shomer vs Sumer

So called Sumer people who established civilization in Mesopotamia were actually called Shoomeru by Akkadians, the Semitic people who took over after them. Hebrew word for guardian is shomer (שומר).

Greeks have never seen a tiger in Greece but they did see them around Tigris, so they called the animal after the river. Original name of Babylon sounded like Babbar (𒌓𒆠𒌓 BAR.KI.BAR where 𒆠 KI is silent toponym classifier), later mispronounced as Babil, it was built on Euphrates, near the Tigris river, the tigers must have lived there as well. The Ancient Persian word for tiger is babr(a) which somewhat matches the original name of Babylon. Coincidence?

Shoomeru self name was black heads (𒊕𒈪). There are different theories on the idea behind that name. The obvious hint is the people who went down in History with a similar name: Qizilbash (red head) Shia militant groups that ruled Persia in XVI-XVII centuries. The wore hats with red tops. We see Persians in hats of all sorts since earliest Ahemenid Empire bareliefs, compare that to Ancient Greece/Rome.

PROBLEM

I easily matched few dozen words between Shoomeru (also Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary) and Persian dictionaries. Chinese matches are questionable and are included just to show how much closer Shoomeru and Persian are:

Shoomeru		(Middle) Persian		Hebrew or Arabic		Chinese
‌𒂖 nge, 𒈬 ngu (mu?)	I/me, my	man	I, me, mine	אֲנִי ani, مِلكِي milki	I, mine
𒍝𒂊 zae	you	shma	you
𒈨(𒂗𒉈) me(nden)	we, our	ma	we, our	ملكنا malikha	our	我們 women	we
𒉈 nen	this	in	this	هن huna	they	本 ben, 今 jin	we
𒊑 re	that
𒀀𒁀 aba	who
𒀀𒈾 ana	what	anchekh	which	מַה ma	what	哪 na	what
𒉡 nu	not	nah	not	אֵין ein	not
𒆕 du	all					都 dou	all
𒈜𒀸 lul.ash, ‌𒃲 gal	many, much
𒀸 ash	one	yek	one	אַחַת achat	one
𒈫 min	two
𒃲 gal	big			גָדוֹל gadol	big	觥 gong	big
𒁍 gid	long
𒇲 lal	small			قليل qalil	little
𒊩 munus	woman	muanas	woman	نسوة nuswa	women	女 nu	woman
𒈩 mes, 𒈬𒇻 mulu	hero, person, man	mard	man	امرؤ imru	person, man
𒇽 lu	person					佬 lao, 人 ren	man, person
𒉩𒄩 agargara	fish
𒄷 mushen	bird	murw	bird
𒌨 ur	dog, wolf	gurg / pars	wolf / to bark, small hunting animal, leopard, panther	طارد tarid	dog
𒄴 eh, 𒈥 mar	insect, parasite
𒄑𒇵 (ng)esh	tree, wood
𒆰 numun	seed
𒉺 pa	branch (leaf?)					箔 bo	leaf
𒌫 ur	root, trunk
	bark
𒋢 kesh	skin
𒋢 su, 𒍜 uzu	body, flesh, meat
𒌀 ush	blood					血 xshe	blood
𒄊(𒉻𒁺) ngiri(padra)	bone					骨 gu	bone
𒉌𒇻𒉌𒇻 lib, 𒉌 i	fat
𒉭 nunuz
𒋛 si	horn
𒆲 kun
𒉺 pa	feather, wing	parr	feather, wing	طار tar	fly, wing
𒋠 siki	hair	ges	گیس hair
𒊕 sag	head/leader	sar / شاه shakh	head/leader			首 shou	head/leader
𒉿 ngeshtug	ear	گوش gush	ear
𒅆 igi	eye
𒅗 kiri	nose
𒅗 kag	mouth
𒅗 zu	tooth	gaz	bite
𒅴 eme	tongue
𒌢 umbin	finger, claw	engasht	finger
𒄊 ngiri	foot
𒄭 dub	knee
𒋗𒁕 shuda	hand	dast	hand	יָד yad	hand
	belly
	neck
𒃮 gaba, 𒁛 ubur	chest, breast			قَفَص qafas	chest
𒊮 shag	heart
𒄯 ur	liver	jigar	liver
