Sumerian Lesson 10: The Verbal Chain
The Hardest Part of Learning Sumerian--And We're Knocking It Out Now!
Go Back to Lesson Nine: The Nominal Chain
Introduction
In this lesson, we’ll be introducing you to the elements of the verbal chain, which we’ll be discussing in great detail later. For now, it’s enough to just start familiarizing yourself with them!
Helpful Terms
agent: the noun in the sentence that performs the action.
conjugational prefix (conj. pref.): a particle affixed at the head of the verbal chain, which may or may not confer additional meaning about the action.
dimensional infix (dim. inf.): a particle within the verbal chain which refers back to the nouns marked by the ablative (from), comitative (with), and/or terminative (to(ward)) postpositions.
dative (dat.): a grammatical case which indicates motion toward someone, as in ‘to/for [a person]’, marked by -ra 𒊏.
ergative (erg.): a grammatical case which indicates the agent; the noun doing the action, as in ‘[performed] by’, marked by -e 𒂊.
impersonal (impers.): a class of nouns considered inanimate in Sumerian, such as animals, objects, places, as well as humans of lower social stature, such as slaves and enemies.
infix (inf.): a particle within the verbal chain that refers back to particular cases within the nominal chain.
locative (loc.): a grammatical case which indicates where something is happening, as in ‘in’, or ‘at’, marked by -a 𒀀.
modal-prefix (mod. pref.) a particle prefixed to the verbal chain indicating a modality such as mood, tense, aspect, voice, etc.
nominalizing suffix: a particle suffixed to a Sumerian verb to create an adjective or noun.
personal (pers.): a class of nouns considered animate; namely deities and humans of high social status (excludes slaves, enemies, etc.).
verbal chain: a string of prefixes, infixes, and suffixes attached to a verb to provide additional information about the action.
Vocabulary
a 𒀀 n., water, semen, progeny, canal, flood. part., in, at, when; nominalizing suffix.
dù 𒆕 v., to beget; bear (a child); be born; build, create, fashion, make; transform, change.
e 𒂊 v., to speak, say; do; water. part., [performed] by (the agent); in, at, beside.
é 𒂍n., house, temple.
ì 𒉌 n., butter, oil, fat, cream; oil container. part., stand-alone agentive prefix ‘I’; conjugational prefix (indicates distance from speaker).
íb 𒌈 n., hips; middle. v., to be angry; to curse. part., stand-alone agent prefix ‘he/she/it’ (impers.)
in 𒅔 n., abuse, insult, offense. part., stand-alone agent prefix ‘he/she/it’ (pers.).
iri 𒌷 n., city, town, village, district.
lugal 𒈗 n., king; owner, master, lord.
na 𒈾 n., man; incense; rock, stone; token. part., dative infix ‘to/for him/her’.
ni 𒉌 part., locative infix indicating ‘where’.
nin 𒎏 n., lady, mistress, owner, queen; lord (sometimes found in male names).
ra 𒊏 v., to accompany; bear; drive; go; lead; multiply; mix, stir. part., to/for (pers.)
uš 𒍑 n., foundation; distance; dimension; edge; man; penis. v., to support, lift; transport; join; be adjacent to. num., 60. part., personal suffix ‘they/them’ when the root verb ends in /u/.
Verbal Prefixes
To be considered grammatically correct, Sumerian verbs MUST be modified! For this reason, the verbal chain will often start with a verbal prefix that may or may not confer additional meaning.
There are many verbal prefixes, and we’ll be going into them in detail in subsequent lessons. For now, let’s get comfortable with the idea of modifying a verb.
But before we can do that, we need to talk a little bit about Sumerian word gender.
Personal and Impersonal
In some languages, nouns have a gender, such as masculine or feminine. Technically, Sumerian gender relates to whether a noun is animate or inanimate. However, a better way to understand Sumerian gender is in terms of personal and impersonal.
