The following sign groups are given in the order they appear in the draft concordance which is in process. There is no implication that the published version will stick to this order. Numerous improvements are possible. From the point of view of a standard encoding for Cuneiform, this grouping is useful primarily in order to have those signs grouped together which have arisen from the same roots (viewed historically, splits), and in order to have those signs grouped together which it is important we distinguish from each other and which are similar enough they can be confused. (In the case of later mergers, we often cannot do this simply by a single grouping, but instead must have separate lists of mergers of signs whose origins are quite diverse.)

Index to the Sign Concordance 4/1/2004 Lloyd B. Anderson
Please note that the groupings are for convenience, aiming primarily to bring together those signs which are either etymologically related or which share paths of development in form (form changes analogous to sound changes). English labels of groupings are therefore secondary and may not be fully inclusive; the sign components given in uppercase are primary. Notes on editorial and other modifications in progress for this concordance are at the end of this index.

Page number is given first.

Numbers
1 Punctuation and Fractions
2 Numbers – Fractions of Volume Measures
3 Numbers - Volumes BAN2, BARIG (parts of one GUR)
4 Numbers - units ASH and family; diagonal numbers
5 Numbers - Tens U and family
6 Numbers - Sixties (or units depending on what counted) DISH and family
Need to add an entire page for GESH2 and family, and recognize the split
of archaic units into ASH vs. DISH, later merger of GESH2 and DISH.
7 Numbers - 600s to 7200s -- GESHU, BURU, SHAR2
8 Numbers - SHAR2 x 10, 20, etc. multiples of 36,000
9 Numbers Ligatures with "day" - days, months, years --
strokes above archaic signs treated as combining characters

Animals
10 Serpents
11 Wind / ADAD; Crabs
12 Fish
13 Fish dried filets (?) and fishlike misc. archaic not securely identified
14 Birds; Nim & relatives
15 Insects (UTUA2 as container, resembles DAG.KISIM5)
16 Bulls (UTUA2 as container, continued); Eared Animals HUBUR as container
17 Cows; Calves
18 Horned Cattle
19 Pigs; Dogs
20 Eared animals ALIM, GIR3, PIRIG
21 Equines ANSHE, KISH etc.; SHEG9, DARA3
22 Sheep and Goats

Human Beings
23 Female SAL = MUNUS
24 Male
25 Diamond, Lens-shaped Signs SHIR, HI,
26 HI continued; Eggs, Beads, NUNUZ
27 Adults, Children
28 Heart; Leaves, Ears PI = GESHTU
29 The Body
30 Abstract Legs: Tables, Beds; Statues
31 Feet, Legs
32 Legs (dance, fall); the Arm / Side; Claws, Talons
33 Hands
34 The Person LU2;
35 The Person LU2; LUGAL great person; king
36 The Head SAG and derivatives
37-39 The Mouth KA and derivatives
40 Headdresses; Offices; Officials

Standards; Landscapes; Buildings
41 The INANNA Standard; INANNA
42 Standards: Trees, Cane UN / KALAM; TIR
43 The NUN Standard, TUR3, and LAGAR,
44 Huts or Hills DUL, DU6, TU, AD,
45 Mountains, LAM, Valleys RU, Fields GAN2
46 The EN Sign (? Harvest ?)
47 Cities, Countries KI, NA
48 Water: ZA, A, SUD2
49 Water: Ditches E, Tray LISH, Trading center? TE, deluge GUR8, wash LUH
50 Palace Gates E2, KA2; Halls DAG
51 …UR3, KID
52 Pyramids? Temple Households AB (ESH3 Jemdet Nasr)
53-54 Large Buildings URU and derivatives; BARA2
55-56 Four Quarters; Festivals EZEN and derivative

Tools
57 Sharp Tools, Needles, Drills BULUG, NAGAR, GU, BUR2, GIR2, MUG, ZADIM
58 Hammer, Hook, Claw, Hoe KAK, TUK, UR4, AL
59 Shovels, Ploughs, Axes MAR, APIN, DUN3; also IB
60 Metal URUDA; Bow (as used with arrow) PAN, ERIM; DIM2
61 Containers: Boat, Basin, Sledge, Horn MA2,GUR, DIR, GURUSH, KAL, SI
62 Fire, Oven, Forge, Blacksmith, Torch NE, UMUM, BAHAR2, EDIN,
and KAD4, NIMGIR, SUKKAL
63 Shining, Metal, Bright ["energetic"] KUG, GASHAN, IGI energetic
and Musical Instruments BALAG
64 Seeing, Vision BA, IGI

Plants
65 Plants, Branches, SHE SUM, NAGA (see also page 42 TIR etc.)
66 Orchards; Hanging Fruit SAR, MA, HASHHUR; also GIBIL
67 GISH, GESHTIN (see also page PA)
68 Reeds etc. GI, ZI, GI4

