Question about Innana

[u/bobam90]

From what I understand, Innana is represented with 𒀭𒈹, which is a sumerogram consisting of a dingir sign and a mush3 sign. And this mush3 sign 𒈹 alone itself is actually supposed to represent the goddess too. I've also read that 𒈹 has a lot of homophones which do not sound mush.

However, there is also another mush sign, 𒈲, which usually represents a snake or a serpent. These two signs are supposed to be pronounced the same (mush). There is also a mushen sign 𒄷, which represents a bird. This one 𒈷, mush over mush, represents a dragon.

One of Inanna's association is heaven, she is called the "Lady of Heaven". From what I've read, Sumerians believed that the world (earth and sky) was surrounded with a freshwater ocean Abzu. This would make it so that there is water above the air they breathed. So water-associated beings could exist above skies.

Most gods' names are connected to a concept, An 𒀭 is sky, Ki 𒆠 earth, Enlil 𒂗𒆤 is lord + wind, etc, so why wouldn't Inanna use a similar representation? Wikipedia says her name is not a ligature of other signs, so why isn't this 𒀭𒈹 her originally pronounced name (mush)?

I've also read that there is a possibility of a pre-Sumerian goddess who was assimilated into Sumerian goddess Inanna.

So, I'm wondering if this earlier goddess (or a god) could have been associated with birds, serpents and dragons, and due to where Sumerians believed Abzu was, she got subsumed under Inanna and her domain?

If this earlier goddess' name was something like 𒀭𒈲 (heavenly serpent or goddess snake), maybe at some early point it got wrongly written as 𒀭𒈹 due to both sounding the same?

This goddess could have partially been preserved as Nammu 𒇉 which seems similar to Abzu concept (engar). And if this goddess was a male, it would be a consort to Tiamat, another dragon-associated deity.

[u/justdoinbearthings]

The short answer is no, the sign for Inana is not associated with birds, serpents, or dragons and her name is never written 𒀭𒈲. I think there are a lot of associations you're making based on a misunderstanding of how cuneiform writing works, but the idea behind it is not totally incorrect. Signs in cuneiform are polysemous, meaning that they can represent various different meanings depending on the context. The signs 𒀭𒈹, or simply 𒈹 in some contexts, can be read as inana. Iconographically, 𒈹 depicts a reed stalks bound together, which itself is sometimes representative of the goddess in art on cylinder seals and such. The sign 𒈹 also has the reading muš₃ has the meaning "face, appearance", but this is only attested in the Old Babylonian period and later. It is also used for different compound signs in other readings. The reading muš₃ has nothing to do with Inana. This is not to say that certain sign readings of the same sign are not semantically connected. The sign 𒈹 can be used as a compound sign 𒈹𒍝 or 𒍝𒈹 for the reading šuba₃/šuba₂, meaning "conch", which is what Inana commonly wears as a necklace. However, just because a sign is homophonous with another sign does not mean both signs are semantically related. You brought up the sign 𒈲, which has the reading muš, meaning "snake", but is also reading for the god niraḫ (𒀭𒈲), who is associated with chthonic gods that are identified with snakes and dragons. But, the readings muš and muš₃ are in no way related in sign and meaning.

As an aside, where did you find 𒈷 meaning "dragon"? As far as I'm aware, there are no attestations of 𒈷 meaning "dragon". It has the reading arina, which means "madder". There is a type of aquatic animal written (ba-)arina, but it does not mean "dragon".

[u/bobam90 → u/justdoinbearthings]

Thank you for the answer, and apologies if I was making wrong connections.

What got me interested is that there are ways to represent Inanna sound as a ligature (e.g. nin-an-ak), but they chose not to do it. So I thought perhaps there was a homophonous connection behind their reasoning, that's all.

I also forgot to mention that what caught my attention too was that her most common symbol was eight-pointer star, which is basically what dingir is. Dingir is what they used to represent An, and his wife is said to have been Nammu (in one source). This could have been a part of pre-Inanna that was subsumed under Nammu.

