WF 116

~2550 BCE·Early Dynastic·P011074

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P011074.

Translation · AI engine

read from photo

Low confidence

13 (units of) bread-ration (in sila measures): [...] Lugal-nigba-bara-du 12 (units): Ur-absi[?] 7 (units): Engar-tusz-sze [...] x-KA[?]

6 uncertain terms ↓

ninda sila3 — 'ninda' is the standard sign for bread/food ration; 'sila3' is a capacity measure (approximately one litre). The combination likely denotes bread rations measured in sila, but whether these are daily, monthly, or other allocations is not specified in this fragment.
Lugal-nigba-bara3-du10 — A compound personal name. Literal elements: lugal = 'king/lord'; nig2-ba = 'gift/allocation'; bara3 = uncertain, possibly 'throne-dais' or a title element; du10 = 'good/sweet'. The full meaning of the name as a unit is unclear; it may be a theophoric or honorific compound.
ur-ab-si#? — Personal name; 'ur' is a common name prefix meaning 'servant/man of'; 'ab-si' is uncertain — possibly a deity name or epithet. The '#?' in the transliteration flags that the reading of the final sign(s) is uncertain, confirmed by photo damage in that area.
engar-tusz-sze3 — 'engar' = farmer/ploughman; 'tusz' = to sit/dwell; 'sze3' is a directive postposition or name element. This may be a personal name meaning something like 'the farmer who dwells [there]' or a professional designation.
x-KA#? — The final entry is too fragmentary to read. 'KA' is the sign for mouth/word/opening, but its function here — whether part of a personal name, a commodity label, or an institutional term — cannot be determined from the surviving traces.
1(u@c) 3(asz@c) / 1(u@c) 2(asz@c) / 7(asz@c) — Numerical notations in the Early Dynastic system: '1(u@c)' = ten units in the capacity/ration system; 'asz@c' = single units. So 13, 12, and 7 respectively. The exact commodity unit (daily rations? monthly?) is not specified.

Reasoning ↓

The photograph shows the obverse (top image) and reverse (bottom image) of a small, rounded clay tablet catalogued as VAT 12623. The obverse is legible in outline: four ruled lines of cuneiform signs are visible, and the wedge impressions are moderately clear despite surface erosion and a diagonal crack running across the face. I can confirm the presence of numerical notation signs (stacked wedges consistent with the 1(u@c)/3(asz@c) and similar notations) in the upper area, and sign clusters in subsequent lines that are consistent with the transliteration's personal names, though fine sign resolution is insufficient to independently read every component of the compound names. The reverse (bottom image) is almost entirely effaced — very faint traces only, consistent with it being uninscribed or too worn to read; a museum inventory number '12623' is visible in modern ink at the bottom. The transliteration provided aligns with what is visually discernible on the obverse: numerical signs followed by what appear to be multi-sign personal name sequences. The '#?' notations on 'ur-ab-si' and 'KA' honestly reflect uncertainty that the photo corroborates — those areas show faint or damaged signs I cannot independently resolve. The sign 'ninda' (bread/ration) and 'sila3' (a capacity measure) in line 1 are standard Early Dynastic administrative vocabulary well attested at Shuruppak. Confidence is 'low' due to the surface damage, the fragmentary final lines, and the inherent difficulty of reading proto-cuneiform personal names without a full parallel corpus match.

Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 16, 2026 · 1782 in / 1242 out tokens

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(u@c) 3(asz@c) ninda sila3
[...] lugal-nig2-ba-bara3-du10
1(u@c) 2(asz@c) ur-ab-si#?
7(asz@c) engar-tusz-sze3
[...] x-KA#?

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIa (ca. 2600-2500 BC)) — WF 116. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, Germany (P011074) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P011074..

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