KÚR
KÚR
Cuneiform sign
The cuneiform KÚR sign is used extensively in the Amarna letters. It also has a minor usage in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Its usage in the Amarna letters is due to the letters' topics of "hostilities", "war", or "warfare" in the discord amongst the city-states and the regional discord in the Canaan region. A large subset of the Amarna letters are written by vassal kings in governorship of cities, towns or regions in Canaan.
The sign is a simple two-stroke sign, a horizontal (or slight upward-stroke) with a stroke slashing downwards across its center. The end result cuneiform sign is easily compared to a "squashed-X" alphabetic.
KÚR is used and is defined as a capital-letter Sumerogram (majuscule), and specifically in the Akkadian language has the meaning of "warfare", "hostility", Akkadian nukurtu.[1] Any syllabic cuneiform sign with 'n' or 't' can supply the beginning or end of "nukurtu".