É (temple)

É is the Sumerian word or symbol for house or temple.
The Sumerian term É.GAL denoted a city's main building. É.LUGAL was used synonymously. In the texts of Lagash, the É.GAL is the center of the ensi's administration of the city, and the site of the city archives.
Sumerian É.GAL is the probable etymology of Semitic words for "palace, temple", such as Hebrew היכל heikhal, and Arabic هيكل haykal. It has thus been speculated that the word É originated from something akin to *hai or *ˀai, especially since the cuneiform sign È is used for /a/ in Eblaite.
The term TEMEN appearing frequently after É in names of ziggurats is translated as "foundation pegs", apparently the first step in the construction process of a house; compare, for example, verses 551–561 of the account of the construction of E-ninnu:
Temen has been occasionally compared to Greek temenos "holy precinct", but the latter has a well established Indo-European etymology.
In E-temen-an-ki, "the temple of the foundation of heaven and earth", temen has been taken to refer to an axis mundi connecting earth to heaven, but the term re-appears in several other temple names, referring to their physical stability rather than, or as well as, to a mythological world axis; compare the Egyptian notion of Djed.

List of specific temples

E-ab-lu-a - ????, temple to Suen in Urum
E-ab-šag-a-la - ?????, temple to Ninmarki in Gu-aba
E-abzu - ???, "temple of the abzu" temple to Enki in Eridu.
E-ad-da - ???, temple to Enlil
E-akkil - ????, temple to Ninshubur in Akkil
E-am-kur-kurra - ??, "temple of the lord of lands" to Bēl in Assur
E-^dama-geštin "mother of wine"
E-ama-lamma
E-^da-mal, temple in Babylon
E-amaš-azag, "temple of the bright fold" in Dur-ilu
E-ana temple to Inanna in Uruk
E-an-da-di-a, the ziggurat of Akkad
E-an-ki, "temple of heaven and earth"
E-a-nun, temple of Lugal-girra
E-an-za-kar "temple of the pillar"
E-a-ra-li "temple of the underworld"
E-a-ra-zu-giš-tug "temple of the hearing of prayers"
E-^das-^dmaḫ "temple of the supreme god"
E-^das-ra-tum "temple to the goddess Ashratum"
E-babbar temple to Utu in Larsa
E-bara-igi-e-di "temple of wonders", ziggurat to Dumuzi in Akkad
E-bagara
E-^dbau, temple to the goddess Bau in Lagash
E-belit-mati "temple to the mother of the world"
E-bur-sigsig temple to Shara in Umma
E-^dbur-^dsin, temple to the deified king Bur-Sin in Ur
E-dam, built by Ur-Nanshe in Lagash
E-dara-an-na "temple of the darkness of heaven"
E-di-kud-kalam-ma "temple of the judge of the world"
E-Dilmuna "temple of Dilmun" in Ur
E-dim-an-na "temple of the bond of heaven", built by Nebuchadnezzar for Sin
E-dim-gal-abzu in Lagash
E-dim-gal-kalama temple to Ishtaran in Der
E-du-azaga "temple of the brilliant shrine", to Marduk
E-du-kug in Eridu, Nippur
E-dub temple to Zababa in Kish
E-dubba, scribal schools
E-duga
E-dumi-zi-abzu, to Dumuzi-abzu, destroyed in the time of Urukagina
E-^ddun-gi, temple to the deified king Dungi
E-dur-gi-na "temple of the lasting abode", built by Nebuchadnezzar
E-^de-a, shrine to Ea at Khorsabad built by Sargon.
E-engura temple to Enki in Eridu
E-ešdam-kug in Girsu
E-gida temple to Ninazu in Enegir
E-gud-du-shar temple of Ningublaga in Ki-abrig
E-ĝa-duda temple to Shu-zi-ana in Nga-gi-mah
E-ĝa-ĝiš-šua
E-ĝalga-sud temple to Bau in Iri-kug
E-ĝeštug-Nisaba in Ur
E-ĝipar in Uruk
E-ĝiškešda-kalama temple to Nergal in Kutha
E-ḫamun
E-ḫursaĝ of Shulgi in Ur
E-ḫuš
E-ibe-Anu, temple to Urash in Dilbat
E-igi-kalama of Lugal-Marada/Ninurta in Marad
E-igi-šu-galam
E-igi-zi-bar-ra, temple to Ningirsu, built by Entemena
E-igizu-uru temple to Ninshubur in Akkil
E-Iri-kug
E-itida-buru
E-kiš-nu-ĝal temple to Nanna in Ur
E-kug-nuna temple to Inanna in Uruk
E-kur "mountain temple" to Enlil in Nippur
E-ku-nin-azag "temple of the brilliant goddess" in Girsu
E-maḫ temple to Shara in Umma
E-maḫ temple to Ninhursanga in Adab.
E-me-ur-ana temple to Ninurta in Nippur
E-me-urur
E-melem-ḫuš temple to Nuska in Nippur
E-mešlam, temple of Nergal
E-mu-maḫ
E-mud-kura, in Ur
E-muš or E-mush-kalama, temple to Lulal in Bad-tibira
E-namtila
E-ni-guru
E-nin.gara
E-ninnu, temple to Ningirsu in Lagash
E-a-mer, the ziggurat of E-ninnu
E-nun, the abzu in Eridu
E-nun-ana, temple to Utu in Sippar
E-nutura
E-puḫruma
E-sag-il "temple that raises its head", the temple of Marduk in Babylon, according to the Enuma elish home to all the gods under the patronage of Marduk.
E-sara "House of the Universe" dedicated to Inanna in Uruk by Ur-Nammu
E-sikil temple to Ninazu in Eshnunna
E-sila
E-Sirara
E-šag-ḫula, in Kazallu
E-šara, in Adab
E-šeg-meše-du, in Isin
E-šenšena, to Ninlil
E-šerzid-guru temple to Inanna in Zabala
E-šu-me-ša, temple to Ninurta in Nippur
E-suga
E-tar-sirsir
E-temen-anki "temple of the foundation of heaven and earth", the ziggurat to Marduk in Babylon
E-temen-ni-guru, main ziggurat of Ur
E-tilla-maḫ
E-Tummal, temple to Ninlil in Nippur
E-tur-kalama
E-uduna, built by Amar-Suena
E-Ulmaš, in Akkad
E-unir temple to Enki in Eridu
E-uru-ga
E-zagin, temple to Nisaba in Uruk
E-zida-temple to Nabu
E-zi-Kalam-ma, to Inanna in Zabala, built by Hammurabi