-- Sag kusida, 'chief money-lender' for bharata, 'metalcasters' -- cuneiform text on an Indus seal of Ur including kusida as a borrowed word from Meluhha PLUS hieroglyph 'ox' read rebus in Meluhha as bharata, 'metal alloy of copper, pewter, tin'.
Seal impression and reverse of seal from Ur (U.7683; BM 120573); image of bison and cuneiform inscription; cf. Mitchell 1986: 280-1 no.7 and fig. 111; Parpola, 1994, p. 131: signs may be read as (1) sag(k) or ka, (2) ku or lu orma, and (3) zi or ba (4)?. The commonest value: sag-ku-ziThis may be called Gadd Seal 1 of Ur since this was the first item on the Plates of figures included in his paper.
Gadd, CJ, 1932, Seals of ancient Indian style found at Ur, in: Proceedings of the British Academy, XVIII, 1932, Plate 1, no. 1. Gadd considered this an Indus seal because, 1) it was a square seal, comparable to hundreds of other Indus seals since it had a small pierced boss at the back through which a cord passed through for the owner to hold the seal in his or her possession; and 2) it had a hieroglyph of an ox, a characteristic animal hieroglyph deployed on hundreds of seals.
This classic paper by Cyril John Gadd F.B.A. who was a Professor Emeritus of Ancient Semitic Languages and Civilizations, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, opened up a new series of archaeological studies related to the trade contacts between Ancient Far East and what is now called Sarasvati-Sindhu (Hindu) civilization.
There is now consensus that Meluhhan communities were present in Ur III and also in Sumer/Elam/Mesopotamia. (Parpola S., A. Parpola & RH Brunswig, Jr., 1977, The Meluhha village. Evidence of acculturation of Harappan traders in the late Third Millennium Mesopotamia in: Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient, 20, 129-165.)
Use of rebus-metonymy layered cipher for the entire Indus Script Corpora as metalwork catalogs provides the framework for reopening the investigation afresh on the semantics of the cuneiform text on Gadd Seal 1, the Indus seal with cuneiform text.
This renewed attempt to decipher the inscription on the seal starts with a hypothesis that the cuneiform sign readings as: SAG KUSIDA. The ox is read rebus in Meluhha as: barad, barat 'ox' Rebus: भरत (p. 603) [ bharata ] n A factitious metal compounded of copper, pewter, tin &c. The gloss bharata denoted metalcasting in general leading to the self-designation of metalworkers in Rigveda as Bharatam Janam, lit. metalcaster folk.
While SAG is a Sumerian word meaning 'head, principal' (detailed in Annex A), KUSIDA is a Meluhha word well-attested semantically in ancient Indian sprachbund of 4th millennium BCE. The semantics of the Meluhha gloss, kusida signifies: money-lender (Annex B). Thus SAG KUSIDA is a combined Sumerian-Meluhha phrase signifying 'principal of chief money-lender'. This could be a clear instance of Sumerian/Akkadian borrowing a Meluhha gloss.
SAG KUSIDA + ox hieroglyphon Gadd Seal 1, read rebus signifies: principal money-lender for bharata metal alloy artisans. This reading is consistent with the finding that the entire Indus Script Corpora are metalwork catalogs.
The money-lender who was the owner of the seal might have created seal impressions as his or her signature on contracts for moneys lent for trade transactions of seafaring merchants of Meluhha.
The Gadd Seal 1 of Ur is thus an example of acculturation of Sumerians/Akkadians in Ur with the Indus writing system and underlying Meluhha language of Meluhha seafaring merchants and Meluhha communities settled in Ur and other parts of Ancient Near East.
Annex A: Meaning of SAG 'head, principal'
(Sumerian)
The Sumerians called themselves sag-giga, literally meaning "the black-headed people"
Cuneiform sign SAG- phonetic values
- Sumerian: SAG, SUR14
- Akkadian: šag, šak, šaq, riš sign evolution
- 1. the pictogram as it was drawn around 3000 BC;
- 2. the rotated pictogram as written around 2800 BC;
- 3. the abstracted glyph in archaic monumental inscriptions, from ca. 2600 BC;
- 4. the sign as written in clay, contemporary to stage 3;
- 5. late 3rd millennium (Neo-Sumerian);
- 6. Old Assyrian, early 2nd millennium, as adopted into Hittite;
- 7. simplified sign as written by Assyrian scribes in the early 1st millennium.
Akkadian Etymology
From Proto-Semitic *raʾš-.
Noun
𒊕 (rēšu, qaqqadu) [SAG]
Sumerian:
(SAG)
Derived terms[edit]
- SAG(.KAL) "first one"
- (LÚ.)SAG a palace official
- ZARAḪ=SAG.PA.LAGAB "lamentation, unrest"
- SAG.DUL a headgear
- SAG.KI "front, face, brow"
Sag.ur.Sag is interpreted as “ Chief warrior” (www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/10.1086/677312.pdf http://www.angelfire.com/tx/tintirbabylon/ME.html)
Annex B: Meaning of kusīda 'money-lender'
कुशीदम् Usury; see कुसी. कुषीद a. Indifferent, inert. -दम् Usury. कुसितः 1 An inhabited country. -2 One who lives on usury; see कुसीद below. कुसितायी kusitāyī (= कुसीदायी).कुसी kusī (सि si) द d कुसी (सि) द a. Lazy, slothful. -दः (also written as कुशी-षी-द) A monkey-lender, usurer; Mbh.4.29. -दम् 1 Any loan or thing lent to be repaid with in- terest. -2 Lending money, usury, the profession of usury; कुसीदाद् दारिद्र्यं परकरगतग्रन्थिशमनात् Pt.1.11; Ms. 1.9;8.41; Y.1.119. -3 Red sandal wood. -Comp. -पथः usury, usurious interest; any interest exceeding 5 per cent; कृतानुसारादधिका व्यतिरिक्ता न सिध्यति कुसीदपथमा- हुस्तम् (पञ्चकं शतमर्हति) Ms.8.152. -वृद्धिः f. interest on money; कुसीदवृद्धिर्द्वैगुण्यं नात्येति सकृदाहृता Ms.8.151. कुसीदा kusīdā कुसीदा A female usurer. कुसीदायी kusīdāyī कुसीदायी The wife of a usurer. कुसीदिकः kusīdikḥ कुसीदिन् kusīdin कुसीदिकः कुसीदिन् m. A usurer. (Samskritam. Apte) kúsīda ʻ lazy, inert ʼ TS. Pa. kusīta -- ʻ lazy ʼ, kōsajja -- n. ʻ sloth ʼ (EWA i 247 < *kausadya -- ?); Si. kusī ʻ weariness ʼ ES 26, but rather ← Pa.(CDIAL 3376). FBJ Kuiper identifies as a 'borrowed' word in Indo-Aryan which in the context of Indus Script decipherment is denoted by Meluhha as Proto-Prakritam: the gloss kusīda 'money-lender'. (Kuiper, FBJ, 1948, Proto-Munda words in Sanskrit, Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche Uit. Mij.; Kuiper, FBJ, 1955, Rigvedic loan-words in: O. Spies (ed.) Studia Indologica. Festschrift fur Willibald Kirfel Vollendung Seines 70. Lebensjahres. Bonn: Orientalisches Seminar; Kuiper, FBJ, 1991, Arans in the Rigveda, Amsterdam-Atlanta: Rodopi).
S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
May 12, 2015