TheIstilah term"orang "SumerianSumer" is anialah [[Wiktionary:exonym|exonymeksonim]] appliedyang todigunakan theuntuk ancientmerujuk inhabitantskepada ofpenghuni-penghuni southernkuno di [[Mesopotamia]] by their successors, theoleh [[Semiticorang Akkad]] [[Akkadorang Semit|Semit]]ians, pengganti mereka. TheBagaimanapun, Sumeriansorang calledSumer themselvesmerujuk kepada diri sendiri sebagai ''sag-giga'',literallyyang meaningsecara harfiah membawa pengertian "theorang black-headedkepala peoplehitam" <ref>{{cite book|author=W. Hallo, W. Simpson|year=1971|title=The Ancient Near East|publisher=New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich|page=28}}</ref> and theirtanah landmereka sebagai ''ki-en-gir'', <ref name="Nimrod">{{cite journal|title=Nimrod before and after the Bible|author=K. van der Toorn, P. W. van der Horst|journal=The Harvard Theological Review|year=Jan 1990|volume=83|issue=1|page=1-29}}</ref>,probablyperkataan originallyyang meaningpada "landasalnya ofmungkin thebermaksud Sumerian"tanah tonguelidah Sumer". <ref>{{cite book|title=Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History|author=John Nicholas Postgate|publisher=Routledge (UK)|year=1994}} wheredengan Dr. Postgate believesmempercayai it likely thatbahawa ''eme, 'tongue' (lidah), becamekemudian en,menjadi 'lord',en'' through(tuan) consonantalmelalui assimilation.</ref><refpenyerapan name="SumerFAQ">[http://www.sumerian.org/sumerfaq.htm#s37 Sumerian Questions and Answers]</ref>. The [[Akkadian language|Akkadiankonsonan]] word ''Shumer'' may represent this name in dialect, but we actually do not know why the Akkadians called the southern land Shumeru<ref name="Nimrod">{{cite journal|title=Nimrod before and after the Bible|author=K. van der Toorn, P. W. van der Horst|journal=The Harvard Theological Review|year=Jan 1990|volume=83|issue=1|page=1-29}}</ref><ref name="SumerFAQ">[http://www.sumerian.org/sumerfaq.htm#s37 SumerianSoal QuestionsJawab and AnswersSumer]</ref>. Biblical ''[[Shinar]]'', Egyptian ''Sngr'' and Hittite ''Šanhar(a)'' could be western variants of ''Šumer''<ref name="Nimrod"> </ref>.
Perkataan ''Shumer'' mungkin merujuk kepada nama ini dalam [[bahasa loghat]] [[Bahasa Akkad|Akkad]], tetapi mengapa orang Akkad merujuk kepada tanah selatan sebagai Shumeru masih tidak dapat diketahui. <ref name="Nimrod">{{cite journal|title=Nimrod before and after the Bible|author=K. van der Toorn, P. W. van der Horst|journal=The Harvard Theological Review|year=Jan 1990|volume=83|issue=1|page=1-29}}</ref><ref name="SumerFAQ">[http://www.sumerian.org/sumerfaq.htm#s37 Soal Jawab Sumer]</ref> Perkataan ''[[Shinar]]'' dalam [[kitab Bible]], ''Sngr'' dalam [[bahasa Mesir]], dan
''Šanhar(a)'' dalam [[bahasa Hittite]] mungkin merupakan kelainan-kelainan barat untuk perkataan ''Šumer''. <ref name="Nimrod"> </ref>
