Cuneiform Sign U Gud

It is a cuneiform sign with several readings, not one fixed word.

The earliest listed use of U.GUD as a measurement unit is in Early Dynastic IIIa; Early Dynastic IIIb records continue that use. In these administrative records, the sign marks a measured quantity, an accounting function.

Later lexical entries give values translated as “to build,” “to push,” “to perfect,” “to be distant,” “to swell,” and “fruit.” These are readings in different words, not meanings to combine into one translation.

Why does U.GUD have several readings?

The surrounding spelling selects the sign’s value.

Cuneiform signs can represent a whole word or a syllable; lexical lists record the values associated with signs. Catalogues also label this sign UL and list readings including du₇, ul, ru₅, and mul₄.

In Early Dynastic IIIb, niŋ₂-U.GUD is glossed “a part of a house”; U.GUD-ME-U.GUD is glossed “a pile of barley.” Sign catalogues also analyze its form as U plus GUD and list the result as UL. That does not make the separate U and GUD signs interchangeable with this sign. Cuneiform fonts may use different historical styles, so the same encoded sign can have different drawings.