EN (cuneiform)

Originally, it seems to have been used to designate a high priest or priestess of a Sumerian city-state's patron-deity[2] – a position that entailed political power as well.

Earlier Emeg̃ir (the standard dialect of Sumerian) forms can be postulated as *ewen or *emen, eventually dropping the middle consonant and becoming the familiar EN.

[3] The 1350 BC Amarna letters use EN for bêlu, though not exclusively.

The more common spelling is mostly be + li, to make bêlí, or its equivalent.

Most of the uses are in the letter introduction, formulaic addresses to the pharaoh, stating typically to effect: Bodies of the letters also repeat the phraseology of "king" or "my lord", sometimes doubly as in letter EA 34, (using be-li, as bêlu), "The pharaoh's reproach answered", by the king of Alashiya.

Cuneiform sign " EN ", for "Lord" or "Master": evolution from the pictograph of a throne circa 3000 BC on a plaque in the name of Goddess Inanna , followed by simplification and rotation down to circa 600 BC. [ 1 ]