section_path: Name
section_name: Name
paragraph_text: Name
  
  The term "Sumer" (Akkadian: 𒋗𒈨𒊒, romanized: šumeru) comes from the Akkadian name for the "Sumerians", the ancient non- Semitic -speaking inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia. In their inscriptions, the Sumerians called their land "Kengir", the "Country of the noble lords" (Sumerian: 𒆠 𒂗 𒄀, romanized: ki-en-gi(-r), lit. ' 'country" + "lords" + "noble' '), and their language "Emegir" (Sumerian: 𒅴𒂠, romanized: eme-g̃ir or 𒅴𒄀 eme-gi).
  
  The origin of the Sumerians is not known, but the people of Sumer referred to themselves as "Black-Headed Ones" or "Black-Headed People" (Sumerian: 𒊕 𒈪, romanized: sag̃-gíg, lit. ' 'head" + "black' ', or 𒊕 𒈪 𒂵, sag̃-gíg-ga, phonetically /saŋ ɡi ɡa/, lit. "head" + "black" + relative marker). For example, the Sumerian king Shulgi described himself as "the king of the four quarters, the pastor of the black-headed people". The Akkadians also called the Sumerians "black-headed people", or ṣalmat-qaqqadi, in the Semitic Akkadian language.
  
  The Akkadians, the East Semitic-speaking people who later conquered the Sumerian city-states, gave Sumer its main historical name, but the phonological development of the term šumerû is uncertain. Hebrew שִׁנְעָר Šinʿar, Egyptian Sngr, and Hittite Šanhar(a), all referring to southern Mesopotamia, could be western variants of Sumer.