𒂗𒈨𒅕𒃸

𒂗𒈨𒅕𒃸 (en-me-er-kár, Enmerkar) is a Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform input method for macOS and Windows.

Installation

Windows: Download Enmerkar.msi for the latest release, and run it. In the installer, select an appropriate keyboard layout (be that one in which you touch type, or the one matching your physical keyboard).

macOS: Download Enmerkar.pkg for the latest release, and run it. Log out, and log back in. In the Input Sources settings, press the + button to add an input source; choose 𒂗𒈨𒅕𒃸 from the list of input methods for the Akkadian language, and press Add.

Note: The flat package puts Enmerkar.app in /Library/Input Methods. However, this is not an app that can be launched directly; instead, it is registered among the input methods at the next login, hence the logout-login step in the installation instructions. Once registered, it behaves like any other keyboard layout or input method.

Usage

Once the above installation steps are complete, the list of keyboard layouts in the Windows Language bar or macOS Input menu should have a new entry.

Windows:

macOS:

Notes.

On Windows, the language of the input method is Syriac, rather than Akkadian, because Windows does not support arbitrary language codes in the relevant API, and instead uses the deprecated LANGID, which only supports a relatively small set of languages, and in particular has no equivalent to akk. We apologize for the inconvenience.
The icon, which, for Windows keyboard layouts, is normally an abbreviation of the language names (ΕΛ, ENG, FRA, РУС, etc.), is here 𒀝, consistent with 𒀝𒅗𒁺𒌑; note that the IME can also be used to type Elamite, Hittite, or Sumerian (its default layouts all have the letter ŋ).

Select this IME to type Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform signs.

When using the IME, typing a transliteration will bring up a menu with possible completions, as shown below. Pressing the spacebar ␣ or the enter key ⏎ will cause the selected sign to be entered, as illustrated in the table below.

<table> <tr> <th> Sample compositions </th> <th> Candidate window after typing <code>e</code> </th> </tr> <tr> <td>

| Keys | Output | |---|---| |a ␣ | 𒀀 | |n a ␣ | 𒈾 | |a ␣ n a ␣ | 𒀀𒈾 | |e ␣ | 𒂊 | |e 2 ␣ | 𒂍 | |d ␣ 3 0 ␣ | 𒀭𒌍 | |d ␣ s i n ␣ | 𒀭𒌍 |

</td> <td> <img src=https://github.com/eggrobin/Enmerkar/assets/2284290/40c868f6-8a87-48c1-9949-21ee03279903 width=300> </td> </tr> </table>

Besides typing the whole transliteration, signs other than the first candidate can be selected using the arrow keys (thus e ↓ ␣ also outputs 𒂍); they can also be entered by clicking on the candidate window. The page up and page down keys may be used to navigate to candidates beyond the first ten; for instance, as of this writing, e ⇟ will display 𒇯𒁽 e₁₂ through 𒂗𒋾 ebeḫ.

Spelling

We use j rather than i̯ or y, w rather than u̯, ŋ rather than g̃ or ĝ, ḫ rather than h. Keys are assigned to the letters ŋ, ḫ, ṣ, š, ś, and ṭ (see below for their placement); they should not be entered as digraphs.

Word separation

For the sake of editability, linebreaking, and searchability, we recommend that you separate words; this can be done without introducing unsightly spaces using the zero-width space, which may be entered using the transliteration /.

The Old Assyrian word divider 𒑰 can serve the same function (while it looks similar to DIŠ 𒁹, it is a different character, recognized by Unicode as punctuation, and thus it breaks words for the purposes of text processing). It may be entered as /v.

Examples below. Note that thanks to the word separation, if you double-click on the cuneiform text below, a single word will* be selected, instead of the whole text; in the case of the Sumerian text, a search engine will then readily find the uninflected words in ePSD2.

| Key sequences | Output | |---|---| | e␣ nu␣ ma␣ /␣ e␣ liš␣ /␣ la␣ /␣ na␣ bu␣ u2␣ /␣ ša2␣ ma␣ mu␣ /␣ šap␣ liš␣ /␣ am␣ ma␣ tum␣ /␣ šu␣ ma␣ /␣ la␣ /␣ zak␣ rat␣ | 𒂊𒉡𒈠​𒂊𒇺​𒆷​𒈾𒁍𒌑​𒃻𒈠𒈬​𒉺𒅁𒇺​𒄠𒈠𒌈​𒋗𒈠​𒆷​𒍠𒋥 | | a␣ na␣ /␣ d␣ en␣ lil2␣ ba␣ ni␣ /␣ qi2␣ bi2␣ ma␣ /v␣ um␣ ma␣ /␣ ta␣ ri␣ iš␣ ma␣ tum␣ ma␣ | 𒀀𒈾​𒀭𒂗𒆤𒁀𒉌​𒆠𒉈𒈠𒑰𒌝𒈠​𒋫𒊑𒅖𒈠𒌈𒈠 | | ud␣ bi␣ ta␣ /␣ inim␣ /␣ im␣ ma␣ /␣ gub␣ bu␣ /␣ nu␣ ub␣ ta␣ ŋal2␣ la␣ /␣ i3␣ ne␣ eš2␣ /␣ d␣ utu␣ /␣ ud␣ ne␣ a␣ /␣ ur5␣ /␣ ḫe2␣ en␣ na␣ nam␣ ma␣ am3␣ | 𒌓𒁉𒋫​𒅗​𒅎𒈠​𒁺𒁍​𒉡𒌒𒋫𒅅𒆷​𒉌𒉈𒂠​𒀭𒌓​𒌓​𒉈𒀀​𒄯​𒃶𒂗𒈾𒉆𒈠𒀀𒀭 |

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* We are told this does not work on Firefox, though it works fine on Chrome, Edge, Safari, and even Internet Explorer.

