cuneiform
ancient writing system used for many languages, including Akkadian and Hittite
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Summary
cuneiform is a writing system[1]. cuneiform ranks in the top 4% of writing system entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (28,273 views/month).[2]
Key Facts
- Discoverer or inventor: Sumerians[3]
- Instance of: logographic writing system[4], syllabary[5], natural writing system[6], unicase alphabet[7]
- Named after: nail[8]
- Location: Near East[9]
- Subclass of: natural writing system[10], logographic writing system[11]
- Commons category: Cuneiform[12]
- Language of work or name: Sumerian[13], Akkadian[14], Eblaite[15], Elamite[16], Hittite[17], Hurrian[18], Luwian[19], Urartian[20], Old Persian[21], Palaic[22], Ugaritic[23], Hattic[24]
- Inception: 3000 BC[25]
- End time: 50 BC[26]
- Topic's main category: Category:Cuneiform[27]
- Described by source: The Nuttall Encyclopædia[28], Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary[29], Small Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary[30], Metropolitan Museum of Art Tagging Vocabulary[31], Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th edition (1885–1890)[32], Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition[33], Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1926–1947)[34]
- Script directionality: left-to-right[35]
- Used by: cuneiform clay tablet[36]
- Time period: Uruk V Period[37], Uruk IV Period[38], Uruk III Period[39], Proto-Elamite period[40], Early Dynastic I[41], Early Dynastic II[42], Early Dynastic IIIa[43], Early Dynastic IIIb[44], Ebla Period[45], Akkad period[46], Old Elamite period[47], Linear Elamite Period[48], Lagash II Period[49], Harappan[50]
Why It Matters
cuneiform has Wikipedia articles in 30 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[51] cuneiform is known by 40 alternative names across languages and contexts.[52]