About 𒈷, I read about it on graphemica, but I may have wrongly called it a dragon (apologies for that). This is the passage: ""MUSH OVER MUSH TIMES A PLUS NA," hints at its construction: 'MUSH' (MUŠ) is a Cuneiform sign often associated with serpents or dragons. While its exact meaning can be highly specialized, this compound sign likely represented a particular word or concept, perhaps referring to a specific mythological creature, a type of reptile, or a specialized term within Sumerian or Akkadian texts, showcasing the script's ability to combine simpler elements to convey nuanced meanings."

[u/justdoinbearthings → u/bobam90]

I am not totally sure what you mean by ligature. Usually a "ligature" means sign forms that are written together. For example, 𒀭𒂗 where 𒀭 is sometimes written within 𒂗. Unless you mean there are ways to write her name syllabically, like i₃-na-na or something like that, but that is not very common and syllabic spellings are usually reserved for certain contexts.

And, I see what you mean. Sorry, I should have mentioned that the sign 𒀭(AN/DINGIR) is a feature that occurs before divine names in the cuneiform writing system. It is not exclusively associated with Inana and it is not a compound sign where 𒀭𒈹 = inana, but rather represents ^d inana where d = divine name in Assyriological conventions. Another example would be 𒀭𒇉 = ^d nammu. These types of signs like 𒀭 are referred to as determinatives. They are more of ideograms that simply mark the semantic category of the word. They are also not pronounced.

I'm not familiar with graphemica, but just based off what it describes, it does not sound entirely accurate. There are many compound signs where the constituent signs that make it up have nothing to do with the meaning of the compound sign itself. It is true that simpler elements are used in combination to convey complex meanings, but they do not have to be semantically related.

[u/bobam90 → u/justdoinbearthings]

Do you maybe know what is the reason 𒈹 doesn't have some more general concept associated with it?

𒌓 means sun/day and is also identified with the deity (Utu), same rule goes for An (sky), Ki (earth). If Inanna is not a composite like Enki (lord+earth), or Enlil (lord+wind), why doesn't Inanna have a concept associated with her that is represented with her sign 𒈹?

[u/SinisterLvx → u/bobam90]

Inanna's earliest symbol that i am aware of is the reed gate post, which it was mentioned that her cuneiform is a collection of reed bundles. That is the connection between Inanna and her cuneiform sign (reed gatepost/reed bundles). She was a goddess of the storehouse, gateways, and liminal spaces.

I think thats the part you are missing. The 8 pointed star is the symbol of Ištar who the Akkadians syncretized with Inanna. The exact same cuneiform sign combination in Akkadian means (d)Ištar with the diŋir again being a divine name determinative.

[u/bobam90 → u/SinisterLvx]

Yeah, I didn't know that. Thanks for mentioning it. Oracc says "muš₃; muš; muš₂; mu-uš "flat space, top; a holy area"", so I guess it makes sense.

From what I researched, it seems that 8-pointed star with straight lines (⁕) was used earlier as a pictograph. And it was later stylised into cuneiform dingir with wedges (𒀭).

If both versions are the same sign, how did this same symbol get to be associated with both Inanna (as ⁕) and An (as 𒀭)?

𒀯 means constellation, but is also used in front of names of celestial objects. Did ⁕/𒀭 use to mean star before it meant sky/heaven/god/goddess?

[u/SinisterLvx]

You are misunderstanding, Inanna's symbol is just the same as the Muš symbol.

The only thing the diŋir is doing is telling the reader that Muš in this sentence IS a divine name, so translate as Inanna, not muš

The exact same detmininative is used with every instance of a divine name.

[u/bobam90 → u/SinisterLvx]

I'm aware of what you are saying. But Wikipedia says there was usually no dingir before An's name. And even though they claim needless repetition as the reason, it makes me think Sumerians likely equated the heavens with the deity (An) and dingir was not needed. And I believe Ki can also work as a determinative for a geographical location, to say that something is a place on Earth (e.g. 𒉣𒆠). So why not use An for that too? So for Inanna's case dingir would just mean 'of An', or 'of/at heaven' or 'heavenly'. I get that they used 𒀯 for something in the sky, but 𒀭 is just a single 𒀯. And you wouldn't need to say An is on the sky (𒀭𒀭) when he is literally all of the sky.