Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon
Dr. Rykle Borger, Goettingen University, has kindly consented to providing ICE with a pre-publication copy of the first chapter of the upcoming new edition of his cuneiform sign list. In this new edition the sign list is re-ordered and expanded to 954 signs.

The lists: MZ 1, MZ 2, MZ 3, MZ 4, MZ 5, MZ 6, MZ 7, MZ 8, MZ 9, MZ 10, MZ 11, MZ 12, MZ 13

[Out of respect for the intellectual property rights of Borger only those portions of chapter 1 have been put on the web which directly pertain to the work of the Initiative for Cuneiform Encoding; representations of the content of these pages are to be used solely for ICE projects. For various reasons the pages have been scanned, re-shuffled, and published here as low resolution graphic images. All keyboard input information in the originals has been removed. Borger's transliteration scheme will be easily recognized by cuneiformists.]

Summary

Chapter 1 of Rykle Borger's Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon is titled "Tabellarische Zusammenstellung der Keilschriftzeichen".

In the single page introduction to the sign table, Borger:

1) mentions previous cuneiform sign ordering systems;

2) introduces his new ordering system;

3) suggests that one use Fossey's numbers (Manuel d'assyriologie II) to indicate actual cuneiform sign form variants and his numbers for the neo-Assyrian signs - e.g. citing his variant number 4 of sign 13 as "AkkRB 13v4";

4) explains his notation (e.g., v = variant, lig = ligature)

Borger's New Sign Order

Borger has the following to say about the system of sign ordering introduced, and expanded, by Delitzsch, Bruennow, and Deimel (depicted in this graphic):

"Im einzelnen ist dieses System mehrfach inkonsequent. Die von Deimel vorgenommene (von Labat, von mir, usw. uebernommene) Zeichennumerierung ist sehr unpraktisch. In SL 1.3 hat Deimel eine neue Numerierung vorgenommen, aber auch diese hat ihre Schattenseite.

"Bei der Vorbereitung des vorliegenden Buches habe ich die Keilschriftzeichen neu angeordnet und neu numeriert, und zwar nach der Reihenfolge:"

In an appendix to chapter 1 Borger lists his "hundert einfachen Zeichen".

In a five-page excursus to chapter 1, titled "Keilschrift auf dem Komputer", Borger details his and others work in designing cuneiform fonts.