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INFLECTION AND POSTFIXES
regularly me " employed only after nouns whose number is exactly defined;
lu ki-enim-ma-bi-me, 'the witnesses', RTC. 16 rey. 1 (nine wit­
nesses). dupsar-me, 'the scribes', RTC. 17 obv. IV (nine scribes).
su-ga-me, 'fisber-men', TSA. 7 In 9 (three fishermen). sal-me, ibid.,
10 rey. 1 2 (ave women). In all tbese examples the names of the
persons included in the plural noun are given but a numeral does not
stand before the noun inflected by me. me is indefinite in ursag-digga_
ni-me, 'the dead heroes', Cy1. A 26, 15.
Theform me is apparently independent ofthe ending ene. We mal!
suppose aform me-me * which became eme> me, developed by doubling
the flrst person sing. me, thence transferred to the third persono
§ 127. In regard to things, animals, eteo., Sumerian prefers to em.
ploy the singular in the sense of a col1ective, exactly as tbe prono un bi
appears for both 'bis' and 'their', p. 108. ansu-ta udu-ta ú-du-bi
SAK. e-ta-sub, 50 VIII 'from 17-9. the mules and sheep he took away their shepberd(s) "
Notice in business documents the descriptive term after persons
takes tbe plural but after animals tbe singular, TSA. 20obv. III, '1 man
paid at tbe rate of 120 !;ea, five men at 80 !;ea,- their grain is 2 ,qur
and 40 !;ea, nu-sar-me, 'gardeners'. But 30 rey. II : 1 gud-sig, 1 gud
mu 2, gud-dun-a, 'one feeble (?) ox, one ox two years old, oxen of the
dun '. ud-sú-ud-da-sú,' unto distant days " IV R. 9 a 34.
§ 128. Nevertheless the Sumerians by mere force of analogy must
have felt tbe necessity of indicating tbe plural. of tbings in some way
beside tbe laborious method of repeating tbe whole word or of no indicatioD
at al!. As a matter of fact the word ga-a 2 (.4 TfJ, which means
1. In my Syntame I identified the plural me with me = basa, deriving the later
plural me·es, mes, from the verb me + es the verbal pl. infleetion. This theory
does not aeeount for the elassieal use of me as a plural infleetion and is here abandoned.
For the use of me after definite plurals, v. TH.-DANGIN, OLZ, 1807, 445.
2. For the pronuneiation see THOMPSON,Reports o/ the Magicians and As.
trologers, no. 1030bv. 11. Aeeording to THUREAU-DANGIN,REC. 207, the sign is
anee'.
derived from no. 476+a. In any ease ga-a is eonneeted with the word gen' abund­
83
Plural
of things.
The postfix
ga-a.