Cuneiform Sign Mash2

It can mean a male goat, a charge, or an omen term.

𒈧 is the cuneiform sign MAŠ₂. Cuneiform is an ancient writing system made of wedge-shaped marks; its signs could stand for words or sounds. Here, context can give MAŠ₂ the reading “male goat,” “loan interest,” “irrigation tax,” or a term in divination writing. Akkadian scribes also used it as a Sumerogram: a Sumerian sign written within Akkadian text.

An administrative clay tablet from Uruk IV, an early phase of the ancient city of Uruk (ca. 3350–3200 BCE), counts five MAŠ₂ as billy goats beside twenty-five nanny goats. By the Ur III and later periods, economic and divinatory uses are also documented.

Is 𒈧 a complete message?

Alone, it names a cuneiform sign, not a complete translation.

A message containing only 𒈧 cannot tell you whether the sender means a goat, interest, or divination. If they are discussing a tablet or a transliteration—a Latin-letter rendering of cuneiform—ask which reading they intend. Until the surrounding text settles it, call it MAŠ₂ rather than choosing a meaning.

Cuneiform signs could stand for words or spoken sounds, and one sign could have different readings in different settings. Read the sequence around it, not this isolated glyph.