TI (cuneiform)

With the determinative UZU 𒍜 "flesh, meat", UZUTI, it means "rib".

The text originated in an ancient Sumerian writing exercise, beginning with the signs TU, TA, and TI, and then a word built of these three signs TU-TA-TI, then NU, NA, and NI, and so forth, presumably to be read aloud in class while practicing to write.

This "TU-TA-TI" instructional text was studied in all the languages that used Cuneiform and found in the archaeological remnants of many cultures.

In the Epic, Sumerogram TI is used for the Akkadian language word "balāṭu", for "life; to live", as "TI.LA", in one location, Tablet XI 174, (and replacement in two locations, also as TI.LA in Tablets X, and XI).

For example, on the reverse of EA 365, subject of corvee labor, harvesting, lines 17 and 18 translate as follows:[4]

Cuneiform TI sign
TA-TU-TI scribe study tablet Artifact AD AO 5399 now found in the Louvre museum]. Old Babylonian period, c. 1800-1700 BC.
Amarna letter EA 365 (reverse, top half), Biridiya to Pharaoh, (subject corvee labor, and townsites: Shunama, Yapu, and Nuribta ).
The "alphabetic" ti sign is used in the 3rd and 4th lines from the top (lines 17 and 18).
(high resolution, expandible photo)