SumerianGrammar

114 CHAPTER TWELVE
unexplained, in the relation between Sumerian nu-banda “foreman”
and the Akkadian loanword laputtûm < *la-pant-.
[nu] may be spelled nu-ù-, probably when followed by [i]: nu-ùme-en
“I am not” NG no. 32:3.
[nu] is not used if a modal form is to be negated, as with vetitive
(12.11.6) or prohibitive (12.11.9).
Note: Similarly Babylonian Akkadian would not use ul except for a negated
indicative in a main clause; là is used in a dependent clause or in prohibitive,
ay, è in vetitive.
[nu] is used, however, in negative infinitive constructions even where
they may have a modal connotation, e.g., final “in order not to ...”,
nu-B-(e)de/-(e)da (see 12.14.3).
12.11.2.1. Suffixed -nu
[nu] occurs suffixed to a noun as the negation of the copula [am]
(see 12.7.1.2):
dam-∞gu 10 -nu dumu-∞ gu 10 -nu é-∞gu 10 -nu im-me “he exclaims ‘my
wife/my child/my house is no more’ ” LamSumUr 95–97.
Note: Michalowski 1989, 43 understood the passage as “he says not, Oh, my
wife!”, assuming a verbal form nu-im-me.
Nin-nu-nam-“ita x “(There) being no Lady, (would there be) a prayer”
(PN) DP 113 iv 4; 114 iv 3; HSS 3, 17 iii 10; 23 ix 26.
munus-bi a-ba me-a-nu a-ba me-a-ni “that woman: who being
(was she) not, who being (was) she” = “that woman, whoever was
she” Gudea Cyl. A iv 23.
Note: me-a-ni is an example of the “pronominal conjugation” (see 12.14.4).
ù kù-nu za-gìn nu-ga-àm ù erida-nu nagga-nu sipar-nu “it is not silver
nor is it lapislazuli, and it is neither copper nor tin nor bronze”
Gudea Stat. B vii 50–52.
Note: nu-ga-àm [nu-(i)nga-am] contains the connecting indicator [inga] for which
see 12.12.1.
OB grammatical and lexical texts show suffixed -nu with pronouns,
e.g., me-en-dè-nu [menden-nu] : ul nìnu “it is not us” MSL 4, 51:419
(OBGT); a-ne-da-nu [ane-da-nu] : balu““u “it is (not with =) without
him” MSL 13, 86: E 31 (Proto-Kagal).
In practice, suffixed -nu has often become a substitute for the syntagma
X-da nu-me-a “(not being with =) without X” (see 5.4.2.6).