Skip to main content
Sumerian

Sumerian

14 8.3
Relating to ancient Sumer, its people, or its culture
  • adjective
  • /suˈmɪrɪən/
: sumerio
  • The inhabitants returned south to the Near East, where their suffering was memorialized by the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh and, later, by the tale of Noah's Flood.
  • Sumerian city

The Vatican translated some Sumerian documents and called it a temple state.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Predating the Sinaic theophany by a millennium, however, are the Sumerian tales of the goddess Inanna, inscribed in cuneiform on clay tablets.

    Academic text (2010)
  • The ancient Sumerian city is within Tallil Air Force Base, near Nasiriya, Iraq.

    Academic text (2011)
  • The Sumerian concept of law and order appears to be the first historical answer to that question.

    Academic text (1991)
  • So one principle is that you have one Sumerian sign for one word.

  • You can go into any Sumerian exhibit and see what I am about to tell you.

  • "Genesis" came from the Sumerian epic of creation.

  • About 3000 B.C.E., Sumerian society became the first literate society in the world.

    Academic text (1990)
  • In Mesopotamia, intensive, irrigated agriculture and the consequent salinization and waterlogging of the fields destroyed the basis for Sumerian society.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Bound in human flesh and inked in blood, this ancient Sumerian text contained bizarre burial rites, funerary incantations and demon resurrection passages.

  • The ancient Sumerian culture is known for its remarkable contributions to writing and architecture.

Synonyms

Mesopotamian
vsSumerian
3 7.7

Relating to the ancient region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers or to its people and culture

is specific to one ancient people rather than the broader regional group

Surface Forms

Sumerian positive

Morphology

Sumerian = Sumer (transparent) = Sumer + ian

The adjective is formed by adding the productive suffix '-ian' to the place name 'Sumer' to mean 'of or relating to Sumer'.

Etymology

Sumerian comes from the ancient place name Sumer, and it describes anything 'of or about Sumer', like the people, language, or culture of that early civilization.