Sumerian and Akkadian Numbers

Numbers are of course rarely spelled out, especially in economic or educational texts and the pronuniciation of certain numbers is still subject to debate.  Some are not yet attested.  The two main languages in Mesopotamia during the period of our concern were Sumerian and Akkadian.  Both of these languages had dialects and regional variations, and also varied over time.  Additionally, words for numbers conformed to various grammatical rules.  The varying forms they could take, and so how they might be written in a particular text, are beyond the scope of this page.  Here, we attempt only to give a basic guide.
 
 
Number 
Sumerian
Akkadian
1
di�, a�
 i�ten
2
min
 �ina
3
e�
 �ala�
4
limmu
 erbe
5
ia
 hami�
6
a�
 �edi�
7
imin
 sebe
8
ussu
samane
9
ilimmu
ti�e
10
u
 e�er
11
u-di� (?)
i�ten�eret
13
�ala��er
17
  
sebe�er
20
ni�
 e�ra
30
u�u
�ala�a
40
nimin
 erba
50
ninnu
 ham�a
60
gi�, ge�
 �u�i
100
me'at
600
ge�u
nerum
1000
lim
 limum
3600
�ar
 �arum

 


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Last modified: 10 January 2003
Duncan J. Melville
Comments to dmelville@stlawu.edu