1. The Wedge:
* Cuneiform literally means "wedge-shaped." The writing was made by pressing a wedge-shaped stylus onto a clay tablet, creating a variety of marks. These marks were combined to represent different sounds, syllables, and even entire words.
2. Syllabic Writing:
* The core of cuneiform was syllabic. This meant each sign represented a syllable, like "ba," "da," or "ku."
* To write a word, you would combine these signs, much like how we combine letters to form words. For example, the word "bread" might be written with the signs for "ba" and "ra" (meaning "ba-ra").
3. Logographic Writing:
* Cuneiform also used logograms, signs that represented entire words, like "house" or "king."
* This helped make writing more concise and efficient.
4. Determinatives:
* To clarify the meaning of a sign, cuneiform used determinatives. These were additional signs that helped identify the word's category, such as "man," "woman," or "place."
5. Evolution and Complexity:
* Over time, cuneiform evolved and became more complex. The number of signs increased, and different scripts developed for different languages.
* This made reading and writing cuneiform a challenging task, reserved for scribes and learned individuals.
Example:
Imagine the word "sun." It could be written in cuneiform using a combination of:
* Syllabic signs: "su" + "n"
* Logogram: A single sign representing the whole word "sun"
* Determinative: A sign indicating "heavenly body" to clarify its meaning.
In Summary:
Cuneiform was a complex writing system with elements of both syllabic and logographic writing. It was crucial to the development of Mesopotamian civilization, allowing for the recording of history, literature, laws, and other important information.