The Sky
69 Covers; The Vault of the Night Sky SHU4 (late merges to U), SHU2,
and the dark sky MI, DUGUD, GIG, LU3
70 Stars AN, NAB, MUL, ZIB; Regions of the Universe SHESHLAM, UB;
and Wind ASH2, ISH, ZIZ2
71 Setting and Rising Sun SIG, UD, Counting Days ITI [see also page 9; ligatures]

72 Shapes UM, DUB, SHID / SANGA

Textiles
73 Textiles GAD, ARKAB, many archaic URUK signs (backstrap looms?); 'to make' AG
74 Wool KIN, SIG2; Bundles EREN, GUR7, MUNSHUB, SHESH2 etc.
75 KU, DUR2; NAM2, TUG2; SHE3 = ESH2, ZI3; KIB, KESH2
76 Reed mat U2; Leather ZU, SU

Enclosures
77-80 LAGAB with many derivatives (square or in archaic signs also round)
81-84 GA2 with many derivatives (flat baskets? Englund)
85 Enclosures in archaic Cuneiform and in Fara: ZATU 737, ZATU 762

Containers: Bowls, Jars, etc.
86 Covered Bowls with Round Bottoms: GAR (= NINDA daily ration, the beveled-rim bowl),
SUR, BUR, and derivatives
87 Covered Bowls with Flat Bottoms: SHITA; SHA, LI; ESHDA
88 Bowls etc. with Pointed Bottoms: NI, IN, IR, and also ZATU184 ('cheese'? Englund)
89-90 Open Container with Flat Bottom: SILA3 (in archaic with many derivatives)
90 Pointed-Bottom Containers DIM, GAKKUL, MUN
91 Container-on-Base sign TA (also KU7, GU2 x HI; ZATU714, ZATU249, ZATU87)
92 Container Signs GU2, GA
93 Pointed- and Flat-Bottom Container Signs BI = KASH and SHIM; GISAL
94 Globular Container Signs PISAN2, SHEN, UKKIN
95-97 Pointed-Bottom Container Sign DUG with many derivatives
98 Container Sign with Footing GAN; SHAGAN
99 Pinted-Bottom Container Signs ZATU KISIM (?) and MUD3; ZATU126 DUR;
Flat-Bottom Container Sign MAH with derivatives
100-102 Container Sign NINDA2 with many derivatives

Intersecting Lines
102 PA
103 Fall, Break Down, Crush GAM, Old Assyrian 1/4, 1/6; MURGU2, LUM; and SIG4
104 HAL, TAR, NU, PAP, KASKAL, SHUSHUR2
105 LAL, LAL2, and derivatives
106 ME, BAD, TIL, IDIM; GURUN
107 Perpendicular Lines MASH, BAR
108-109 Awaiting classification; and a number not yet identified with later signs (though a number are also included in preceding pages because of the identifications ZATU proposes with later signs, even though those identifications are quite doubtful)

Modifications expected in the next draft or in the published form:
A. So various of the archaic forms will show up much more clearly, their images will be larger and printing will be in higher resolution.
B. The column for Unicode numbers ("UTC") will be dropped from the concordance pages themselves, (they have been included only so as to make this in-progress work more useful for the encoding process). Unicode character numbers will be contained instead in a separate index to the concordance. There will equally be indexes from the other sign lists, and notes on items excluded or items still not assigned a place in the concordance.
C. Triage will be completed on the not-yet-encoded items currently assigned the value "ooooo" in the column for Unicode numbers, based on all lines of evidence available. A few items are already now given the value "xxxxx" in that column, which means they are surely not single signs. Some others which in the last column of each double page are marked "-" for sequence-compounds will also be marked more consistently with that value "xxxxx". That last column has not been recently updated, and will be.
D. Full analyses of the relation between signs and components in the Cuneiform sign corpus will be included. A sample of one line of analysis is in the very first pages of this draft of the concordance, showing that derivatives of LAGAR (such as LAGAR x SHE) do not predict derivatives of TUR3 (such as TUR3 x MASH, TUR3 x USH, TUR3 x GAR), and that therefore TUR3 is a single component and immediate constituent of signs like TUR3 x GAR, that these are not correctly analyzed as NUN.(LAGAR x GAR) with (LAGAR x GAR) as an immediate constituent, but rather as (NUN.LAGAR) x GAR. This is one of the lines of argument that TUR3 (which has been named "NUN.LAGAR" by some) is a single sign in the functioning of the writing system, not merely a nonce sequence of signs.
E. A column for analytical comments will be added back into the printed form of the concordance pages (one reason for excluding the column of UTC numbers).
F. Material on sign names (at least from Gong Yushu's work and from Miguel Civil's version of the DIRI list) will be mined for relevant information
G. Substantial attention will be paid to correcting sign meanings (focusing on the oldest documentable usage as well as on some of the interesting transitions of meaning in later developments of Cuneiform)
H. The terms "gunu" and 'tenu" will be rendered more accurately as "gunû" and "tenû".