𒅘 nang	to drink	noshidan	to drink
𒅥 gu	to eat
𒅗𒆕 zudu	to bite	gaz	to bite	gaza	to attack
𒅆𒂃 igi duh	to see	didan	to see
𒄑𒌇 ngesh tuku	to listen (hear?)	gush dadan	to listen
𒍪 zu	to know					知道 zhidao	to know
𒅇𒆪 uku	to sleep
𒌀 ush	to die
𒄤 gaz	to kill	gaz	to bite	gaza	to attack
𒉏 nim	to fly
𒁺 du, ngen, 𒌓𒁺 e, 𒁳 dib, 𒂊𒊑 ere	go, leave, pass, go
	to come
𒈿 nud	to lie
𒆪 tush	to sit
𒁺 gub	to stand
𒋧 shum	to give
𒅗 dug	to speak	دراییدن daraydan	to speak
𒌓 ud, 𒀭𒌓 utu	sun, sun god	آفتاب aftab	sun
𒌗 itud, 𒀭𒋀𒆠 nanna	moon, moon god
𒀯 mul	star
𒀊 ab	sea	ab	water
𒅎 im	rain			מָטָר matar	rain
𒌓𒊩𒄸 algamesh
𒅖 sahar	sand?	ماسِه mase, شن shen	sand	صحراء sahra	sand	沙 sha	sand
𒅎 im 𒅖 sahar	clay, mud, soil	rem	clay	חֵמָר hamar	clay
	cloud
𒄿𒉈 ibi	smoke
𒉈 izi	fire
𒉈 dedal 𒉈𒄯 nemur	ashes
𒋰 tab	burn	tab	to glow, to be warm, to heat
𒆜 kaskal, 𒄯𒊏 harran	way, path/route	راه rah	road, way	אֹרַח orah	to walk together
𒆳 kur	mountain	gar / kof	mountain/hill	גִבעָה gibaa	hill / mountain
𒋜 su	red	suxr, sarkh	red
𒆗 sissig	green	sabz	green
𒅊 sig	yellow	zard	yellow	صفر sifr	yellow
𒌓 bar	white, shine	bargh	shine
𒈪 giggig	black, dark			כֵּהֶה kaeh	dark
𒈪 ngi				غروب gharab	night, sunset
𒉈 kum	hot			kham	hot
𒈻 sed	cold	sard	cold
𒋤 sug	(to be) full	sir	full, satiated, fed up
𒉋 gibil	(to be / make / re-) new,
𒊷 sag	(to be) good			صالح	good
𒋗𒆸 shuningim	round, circular	charkhi	circular
𒌓 ah, 𒀀𒁀𒀠 abal, 𒌓𒆷 lah	dry	بی آب bi ab	dry
𒈬 mu	name	nam	name	اسم ism, שֵׁם shemem	name	名 ming	name, reputation
𒀜𒁕 adda	father	dada	elder			大 da	elder
𒋄 alal	pipe	lule	pipe	חליל halil	pipe
𒂼 ama	mother	madar	mother	אמא ama	mother	母 mu	mother
𒄯 ara	grind	ar(dan)	grind	جرش jarsh	grind
𒐋 ash	6	shesh	6	shesh	6
𒄑𒁁 bad, 𒈜 pah, 𒉽𒄬 pahal	leg	pad, pay, pa	leg	פעם pa'am	(foot)step	步 bu	foot
𒁮 dam	spouse	damad	bridegroom
𒁯 dar	split, slice	darr(idan)	split, tear
𒁲 did	lawsuit	dad	law	دعوى dawa, דִין din	law(suit)
𒀭 din(g)ir	god	den / denig	religion, religious			帝 di	god/emperor
𒌉 dumu	child, son, daughter	dukht	daughter	ذكر dukhir	son
𒂙 enkara	weapon	hanjal	dagger	خنجر khinjar	dagger
𒁹𒁹𒁹 esh	3	se	3	שלוש shlosh	3	三 san	3
𒂵 ga	milk	gaw	cow
𒊥 gud	warrior	gund	army / troop	אֲגוּדָה aguda	group / troop	軍 kun (old)	army
𒀭𒄩𒉌𒄷 haya	peacock	huma	magical paradise bird
𒆥 kin(g)	work	kar	work			⼯ kon (old)	work
𒇷𒇷𒄀𒄷 lilisig	stork	laklak	stork	اللقلق alliqalaq	stork
𒈲𒀀 mush	reptile	mushk	mouse/rat	רֶמֶשׁ remesh	insect / reptile
𒃻 ninda	bread	naan	bread
𒉽 pap	father	padar	father	أب ab	father	爸 ba	father
𒊊 piring	lion/leopard	polang	leopard
𒋃 shid	measure, number, count	s'g / shomar	number / count	סְפִירָה sfira	count	數 shu	count
𒋗 shu	arm	شاخ shakh	arm			手 shou	hand
𒋗𒋛 shusi	finger ('arm' + 'horn, ray, antenna')	شست shast	thumb			指 zhi	finger
𒋾 ti	arrow	tigr / tir	arrow			箭 tsien (middle)	arrow
𒍣 zi	life	zi(w)ishn	life	سيرة sira	life
𒆉 zu	tooth, blade, obsidian	zen	weapon	זַיִן zain	weapon	箭 tsien (middle)	arrow

