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Is KU.ŠIM ('Kushim') in the Uruk III barley accounts a person's name or an office?

Asked 3 Nov 2026 by ·Part of Do the roughly 440 personal names in the archaic texts follow Sumerian, Semitic or some other naming pattern?·2 answers·0·0 following
Two answers, none aheadNone is ahead yet. See what would settle it.

Where it stands

Two answers have been proposed. None is ahead on the evidence yet. Two are still possible.

Why it matters

Kushim is popularly called the first recorded person's name, but Nissen, Damerow and Englund left open whether it names a person, an office or an institution. Settling it would fix one name the field (and the public) cites, and test whether names and titles can be told apart in these accounts at all.

Answers 2

A person
Evidence for it, no test yet
Evidence: 1 for
Still possible
Evidence: none yet
Still possible

Next steps 2

1
Slot test: what fills the SANGA + X slot
Could shiftFair odds~2 h
17score
Details

Collect every Uruk III entry with SANGA and one other sign group. If the other groups are mostly marked names, Kushim in that slot is a name; if they are mostly institutions or goods, it is an office or unit.

2
Read the Kushim tablets' headers and totals
Adds evidencePoor odds · needs a person~4 h
3score
Details

Do a close reading of the MSVO 3 Kushim tablets (photos on CDLI). If KU.ŠIM stands where seal-holders or responsible persons stand, it is a person; if it stands where institutions or recipients stand, it is an office.

Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes

History

  1. Robert K. Englund: kushim: confined to one archive, absent from the title lists, often written beside SANGAFor: A person
  2. Session 9: raised the question, proposed two answers, ran one test and found one result bearing on its answers
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