Typing transliterated Sumerian and Akkadian

Typing while the shift key is pressed types the letters directly without attempting to compose cuneiform signs.

| Keys | Output | |---|---| | ⇧a | a | | ⇧n ⇧a | na | | ⇧s ⇧a ⇧n ⇧t ⇧a ⇧k ⇧4 | santak₄ |

While caps lock is on, all keys are typed directly, making it easier to type longer stretches of transliteration; further pressing the shift key types capital letters (or other symbols; in particular the acute and grave accents and the full stop are mapped to the shifted versions of 2, 3, and -; see below).

| Keys (caps lock on) | Output | |---|---| | a - n a ␣ ⇧k ⇧a ⇧2 ⇧- ⇧d ⇧i ⇧n ⇧g ⇧i ⇧r ⇧- ⇧r ⇧a ⇧k ⇧i | a-na KÁ.DINGIR.RA.KI |

The key ¹ (a shifted key in the default layouts; see below for its placement) has the special effect of making a following +, -, d, f, or m superscript, and a following digit non-subscript; typing it twice yields an actual superscript 1: | Keys (caps lock on) | Output | |---|---| | d u n 3 ¹ + | dun₃⁺ | | ¹ d ¹ 3 ¹ 0 | ᵈ30 | | ¹ ¹ ⇧a ⇧n ⇧- ⇧š ⇧a ⇧2 ⇧r ⇧- ⇧d ⇧u ⇧3 ⇧- ⇧a | ¹AN.ŠÁR.DÙ.A |

Layout

The letters that are not part of the basic latin alphabet may have been assigned various keys; the otherwise unused letters C, H, O, Y have consistently been repurposed as Š, Ḫ, Ś, Ŋ respectively; the placement of Ṣ and Ṭ is more haphazard. The table below shows the default layouts.

Windows: The layout is chosen as part of the installation process.

macOS: The layout is chosen based on the last used keyboard layout: switching to 𒂗𒈨𒅕𒃸 from a QWERTY keyboard means that 𒂗𒈨𒅕𒃸 uses the QWERTŊ layout.

<table> <thead><tr><th>AZERTŊ</th><th>QWERTŊ</th><th>QWERTZ</th><th>ʾṢṬPŊF (Dvorak)</th></tr></thead> <tbody><tr><td> <pre> ⫶ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 × + a z e r t ŋ u i ś p ʾ ṣ q s d f g ḫ j k l m ṭ * w x š v b n / - : ! </pre> </td><td> <pre> ⫶ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - + q w e r t ŋ u i ś p [ ] \ a s d f g ḫ j k l : ʾ z x š v b n m ṣ ṭ / </pre> </td><td> <pre> ̂ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ʾ ̄ q w e r t z u i ś p ṭ + a s d f g ḫ j k l ṣ ⫶ \ ŋ x š v b n m / : - </pre> </td><td> <pre> ⫶ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 [ ] ʾ ṣ ṭ p ŋ f g š r l / + \ a ś e u i d ḫ t n s - : q j k x b m w v z </pre> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table> <thead><tr><th>AZERTŊ</th><th>QWERTŊ</th><th>QWERTZ</th><th>ʾṢṬPŊF (Dvorak)</th></tr></thead> <tbody><tr><td> <pre> ¹ ‹ ́ ̀ › ( « ⸢ \ ⸣ » ) = A Z E R T Ŋ U I Ś P ̂ Ṣ Q S D F G Ḫ J K L M Ṭ ̄ W X Š V B N ? . [ ] </pre> </td><td> <pre> ¹ ! ́ ̀ « » ̂ ̄ * ( ) . = Q W E R T Ŋ U I Ś P ⸢ ⸣ × A S D F G Ḫ J K L ‹ › Z X Š V B N M Ṣ Ṭ ? </pre> </td><td> <pre> × ! ́ ̀ « » [ ] ( ) = ? ¹ Q W E R T Z U I Ś P Ṭ * A S D F G Ḫ J K L Ṣ ⸢ ⸣ Ŋ X Š V B N M ‹ › . </pre> </td><td> <pre> ¹ ! ́ ̀ « » ̂ ̄ * ( ) ⸢ ⸣ ‹ Ṣ Ṭ P Ŋ F G Š R L ? = × A Ś E U I D Ḫ T N S . › Q J K X B M W V Z </pre> </td></tr></tbody></table>

Windows: The layout may be customized by editing the file %APPDATA%\mockingbirdnest\Enmerkar\layout.txt according to the instructions in that file.

Backspacing

Since version 𒀭𒄑𒉈𒂵𒈩, recently^{<a href=#fn1 id=ref-fn1>1</a>} entered signs that are represented as sequences of Unicode code points are backspaced as they have been typed wherever possible^{<a href=#fn2 id=ref-fn2>2</a>}. Thus, typing d i r i ␣ ⌫ emits the text 𒋛𒀀 an