From ki-en-gi to Šumerum: how Sumer was Created?

Abstract

This paper deals with the gradual formation of the Sumerian tradition, about which most information came from Old Babylonian sources (first quarter of the second millennium BC). In these sources, the territory, people, language and tradition are named šumerum, and according to bilingual texts (Babylonian-Sumerian), the Sumerian compound that corresponds to that name is ki-en-gi. I analyzed the texts in which the Sumerian name appears, from the Early Dynastic I-II period (around 2700 BC) until the end of third third millennium BC. My intention was to see how the meaning of ki-en-gi transformed over the course of 700 years until it was eventually equated with šumerum. Along with the change in the meaning and orthography of that Sumerian name, I also investigate the socio-political changes in Southern Mesopotamian society that influenced the creation of a special Sumerian tradition. Within the Babylonian culture, Sumerian became a unique culture that is understood as the origin of urban life in the Mesopotamian kingdoms, and Sumerian acquired the status of the language of culture and education.