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# sumerian

adjective (Sumerian); noun (a Sumerian, Sumerians; Sumerian, the language)

«sumerian» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Sumerian means from or to do with Sumer, one of the world's first civilisations, in southern Mesopotamia (now southern Iraq), about 5,000 years ago. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sumerian/#m1)
2. A Sumerian was a person from Sumer. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sumerian/#m2)
3. Sumerian is the language they spoke, written in cuneiform, one of the oldest written languages. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sumerian/#m3)

### In the lessons

History lessons: the Sumerians built some of the first cities (like Ur and Uruk), invented an early form of writing (cuneiform, pressed into clay tablets with a reed), and used a number system based on 60, which is why we have 60 minutes in an hour and 360 degrees in a circle. They built ziggurats (stepped temples) and told the story of Gilgamesh.

### Examples

- The Sumerians wrote on clay tablets. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sumerian/#x1)
- Sumerian cities were built between two rivers. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sumerian/#x2)
- We made Sumerian cuneiform with lolly sticks and clay. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sumerian/#x3)
- Our 60 minutes in an hour comes from the Sumerian way of counting. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sumerian/#x4)
- Ur was a great Sumerian city. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sumerian/#x5)
- The Sumerian king Gilgamesh is the hero of a very old story. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sumerian/#x6)
- Sumerian is not related to any language spoken today. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sumerian/#x7)

### Note

Always capital S. Said «soo-MAIR-ee-un» or «soo-MEER-ee-un». Sumer is not the same as «summer». Sumerian is a language isolate: no known living relatives.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «sumerian» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sumerian/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«sumerian» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/sumerian.html) on Mova free.