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Dingir ⟨⟩, usually transliterated DIĜIR,By Assyriological convention, capitals identify a cuneiform sign used Sumerogram, while the phonemic value of a sign in a given context is given in lower case. () is a Sumerian word for 'god' or 'goddess'. Its Cuneiform script sign is most commonly employed as the determinative for religious names and related concepts, in which case it is not pronounced and is conventionally transliterated as a superscript ⟨d⟩, e.g. dInanna.
The Sumerian cuneiform sign by itself was originally an ideogram for the Sumerian word an ('sky' or 'heaven');Hayes, 2000 its use was then extended to a logogram for the word ('god' or 'goddess')Edzard, 2003 and the supreme deity of the Sumerian pantheon Anu, and a phonogram for the syllable . Akkadian cuneiform took over all these uses and added to them a logographic reading for the native ilum and from that a syllabic reading of . In Hittite language orthography, the syllabic value of the sign was again only an.
The concept of divinity in Sumerian is closely associated with the heavens, as is evident from the fact that the cuneiform sign doubles as the ideogram for 'sky', and that its original shape is the picture of a star. The eight-pointed star was a chief symbol for the goddess Inanna. The original association of 'divinity' is thus with 'bright' or 'shining' hierophanies in the sky.
The plural of can be , among others.
According to one interpretation, DINGIR could also refer to a priest or priestess although there are other Akkadian words and that are also translated priest and priestess. For example, nin-dingir (lady divine) meant a priestess who received foodstuffs at the temple of Enki in the city of Eridu.Margaret Whitney Green, Eridu in Sumerian Literature, PhD dissertation, University of Chicago (1975), p. 224.
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