NIN (cuneiform)

The Sumerian word NIN, later borrowed into Akkadian, was used to denote a queen or a priestess, and is often translated as "lady". Other translations include "queen", "mistress", "proprietress", and "lord". The word EREŠ, also meaning "queen" or "lady", is written using the cuneiform sign for NIN as well.
Many goddesses are called NIN or EREŠ, such as ^DNIN.GAL, ^DÉ.NIN.GAL, ^DEREŠ.KI.GAL, and ^DNIN.TI.
The compound form NIN.DINGIR, denotes a priestess.

In writing

NIN originated as a ligature of the cuneiform glyphs of MUNUS and TÚG ; the NIN sign was written as MUNUS.TÚG in archaic cuneiform, notably in the Codex Hammurabi. The syllable nin, on the other hand, was written as MUNUS.KA in Assyrian cuneiform. MUNUS.KU = NIN₉ means "sister".

Occurrence in the Gilgamesh epic

as the mother of Gilgamesh in the Epic of Gilgamesh, appears in 5 of the 12 chapters. The other personage using NIN is the god Ninurta, who appears in Tablet I, and especially in the flood myth of Tablet XI.
Of the 51 uses of NIN, the other major usage is for the Akkadian word eninna. Eninna is the adverb "now", but it can also be used as a conjunction, or as a segue-form.
The two uses of NIN as the word for "sister", for example, are used in Tablet 8, line 38: