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Meluhha lexis. Deciphered 5 Indus Script inscriptions with drummer-tumbler hieroglyphs: मृदु mṛdu, mẽṛhẽt, meḍ 'metal' sangāṭas संगाटस्'collection of implements, tools'

Five inscriptions from Indus Script Corpora with hieroglyphs of drummer-tumbler are deciphered as metal-work/-implements from smelter/smithy/forge.

Together, the five selected inscriptions from Indus Script Corpora signify mẽṛhẽt, meḍ 'iron or copper (metal)'  sangāṭas संगाटस् 'collection of implements, tools' from smeter/smithy/forge. The context is definitive: affirming Indus Script Corpora as catalogus catalogorum of metalwork.

The deciphered words which signify hieroglyphs and rebus metalwork are from Meluhha lexis.

The decipherment validates the identification of the lingua franca of the Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization as Meluhha (mleccha or spoken form of Prakritam) of Indian sprachbund. This is consistent with the identification in an Akkadian cuneiform text on a cylinder seal of Shu-ilishu who is described as a translator of 'Meluhha language'.
Shu-ilishu’s cylinder seal, Expedition, Vol.  48, No. 1
http://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/481/What%20in%20the%20World.pdf]

This seal shows a sea-faring Meluhha merchant who needed a translator to translate meluhha speech into Akkadian. The translator’s name was Shu-ilishu as recorded in cuneiform script on the seal. This evidence rules out Akkadian as the Indus or Meluhha language and justifies the search for the proto-Indian speech from the region of the Sarasvati river basin which accounts for 80% (about 2000) archaeological sites of the civilization, including sites which have yielded inscribed objects such as Lothal, Dwaraka, Kanmer, Dholavira, Surkotada, Binjor, Kalibangan, Farmana, Bhirrana, Kunal, Banawali, Chandigarh, Rupar, Rakhigarhi. The language-speakers in this basin are likely to have retained cultural memories of Indus language which can be gleaned from the semantic clusters of glosses of the ancient versions of their current lingua francaavailable in comparative lexicons and nighanṭu-s.

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/12/an-array-of-indus-script-hieroglyphs-to.html    A drummer, in the context of hieroglyphs of tumblers on Seal m1406 has been deciphered: mēd, 'boatman, one who plays drums at ceremonies' Rebus:  mẽṛhẽt, meḍ‘iron (metal)’Alternative: dhollu ‘drummer’ (Western Pahari) dolutsu'tumble' Rebus: dul ‘cast metal’. 

mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron (metal)’ and a cognate word,मृदु mṛdu 'iron' (Samskritam)is signified by a number of hieroglyphs   मेढा [ mēḍhā ] curls of hair on cylinder seals; मेढा [ mēḍhā ]twist (rope) on a Bogazkoy seal; मेढ (p. 662) [ mēḍha ] The polar star.on Water-carrier seal impression, Ur (Upenn; U.16747.m1406 Hieroglyphs: thread of three stands + drummer + tumblers

dhollu ‘drummer’ (Western Pahari) dolutsu 'tumble' Rebus: dul ‘cast metal’

karaḍa 'double-drum' Rebus: karaḍa'hard alloy'.

dhAtu, dhAv'strands of rope' Rebus: dhAtu'mineral, metal, ore'

Kalibangan seal. k020 Hieroglyphs: thread of three strands + water-carrier + one-horned young bull.  kuTi 'water-carrier' Rebus: kuThi 'smelter'. dhAv 'strands of rope' rebus: dhAv 'element, ore'; dhAtu id. 

kõdā  खोंड [ khōṇḍa ] m A young bull, a bullcalf. (Marathi) Rebus 1: kọ̆nḍu or  konḍu ।  कुण्डम् m. a hole dug in the ground for receiving consecrated fire (Kashmiri) Rebus 2: A. kundār, B. kũdār, °ri, Or. kundāru; H. kũderā m. ʻ one who works a lathe, one who scrapes ʼ, °rī f., kũdernā ʻ to scrape, plane, round on a lathe ʼ.(CDIAL 3297).

The broken portion of the seal should have shown a 'standard device'.

Hieroglyph: sãghāṛɔ 'lathe'.(Gujarati. Desi)) Purport of Indus Script corpora.Rebus: Vajra Sanghāta 'binding together': Mixture of 8 lead, 2 bell-metal, 1 iron rust constitute adamantine glue. sangāṭh संगाठ् । सामग्री m. (sg. dat. sangāṭas संगाटस्), a collection (of implements, tools, materials, for any object), apparatus, furniture, a collection of the things wanted on a journey, luggage, and so on. -- karun -- करुन् । सामग्रीसंग्रहः m.inf. to collect the ab. (L.V. 17).(Kashmiri). 

Examples of acrobats as hieroglyphs:

Mehrgarh. Terracotta circular button seal. (Shah, SGM & Parpola, A., 1991, Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions 2: Collections in Pakistan, Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, MR-17. A humped bull (water buffalo?) and abstract forms (one of which is like a human body) around the bull. The human body is tossed from the horns of the bovine. 

m0312 Persons vaulting over a water buffalo. The water buffalo tosses a person on its horns. Four or five bodies surround the animal. Rounded edges indicate frequent use to create clay seal impressions.

Impression of a steatite stamp seal (2300-1700 BCE) with a water-buffalo and acrobats. Buffalo attack or bull-leaping scene, Banawali (after UMESAO 2000:88, cat. no. 335). A figure is impaled on the horns of the buffalo; a woman acrobat wearing bangles on both arms and a long braid flowing from the head, leaps over the buffalo bull. The action narrative is presented in five frames of the acrobat getting tossed by the horns, jumping and falling down.Two Indus script glyphs are written in front of the buffalo. (ASI BNL 5683).

Rebus readings of hieroglyphs: ‘1. arrow, 2. jag/notch, 3. buffalo, 4.acrobatics’:

1.     kaṇḍa ‘arrow’ (Skt.) H. kãḍerā m. ʻ a caste of bow -- and arrow -- makers (CDIAL 3024). Or. kāṇḍa, kã̄ṛ ʻstalk, arrow ʼ(CDIAL 3023). ayaskāṇḍa ‘a quantity of iron, excellent  iron’ (Pāṇ.gaṇ)

2.     खांडा [ khāṇḍā ] m  A jag, notch, or indentation (as upon the edge of a tool or weapon). (Marathi) Rebus: khāṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans, metal-ware’.

3. rāngo ‘water buffalo bull’ (Ku.N.)(CDIAL 10559) 

Rebus: rango ‘pewter’. ranga, rang pewter is an alloy of tin, lead, and antimony (anjana) (Santali).  

4. ḍullu to fall off; ḍollu to roll over (DEDR 2698) Te. ḍul(u)cu, ḍulupu to cause to fall; ḍollu to fall; ḍolligillu to fall or tumble over (DEDR 2988) డొలుచు [ḍolucu] or  ḍoluṭsu. [Tel.] v. n. To tumble head over heels as dancing girls do (Telugu) Rebus 1: dul ‘to cast in a mould’; dul mẽṛhẽt, dul meṛeḍ, 'cast iron'; koṭe meṛeḍ ‘forged iron’ (Santali) Bshk. ḍōl ʻ brass pot (CDIAL 6583). Rebus 2: WPah. ḍhōˋḷ m. ʻstoneʼ, ḍhòḷṭɔ m. ʻbig stone or boulderʼ, ḍhòḷṭu ʻsmall id.ʼ Him.I 87(CDIAL 5536). Rebus: K. ḍula m. ʻ rolling stoneʼ(CDIAL 6582). 

Hieroglyph:  धातु [p= 513,3] m. layer , stratum Ka1tyS3r. Kaus3. constituent part , ingredient (esp. [ and in RV. only] ifc. , where often = " fold " e.g. त्रि-ध्/आतु , threefold &c ; cf.त्रिविष्टि- , सप्त- , सु-) RV. TS. S3Br. &c (Monier-Williams) dhāˊtu  *strand of rope ʼ (cf. tridhāˊtu -- ʻ threefold ʼ RV., ayugdhātu -- ʻ having an uneven number of strands ʼ KātyŚr.).; S. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜ f.(CDIAL 6773) tántu m. ʻ thread, warp ʼ RV. [√tan] Pa. tantu -- m. ʻ thread, cord ʼ, Pk. taṁtu -- m.; Kho. (Lor.) ton ʻ warp ʼ < *tand (whence tandeni ʻ thread between wings of spinning wheel ʼ); S. tandu f. ʻ gold or silver thread ʼ; L. tand (pl. °dũ) f. ʻ yarn, thread being spun, string of the tongue ʼ; P. tand m. ʻ thread ʼ, tanduā, °dūā m. ʻ string of the tongue, frenum of glans penis ʼ; A. tã̄t ʻ warp in the loom, cloth being woven ʼ; B. tã̄t ʻ cord ʼ; M. tã̄tū m. ʻ thread ʼ; Si. tatu, °ta ʻ string of a lute ʼ; -- with -- o, -- ā to retain orig. gender: S. tando m. ʻ cord, twine, strand of rope ʼ; N. tã̄do ʻ bowstring ʼ; H. tã̄tā m. ʻ series, line ʼ; G. tã̄tɔ m. ʻ thread ʼ; -- OG. tāṁtaṇaü m. ʻ thread ʼ < *tāṁtaḍaü, G.tã̄tṇɔ m.(CDIAL 5661)

Rebus: M. dhāū, dhāv m.f. ʻ a partic. soft red stone ʼ (whence dhā̆vaḍ m. ʻ a caste of iron -- smelters ʼ, dhāvḍī ʻ composed of or relating to iron ʼ); dhāˊtu n. ʻ substance ʼ RV., m. ʻ element ʼ MBh., ʻ metal, mineral, ore (esp. of a red colour) ʼ; Pk. dhāu -- m. ʻ metal, red chalk ʼ; N. dhāu ʻ ore (esp. of copper) ʼ; Or. ḍhāu ʻ red chalk, red ochre ʼ (whence ḍhāuā ʻ reddish ʼ; (CDIAL 6773) धातु  primary element of the earth i.e. metal , mineral, ore (esp. a mineral of a red colour) Mn. MBh. &c element of words i.e. grammatical or verbal root or stem Nir. Pra1t. MBh. &c (with the southern Buddhists धातु means either the 6 elements [see above] Dharmas. xxv ; or the 18 elementary spheres [धातु-लोक] ib. lviii ; or the ashes of the body , relics L. [cf. -गर्भ]) (Monier-Williams. Samskritam). 

मृदु mṛdu : (page 1287) A kind of iron.-कार्ष्णायसम्,-कृष्णायसम् soft-iron, lead. (Apte. Samskritam) This gloss could link with the variant lexis of Indian sprachbund with the semantics 'iron': Bj. <i>merhd</i>(Hunter) `iron'. Sa. <i>mE~R~hE~'d</i> `iron'.  ! <i>mE~RhE~d</i>(M).

.med 'copper' (Slavic languages)

Origin of the gloss med 'copper' in Uralic languages may be explained by the word meD (Ho.) of Munda family of Meluhha language stream:

Sa. <i>mE~R~hE~'d</i> `iron'.  ! <i>mE~RhE~d</i>(M).

Ma. <i>mErhE'd</i> `iron'.

Mu. <i>mERE'd</i> `iron'.

  ~ <i>mE~R~E~'d</i> `iron'.  ! <i>mENhEd</i>(M).

Ho <i>meD</i> `iron'.

Bj. <i>merhd</i>(Hunter) `iron'.

KW <i>mENhEd</i>

@(V168,M080)

http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/austroasiatic/AA/Munda/ETYM/Pinnow&Munda

— Slavic glosses for 'copper'

Мед [Med]Bulgarian

Bakar Bosnian

Медзь [medz']Belarusian

Měď Czech

Bakar Croatian

KòperKashubian

Бакар [Bakar]Macedonian

Miedź Polish

Медь [Med']Russian

Meď Slovak

BakerSlovenian

Бакар [Bakar]Serbian

Мідь [mid'] Ukrainian[unquote]

http://www.vanderkrogt.net/elements/element.php?sym=Cu 

Miedź, med' (Northern Slavic, Altaic) 'copper'.  

One suggestion is that corruptions from the German "Schmied", "Geschmeide" = jewelry. Schmied, a smith (of tin, gold, silver, or other metal)(German) result in med ‘copper’.

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/12/mrdu-iron-samskritam-pola-magnetite.html

S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
December 23, 2015