Yet these don't mean much since most of the vocabulary, even the basic words, don't match at all. Looking at enkara, umbin, ga (green) we see it's a typical Indo-European language. Looking at the words for leg/hand/arm/finger/head (yellow) you can see this is clearly a language that is very close to Persian. Most amazing fact in this table is that sometimes I can't find a match in Semitic yet I can find it in Chinese: it's a sign of cultural transfer between Indo-Iranians and East Asians in Stone Age. Yet why is that we can't match the rest of the vocabulary as well as these?

THEORY

Maybe it's not a unique language but an Ancient Persian written kind of like complex Chinese characters which consist of simpler ones that provide combination of meanings, part of them clarify the context and classify the word and there are also phonetic characters which are not exactly describing pronunciation but hint you towards it, e.g.: flower + water + "L" = water lily. Chinese example yi 醫 (doctor) made of 5 simple characters匸, 矢, 又, 几, 酉:

匸 + 矢 = 医

几 + 又 = 殳

医 + 殳 = 殹

殹 + 酉 = 醫

If the 匸矢又几酉 sequence was found and deciphered with no knowledge of Chinese it'd be listed in dictionary as xi-shi-yu-ji-yu with meaning concealed 匸 arrow-like 矢 hand 又 tool 几 liquor 酉. OMG, is it the screw driver cocktail? The real meaning is doctor/medicine/treatment and is pronounced as a single sound yi. Cuneiform "words" are exactly such sequences, they never form a single complex Chinese-like character since you can't do it on a clay tablet. Thus several hundreds of distinct cuneiform symbols is more than enough to express dozens of thousands of meanings by just combining 2-5 glyphs semantically into a "word".

Linguists in general agree that this is how Shoomeru cuneiform worked, yet they claim they can restore phonetics and even grammar(!) of such writing. In the lexicon I linked above they list words with several versions of spelling and several meanings each. They list symbols like 𒋻 with dozen(!) pronunciations (aka phonetic values: kud, kut, qud, qut, sil, tar, šil, ḫaz/ḫas/ḫaṣ, ḫaš, ṭar) and dozen meanings (aka semantic values: street, heel, cut/break/incise, decide/claify, divide/separate, untie/loosen, scatter/disperse, outstanding dues). What is the point of a letter that can be pronounced dozen different ways? This is Europeans trying to fit something they don't understand into something they are used to. These are not symbols with phonetic values (aka letters), these are ideograms, just like Chinese characters: each has single original pronunciation and meaning, plus 5-10 more meanings (but not pronunciations) when combined with other ones. The original phonetic value sometimes is included in the result of the combination.

TESTS

My theory would explain the obviously wrong stork word lilisig that later became proper laklak. It was always lak-lak since that is the sound that stork makes when clapping his long beak - that's the original name, it was not derived from anything so no accidentally somewhat matching double-"L" lilisig could've existed before it. Li-li-sig is incorrectly read "L..." 𒇷 + "L..." 𒇷 + reed 𒄀 + bird 𒄷. They correctly ignored last semantic 𒄷 but read the 𒄀 (which also has few other meanings and suggested phonetic value sig). Yet it was also a semantic symbol in this case - look at the legs of the stork (picture below, left one) and that's exlanation on why reed symbol is there. All the other variations of stork "words":

• 𒇷𒇷𒁉𒄀𒄷 = "L...L..." + its 𒁉 + reed 𒄀
• 𒇷𒇷𒁉𒋝𒄷 = "L...L..." + its 𒁉 + thin 𒋝 (storks are thin)
• 𒈜𒈜𒁉𒋝𒄷 = they say 𒈜 is "L" too, but I think here it's used for its semantics: leg + its 𒁉 + thin 𒋝
• 𒇷𒇷𒄀𒅊𒅊𒄷 = "L...L..." + reed 𒄀 + double pale 𒅊𒅊 (storks are mostly white)

Note that only the first consonants of each syllable are recorded, which is no surprise since in many writing systems vowels were ignored. The idea that writing should describe pronounciation isn't that popular even in modern English. First writing systems wouldn't bother about it as well. Phonetics are only necessary if there is a reference to the particular sound of described object, as in this case, or if the personal name is referenced.

