Cuneiform Sign LU3

It has no single translation; surrounding signs determine its reading.

A Sumerian sign catalog—a list of signs and their readings—assigns it values lu₃, gug₂, and kuk₂, linked to words meaning “person,” “cake,” and “to mix.” LU3 is an index label, not a translation.

Cuneiform can use one sign for a whole word or for a syllable. Adjacent signs help decide which reading fits. By itself, 𒈖 can be identified as “the LU3 sign,” but an English translation needs more context or a transliteration.

Why does LU3 look different in old tablets?

Its form changes with period, region, and writing style.

Writing is first attested at Uruk in southern Iraq c. 3350–3000 BCE, in records of goods, work, quantities, and transactions. That dates the writing system, not 𒈖 itself: many signs in the earliest Uruk texts are hard to identify, and LU3 is a conventional label based on later Sumerian.

Cuneiform later spread beyond Sumer and was adapted for Akkadian and other languages. Sign shapes also changed with period and region, so a modern font’s 𒈖 can reflect an editorial style rather than the exact appearance of a particular tablet.

Is LU3 the same as LU2?

No. 𒇽 is a separate sign, not a LU3 variant.

The sign catalog gives 𒇽 (LU2) a separate entry with person-related word values. The similar scholarly labels do not make the signs interchangeable.