Old Persian Sign Gu

It marks the sound “gu” inside an Old Persian word. Old Persian cuneiform is a wedge-shaped script: some signs represent vowels, while others represent a consonant followed by a vowel. 𐎦 is a phonogram, a sign for sound; the surrounding signs complete the word and its meaning.

Darius I’s Bisotun inscription is the earliest known Old Persian inscription. In scholarly spellings such as m-gu-u-š, 𐎦 contributes one sound within a word; “gu” alone is not its translation.

What was Old Persian cuneiform made for?

It served formal Achaemenid royal writing. During the Achaemenid period, kings used Old Persian cuneiform as an official way to write their Iranian language, chiefly in public inscriptions carved into stone. The system was a deliberate simplification of Mesopotamian cuneiform, especially the Akkadian tradition, but a distinct creation rather than a continuation. The l sign was borrowed from contemporary Elamite or Neo-Babylonian writing; 𐎦 belongs to Old Persian’s own sound-sign series.