The 𒄀 character is also sometimes used to describe heron (igira) for the same reason - long stick-like legs. Yet heron makes no interesting sounds so no phonetics are used. Instead there is a semantic reference to its hunting neck "snap" movement via hit/strike 𒊏 or Grey Heron "hair" (picture above, right one) via (location 𒆠 +) head/top 𒊕 + woman 𒊩:

• 𒆠𒊕𒊩𒄷 = "hair"
• 𒊕𒊩𒄷 = "hair"
• 𒆠𒊕𒊩𒄿𒄀𒊏𒄷 = "hair" + cry 𒄿 (herons sound very bad) + reed 𒄀 + thin 𒋝 + "snap"
• 𒂊𒄀𒊏𒄷 = speek 𒂊 (probably also reference to unpleasant herons screeching) + reed 𒄀 + "snap"
• 𒄿𒄀𒊏𒄷 = cry 𒄿 + reed 𒄀 + "snap"
• 𒆠𒊕𒊩 = "hair"
• 𒉌𒄄𒊏𒄷 = beak like glyph 𒉌 + return 𒄄 (probably with meaning retract the head/beak like herons do) + "snap"

Let's dissect a much simpler/shorter word example with a more stable spelling and only two meanings - dubla:

• bird specie 𒁾𒇲𒄷
• gate tower 𒁾𒇲 or 𒄑𒁾𒇲

Can you imagine a language where words for bird and gate tower are homonyms? What we have here is a puzzle with several hieroglyphs:

• ngesh 𒄑 (wood) - sometimes specified for the gate tower
• dub/kishib 𒁾 (tablet/seal)
• lal 𒇲 (to hang/balance/suspend/weigh (out)/pay/to show/to stretch out)
• mushen 𒄷 (bird) - only specified for the bird specie

My hypothesis would be that the gate tower sounded just like it does in Persian because all the characters do is just describe it semantically: flat rectangular object, made of wood, hanging on something. This 100% semantic match means no symbols here are for the sake of phonetics at least in case of gate tower meaning.

For the bird specie I'd say it may be a peacock given large flat tail with seal-like spots on it that does stretch out and shows it all. The peacock is already claimed as 𒀭𒄩𒉌𒄷 which is obviously wrong since 𒀭 god classifier describes a supernatural object thus I mapped 𒀭𒄩𒉌𒄷 to magical Huma (homayo) bird depicted as a beautiful paradise bird. I think I'm right to do that since 𒀭 is still used as a symbol in Yazidi religion where they worship Peacock Angel. Left to right - Yazidi Peacock Angel with 𒀭 and 𐘾, Tengrism symbol and the Huma bird depiction from Uzbekistan (bird was warshiped by numerous nomadic people of Central Asia along with Tengri):

They've read 𒀭𒄩𒉌𒄷 as ha-ya from the suggested phonetical values of 𒄩𒉌 characters after stripping the 𒀭 and 𒄷 semantic classifiers. This is almost right but still not there: nobody recorded syllables just as nobody needed vowels. If first alphabets didn't do it, why would you suggest the cuneiform did this? With 𒀭 and 𒄷 classifiers how many characters do you need to identify it? They only recorded first consonants of first and last syllable (just like in the stork case). So all we should read is "H...Y..." and that would fit the original homayo bird name. That also explains the strange BAR.BAR name of Babylon - it's first consonants of each syllable of bab-b(a)r that became "B...B...".

CRRR...ITIQUE OF THE PHONETIC READING APPROACH

BTW, what do they think tiger sounded like in Shoomeru? They claim it's urshub based on just 7 very late occurences of that word. In those 7 occurences it was spelled 3 different ways, always using same 𒌨 symbol as used for dog, wolf and pretty much anything with teeth and fur. Are they really sure it was a tiger, not a dog? Compare to:

• dog as urgir 787 times with 7 spellings spread over a long period of time, 5 spellings use 𒌨
• wolf as urbara: 79 occurences, 5 spellings spread over a long period of time, 4 spellings use 𒌨
• lion as piring: 344 occurences, 9 spellings spread over a long period of time, 6 spellings use special 𒊊 symbol, none use 𒌨
• plus 7(!) more words for lion
• bear as az: 320 occurences, 2 spellings spread over a long period of time, all spellings use special 𒊍 symbol, none use 𒌨
• lion as ug: 52 occurences, 7 spellings spread over a long period of time, 3 spellings use special 𒊌 symbol, 3 use piring 𒊊 symbol, 1 uses az 𒊍 symbol, none use 𒌨
• leopard with nemur: 46 occurences, 9 spellings spread over a long period of time, 7 using piring 𒊊 symbol and 1 uses 𒌨 - I think they thought that since leopard has leo- in it, ... OK, but how come it sounds so different in a phonetic writing system?

