrow the reading.