Lugal (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Lugal, Sumerian for leader from LU.GAL "man, big" was one of several Sumerian titles that a ruler of a city-state could bear (alongside en and ensi, the exact difference being a subject of debate), and eventually became the predominant Sumerian term for a king in general. In the Sumerian language, lugal is used to mean an owner (e.g. of a boat or a field) or a head (of a unit such as a family). The cuneiform sign LUGAL (Borger nr. 151, Unicode U+12217) serves as a determinative in cuneiform texts (Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite), indicating that the following word is the name of a king. In Akkadian orthography, it may also be a syllabogram ar, acrophonically based on the Akkadian for "king," arrum. There are different theories regarding the meaning of the title lugal in 3rd millenium Sumer. Some scholars believe that a ruler of an individual city-state was usually called ensi, and a ruler that headed a confederacy or larger dominion composed of several cities, perhaps even the whole of Sumer, was a lugal.