Cuneiform Sign Suhur

The surrounding text decides which of its several Sumerian readings applies. SUHUR, also written SUḪUR in scholarly spelling, can name a fish or a non-fish word. Early fish records use it for split or dried fish; later lexical records also list carp, tuft or plume, a tree crown, a tool, and the verbs “trim” and “insert.”

If someone sends 𒋦 alone, it identifies a cuneiform sign but does not supply one certain translation. Ask what text, period, or interpretation the sender has in mind; the glyph cannot choose among its documented readings.

When is the earliest secure evidence for SUHUR?

An Uruk III lexical tablet is an early secure attestation. Excavated at Uruk and dated to Uruk III (ca. 3200–3000 BCE), its archaic fish-list text records SUHUR beside other counted entries. This places the sign in the practical world of food classification and accounting.

Late Uruk (ca. 3300–3000 BCE) administrative records also put SUHUR in institutional food distributions and dried-fish counts. One scholarly reconstruction sees the early picture as a fish split and dried after its head was removed; that supports a processed-fish reading for these accounts, not every later use.

What does SUHUR mean besides fish?

Later lexical records give SUHUR several non-fish readings. They include carp, a tuft or plume, the crown of a tree, a tool, and the verbs “trim” and “insert.” The entry and its setting determine which word is meant.

Fish compounds preserve the fish association, including HI.SUHUR and SUHUR.MAŠ, a mythical goat-carp. A related proto-cuneiform form—a sign from the earliest stage of the writing tradition—is catalogued separately in the Uruk tradition; this points to a sign-form connection, not one certain reading for every early mark.

Typefaces determine how this historical character looks: some draw it in different cuneiform styles, while a font without Cuneiform coverage may show a missing-glyph box.