SumerianGrammar

CHAPTER TEN
NUMERALS
10.1. GENERAL
The Sumerian language had a “sexagesimal” system in which numeration
proceeded in alternating steps of 10 and 6: 1–10, 10–60, 60–
600, 600–3600, 3600–36000, 36000–216000. With sixty as the “hundred”,
Sumerian numeration had the enormous advantage of being
able to divide by 3 or 6 without leaving a remainder. The sexagesimal
system has left its traces in our modern divisions of the hour
or of the compass. It permeates the metrological systems of the
Ancient Near East.
Powell 1971; 1989.
Since cardinal and ordinal numbers, including fractions, as well as
notations of length, surface, volume, capacity, and weight are next
to exclusively written with number signs, we are poorly informed on
the pronunciation and the morpho-syntactical behaviour of numbers
in Sumerian. To what degree were numbers subject to case inflection
If 600 was pronounced ∞ge“-u “sixty ten”, i.e., “ten (times) sixty”,
what was the pronunciation of “sixty (plus) ten”, i.e., 70 Was there
a difference of stress or some other means of intonation, e.g., *[∞gé“(d)u]
versus [∞ge“(d)ú]
Syntactically, persons or things counted were followed, not preceded,
by numerals so that the position of a numeral corresponds
to that of an adjective. For—purely graphic—exceptions to this rule
see 5.3.6, note.
10.2. CARDINAL NUMBERS
The oldest pronunciation guide for the Sumerian cardinal numbers
2 to 10 is an exercise tablet from Ebla: TM 75.G. 2198: Edzard
1980; 2003b.