Personal nouns are deities and most people of high regard. Impersonal nouns are inanimate objects, animals, and people considered to have a low social status, such as slaves and enemies.
We’ll talk more about this in upcoming lessons!
Modifying a Verb
The verb dù 𒆕 means ‘to build’. Since it can’t stand-alone in a Sumerian sentence, we’ll need to attach a prefix; preferably one that will provide additional meaning to the reader.
In fact, if the verbal chain provides enough information, the nominal chain can be omitted altogether!
Agent Prefixes
Observe how the following prefixes express information about the agent; that is, the person performing the action.
ì-dù 𒉌𒆕 I built it
e-dù 𒂊𒆕 you built it
in-dù 𒅔𒆕 he/she built it
in-dù-uš 𒅔𒆕𒍑 they (personal) built it
the 3rd person personal ending includes the plural suffix /š/, which appears as -uš𒍑 when preceeded by a /u/.
{dù + /š/ = dù-uš]
íb-dù 𒌈𒆕 they (impersonal) built it
the 3rd person impersonal does not include the plural suffix /š/.
Verbal Chain Order
Like nominal chains, elements within the verbal chain appear in a particular order. We’ll be discussing all of these elements in greater detail in subsequent lessons. For now, feel free to look them over and familiarize yourself with the terms and their order.
I’m using the term“prefix” is when an element can only appear at the beginning of the verbal chain, whereas an “infix” can appear at the beginning, or within the verbal chain.
NOTE: Some grammars and Sumerian linguists opt not to use the term ‘infix’ at all, and call them all prefixes. I think this is confusing to beginners, so you’ll always see me refer to them as ‘infixes’.
modal-prefix(mod.)
conjugational-prefix(conj.)
dative infix(dat.)
dimensional infix(dim.)
locative/directive infix(loc./dir.)
ergative infix(erg.)
root verb(√)
The Verbal Chain Refers Back to the Nominal Chain
Each element of the verbal chain refers back to information contained within the nominal chain.
Consider the following sentence which I have split up between the nominal and verbal chains:
Sumerian: lugal-e nin-ra iri-a é | ì-na-ni-in-dù
Cuneiform: 𒈗𒂊𒎏𒊏𒌷𒀀𒂍 | 𒉌𒈾𒉌𒅔𒆕
English: The king built a house in the city for the queen.
Literally: king-by queen-for city-in house | he built it there for her
Verbal Chain Breakdown:
ì(conj.) 𒉌 a conjugational prefix that may imply distance from the speaker.
not to be confused by the 1st person agent prefix from the earlier example
ì-dù 𒉌𒆕 I built it
na(dat.) 𒈾 the dative infix—refers back to whom the action was done for
nin-ra 𒎏𒊏 for the queen
-na- 𒈾 refers back to -ra 𒊏
ni(loc.) 𒉌 the locative infix—refers back to the location
iri-a 𒌷𒀀 in the city
-ni- 𒉌 refers back to -a 𒀀
in(erg.) 𒅔 the ergative infix—refers back to the agent
lugal-e 𒈗𒂊 by the king
-in- 𒅔 refers back to -e 𒂊
dù(√)𒆕 the root verb
Saving Time and Space
While verbal chain seems complex, it can save lot of time for scribes working with limited space on a clay tablet.
So long as we have some context in the surrounding lines or story, many cuneiform signs can be omitted.
For example:
instead of writing:
lugal-e nin-ra iri-a é ì-na-ni-in-dù
𒈗𒂊𒎏𒊏𒌷𒀀𒂍𒉌𒈾𒉌𒅔𒆕
The king built a house in the city for the queen.
we can just write:
ì-na-ni-in-dù
𒉌𒈾𒉌𒅔𒆕
He built it there for her.
Your Sumerian Language Journey Continues
In the next lesson, you’ll learn about reading cuneiform, so be sure to subscribe!
Jump to Lesson Eleven: Reading Cuneiform
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