2021-06-25 Sumerian Spell Names

Remember Elf & Magic-User Sumerian Spell Names / Command Words for Labyrinth Lord? Well, I’m playing a spell caster again, since my grappling wanna-be-thief-but-actually-a-fighter died last session. And I’ve decided to look up words in The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary (ePSD)!

Elf & Magic-User Sumerian Spell Names / Command Words for Labyrinth Lord

The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary

I mean, I just smash words together. I have no idea about the language. For the moment, I just admire the fact that we still know anything at all about this bronze age world, from the dawn of recorded history. All hail the mighty durable clay tablet!

​#RPG

Comments

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We’re doing something similar♥ gemini://idiomdrottning.org/verbal-components

gemini://idiomdrottning.org/verbal-components

– elpherZ5vikL 2021-06-26 06:48 UTC

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Excellent! All of this reminded me of the magic rhymes from Das Schwarze Auge, the very first edition. “Saft, Kraft, Monster Macht!” 😄

– Alex 2021-06-26 12:07 UTC

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Do NOT cast lightning bolt.

– pitycrit 2021-08-01 16:57 UTC

pitycrit

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The above comment was written when the word for *lightning bolt* was given as “niĝĝir”. I guess we can always count on somebody to have a penchant for foul language and thinking it funny, so I guess I’m looking for an alternate spelling or some other words to use.

This is what the ePSD says:

niĝĝir [LIGHTNING] (2×: Old Babylonian) wr. niĝ₂-ĝir₂ “lightning bolt” – niĝĝir

niĝĝir

Perhaps this can be written some other way? As I recall, the USA doesn’t always use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

In some transcriptions of Sumerian, ĝ is used to represent the velar nasal /ŋ/. – Ĝ, on Wikipedia

Ĝ, on Wikipedia

So the question is, what is a voiced velar nasal?

It is the sound of ng in English sing as well as n before velar consonants as in English and ink. – Voiced velar nasal, i.e. ŋ on Wikipedia

Voiced velar nasal, i.e. ŋ on Wikipedia

So perhaps we could write it as “ning ngir”, or perhaps “ning-ngir”. Too close, I’d say. How these makers of bad jokes annoy me. What’s next, turning Latin plant names into jokes? I like Populus nigra…

Populus nigra, the black poplar, is a species of cottonwood poplar, the type species of section Aigeiros of the genus Populus, native to Europe, southwest and central Asia, and northwest Africa. – Populus nigra, on Wikipedia

Populus nigra, on Wikipedia

I think I shall use a kind of transformation: “ning-gir”, “ningir“, or “ning-ir“

– Alex 2021-08-01 17:07 UTC