Za (cuneiform)

The cuneiform sign za is a common use sign in the Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. It is used syllabically for ṣa, za, and ZA (ZA as parts of personal names, places, or common words, etc.), and alphabetically for "ṣ" (s), "z", or "a". (All the 4 vowels, a, e, i, o are interchangeable.)

In the 14th century BC

Zimreddi of Sidon), obverse, line 5: "man-hazzanu", ^Lú-Ha-za-nu. Za has a fairly high usage in the vassal states sub-corpus

of the Amarna letters.

Epic of Gilgamesh use

For the Epic of Gilgamesh, the following usage is found in Tablets I-XII: ṣa-(79 times); za-(32); ZA-(15 times).[2]

Symbol

—Cuneiform sign ZA

Borger (2003): 851
Borger (1981):
HZL: 366

phonetic values

Sumerian: ZA
Akkadian: za, sà, ṣa
Hittite:

References

^ Rainey, 1970. El Amarna Tablets, 359-379, Glossary:Vocabulary, hazannu, pp. 55-87, p. 64.
^ Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Sign List, p. 165, Sign no. 586, ṣa/za.

Held, Schmalstieg, Gertz, 1987. Beginning Hittite. Warren H. Held, Jr, William R. Schmalstieg, Janet E. Gertz, c. 1987, Slavica Publishers, Inc. w/ Glossaries, Sign List, Indexes, etc., 218 pages.
ISBN 0-8018-6715-0
)

Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Parpola, Simo, Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, c 1997, Tablet I through Tablet XII, Index of Names, Sign List, and Glossary-(pp. 119–145), 165 pages.
Rainey, 1970. El Amarna Tablets, 359-379, Anson F. Rainey, (AOAT 8, Alter Orient Altes Testament 8)

Cuneiform sign ZA, 13 line, 3rd character from line end, EA 15, Obverse
(A short letter from the King of Assyria to Pharaoh)

[1] Rainey, 1970. El Amarna Tablets, 359-379, Glossary:Vocabulary, hazannu, pp. 55-87, p. 64.

[2] Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Sign List, p. 165, Sign no. 586, ṣa/za.