Sumerian Cuneiform Bag

The writing of ancient Sumeria, in the Uruk period (4000-3100 BCE), involved a system of symbols, also called ideograms, ideographs, pictograms and pictographs that express an idea through a picture. The Sumerian ideogram for woman was a pubic triangle. Sumerian for woman is munus (moo-noose). The Sumerians referred to themselves as ùg sag gíg-ga, phonetically u? sa? giga, which means "the black-headed people". Sumerian is a name given to them by the conquering patriarchal Akkadians. An interesting note to the Sumerian are the reforms of Urukagina, from about 2300 BCE, after the PIE (Proto-Indo-Uropean) invasions. It showed that the culture was previously communal. They speak of fruit trees and food from temple lands that were for the feeding of those in need, which the later PIE priests were taking. The tablets mentioning these reforms speak of the ways that things were done in an earlier time, using the reform word amargi, which means freedom and return to the mother.

The Akkadians had a caste system, which involved priests in charge of writing. These scribes took the ideogram for woman and turned it counter clockwise. When the patriarchal priesthood standardized the writing with wedge shaped reeds in the clay, the cuneiform looked like this.

In different waves, from 4000 – 2500 BCE, you see archaeological evidence of sudden invasions and occupations of these agriculturalists by the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) cultures. Some of the villages are burned and rebuilt in the fashion of the PIE cultures, with walls, temples and larger structures for the elites. The women and children often are kept alive and used as slaves. “Linguistic evidence for the fact that women were enslaved prior to men is also suggestive: The Akkadian cuneiform sign for ‘female slave’ was ‘woman’ plus ‘mountain,’ which seems to indicate the foreign origin of female slaves. In fact, most of the slaves came from the eastern mountains, probably the area of Subarea. According to one authority, the sign for ‘slave woman’ appears earlier than that for ’male slave’. This would seem to speak for the fact that women, mostly foreign war captives, were enslaved before men.” The Creation of Patriarchy, Gerda Lerner, pg. 86. need to stop being the patriarchal slaves and be the strong women we are created to be.

The word cunt originates from the Latin cuneus meaning wedge, from the common female symbol of a triangular pubic wedge. This is the root of the word cuneiform, the wedge shaped writing of ancient cultures. The Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root is *gwen (woman) where we eventually get the modern Greek prefix gyne from. Related Indo-European languages are Old Norse – kunta and proto Germanic kunton. The form is similar to Latin cunnus meaning female pudenda, which was also vulgarly used for “woman”. The first reference in the English is around 1230, referring to a street name Gropecuntlane, which was a site for prostitutes.

The term cunt has been used derogatorily of women, considered an obscene word and is considered to be one of the remaining words of the English language which has the power to shock. I would much rather use “cunt” (wedge), than the Latin “vagina” which means sheath or scabbard to a warring patriarchal man’s “sword”. Personally, I believe we should reclaim this word from the misogynist patriarchal Indo-European cultures and proudly associate it with the original symbolism of one of the signs of being a woman, the fertile triangle, the source of life and our sexuality. Hence, my Cunt Bags.

The leaf necklace portrayed is from a burial of an Ancient Sumerian queen from 2600 BCE, in the upper Tigris region. Many of the artifacts of the ancient Sumerians involve nature. The leaves were gold foil with Lapis Lazuli and carnelian beads.