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
diš, aš
 išten
2
min
 šina
3
eš
 šalaš
4
limmu
 erbe
5
ia
 hamiš
6
aš
 šediš
7
imin
 sebe
8
ussu
samane
9
ilimmu
tiše
10
u
 ešer
11
u-diš (?)
ištenšeret
13
šalaššer
17
  
sebešer
20
niš
 ešra
30
ušu
šalaša
40
nimin
 erba
50
ninnu
 hamša
60
giš, geš
 šuši
100
me'at
600
gešu
nerum
1000
lim
 limum
3600
šar
 šarum

 


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