Cuneiform Sign Lam

It has several readings; tree and flourish are well attested.

In Sumerian lexical evidence, lam can name a tree—often an almond tree or sapling—and can also be a verb meaning “to flourish.” A determinative, a helper sign beside a word that signals its category, can guide the reading. Sign lists also give Lama, a protective goddess, as one use, so a lone 𒇴 does not settle on one English word.

Read the surrounding words and markers before choosing a translation; the scholarly name LAM is not itself a translation.

Where does LAM fit in cuneiform history?

Cuneiform spread across languages and settings.

Cuneiform, writing made with wedge-shaped marks, is first attested at Uruk IV, an early period in the Mesopotamian city of Uruk, around 3500–3200 BCE. Growing cities used early writing to track quantities and goods.

The script later traveled from Sumer through Akkadian, Elamite, and Anatolian traditions, where inherited signs could serve different languages and conventions. On a Kassite stele—an upright inscribed stone—from Uruk, ca. 1307–1282 BCE, LAM appears in the name Lama, a protective goddess and intermediary. That religious setting is one documented use alongside the Sumerian tree and “flourish” readings.

Why does cuneiform sign LAM look different in fonts?

Fonts can preserve different historical wedge styles.

Unicode 17 recommends that Cuneiform fonts target particular historical periods; its chart forms mainly reflect Ur III. Earlier or later styles can show different wedges for the same character, so a visual difference between fonts need not mean a different sign.