A copper nail inscription of Ur-Nanše (E1.9.1.7)
Introduction
The following text is an inscription that records Ur-Nanše’s construction of the shrine of G̃irsu. It is known from about 20 copies including nails, plates, and bricks. The image below is an example from Tello currently housed at the Louvre in Paris (AO 314). Ur-Nanše was the first king of the First Dynasty of Lagaš beginning sometime in the 26th cent. BCE.
In what follows, we present the inscription’s line drawing followed by a transliteration of the cuneiform, a morphological analysis, translation, and brief philological commentary. N.b., I deviate in my morphological transcription from standard convention in minor ways. For example, I supply implied morphological structures that are not identifiable in the cuneiform writing through parenthesis, e.g. (.ra) for an implied dative, as well as the auslauts of words.
Image and Line Drawing
Image courtesy of the Louvre: see here. Line drawing from Volk, p. 9.
Transliteration
Morphological Analysis
ur.nanše lugal lagaš(.ak) dumu gunidu(.ak.e) èš g̃írsu(.ak.∅) mu.(n.)dù(.∅)
Translation
Ur-Nanše, king of Lagaš, son of Gunidu, built the “Shrine of G̃irsu”
Commentary
- This short inscription is lacking a lot of morphological information which is characteristic of earlier periods when Sumerian was still a living (spoken) language. For example, the genitive /ak/ is never written and the verb is written as just /mu-du3/ rather than /mu-na-du3/.
- The name Ur-Nanše is written with the theophoric element /dnanše/ first. A similar metathesis of signs also occurs in the writing of Enmetena as /en-te:me-na/.
- Ur-Nanše calls himself the /dumu gu-ni-du/ ‘son of Gunidu’, although the name of his father is an approximation since the NI and DU signs can have multiple readings. Thus, a more accurate transliteration would be /gu-NI-DU/.
Bibliography
Frayne, Douglas R. Presargonic Period: Early Periods, Volume 1 (2700-2350 BC). Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, vol. 1. 2008.
Volk, Konrad. A Sumerian Chrestomathy. Subsidia et Instrumenta Linguarum Orientis 5. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012.
About The Author
Gilgameš and Agga (Lines 1-17) 
Law Code of Lipit-Ištar (Laws 8-18; CBS8284) 
Gudea Cylinder A xviii 1-28 (E3/1.1.7.CylA) 
Gudea Cylinder A iii 1-29 (E3/1.1.7.CylA) 
Gudea Cylinder A ii 1-29 (E3/1.1.7.CylA) 
Gudea Cylinder A i 1-29 (RIME E3/1.1.7.CylA)