The cuneiform hi/he sign, (and its Sumerograms), has many uses in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh; also other texts, for example Hittite texts. It is also used to form a second usage of the plural HI.A, . The more common plural is Meš, found in sub-varieties of the sign, a vertical (left), and a horizontal, with 3 wedges, in various position(right); (a digital form)-.

Cuneiform sign for hi/he. Also DǛG, HI, and ŠÁR.
Crop of (Reverse) of Amarna letter EA 245, showing cuneiform hi, beginning of spelling of city-state Hannathon. (7th line from top, last sign)
Spelled on line 32, Hi-na-tu-na.
(very high resolution, expandible photo)

The alphabetic/syllabic uses and Sumerograms of the 'hi' sign from the Epic of Gilgamesh:[1]

he
hi
DÙG (Sumerogram)s
HI
ŠÁR, = Akkadian šar,[2] (3600), (area of land).

Its usage numbers from the Epic of Gilgamesh are as follows:[1] he-(5), hi-(86), DǛG-(3), HI-(6), and ŠÁR-(13).

References

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  1. ^ a b Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Sign List, pp. 155-165, no. 396, p. 162.
  2. ^ Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Glossary, pp. 119-145, šar, p. 141.
  • Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. 393 pages.(softcover, ISBN 0-8018-6715-0)
  • Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Parpola, Simo, Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, c 1997, Tablet I thru Tablet XII, Index of Names, Sign List, and Glossary-(pp. 119–145), 165 pages.