Noticed a problem yet? Words as simple as tiger, lion or dog can't have that many variations of spelling. The only explanation is that this is not spelling, since this is not phonetical writing system. These statistics alone prove it.

The only reliable phonetics here is the r sound - a very old root coming from the rrr... sound all the dangerous furry biting creatures make. This one is in Russian zver (beast), Latin ferus (wild), ursa (bear), Persian babr (tiger), shagr (lion), gurg (wolf). It's no much help, but we got lucky - some of the words they "restored" still exist in languages of that region:

• 𒌨 = generic term for furry carnivorous animal
• 𒌨𒂠 ( + domesticated/rope) = dog, no modern matches for urgir, maybe survived in Persian as pars (to bark, also archaic form of panther, leopard or any kind of small trained hunting animal)
• 𒌨𒁇(𒊏) ( + outside/strange ( + strike/hit)) = wolf, no modern matches for urbara, survived in Persian as gurg (wolf)
• 𒊊 = piring = all big cats, survived in Persian as polang (leopard), Kurdish as piling (tiger)
• 𒊊𒌉 ( + small) nemur = tiger, leopard, survived only in Arabic/Hebrew as namir/nimr/namer (tiger, leopard), thus this is clearly Akkadian, not Sumerian
• 𒊍 = bear, I found no matches for az, the sign is same piring one with 𒍝 four symbol added at the bottom, we can suggest that this is actually Persian 4 (char) being used phonetically to hint towards something like Kurdish wirch (bear)
• 𒊌 = ug = this was actually a tiger (babr), - it's the same piring symbol with a 𒌓 white/shine symbol added at the bottom (tigers have white throat and belly):

Thus either Babylon name 𒌓𒆠𒌓 had nothing to do with tigers (but used the shine meaning of 𒌓), or it was a double pun usage of Middle Persian braz (shine) to phonetically record first consonants of each syllable of babr.

CONCLUSION

Given how well some of these "restored" words are preserved in modern languages, the fact that we don't see Persian shagr (lion) and babr (tiger) in this list, the fact that we can't find any trace of az (bear) and igira (heron) in modern languages, mean the "syllabic theory" is wrong. Names like ur-mah, urgir, urbara, az, igira were likely "phonetically" misread just like ug and same can be said about the rest of the "unique" language.

After they read phonetics from Akkadian transliterations they realized that same symbols sound different in different "words" and they invented the idea of "extra" phonetic values for the symbols to fit the syllabic writing system theory. Part of this may have been caused by Akkadian scribes not being consistent with their "grammar" as well, but not seeing the obvious for 100+ years ... I'm afraid they are doing the same with Crete Linear A/B ...

IDENTIFICATION OF SHOOMERU

The fact that vast majority of Shoomeru furry carnivore names appear in modern day Persian, Kurdish and some other Iranian languages yet not in Arabic or Hebrew proves that Sumerians were Persians. If they weren't Persians, but some unique people, influencing everybody around, they would've influenced Semithic people more, given that, according to mainstream science, Shoomeru were gone long before the Indo-Iranians came to the region. Thus either the dating of Shoomeru is wrong or the Indo-Iranians came to Mesopotamia much earlier than we thought.

NOTE ON SUMEROLOGY

These are, in theory, readable:

I still don't get how one can read these:

Can't tell where one symbol ends and other begins. Archaeological fakes? After about 100+ years of study the actual scientific material that shows how they matched glyphs from different periods to each other and deciphered phonetics from Akkadian transliterations and particular pictures of tablets used in each case is ... nowhere. You can't say it's negligence or under-financing: it's their full-time job and it's not expensive to do. BTW, the cuneiform symbols added to Unicode are not like anything you can see on publicly available images of tablets.

They claim extraordinary findings and yet show no proof. Do they hide something? What could it be? Nuclear secrets of ancients? Contacts with aliens? More like it's Persian origins and actual dating - much later events must have been mentioned in what they read. The dynasties that lasted for millennia with no visible progress mean they also fake results.

P.S. Now that we know the cuneiform was hieroglyphics, we can suggest that Shoomeru name symbols 𒋗𒈨𒊒 were a semantic message: hand/handwriting + priest/spell/pure + remove/fall/drop/give up. At least handwriting + priest or spell + remove combinations do make some sense.