what did Sargon's people call him?

Answer 1

I would think they would have called him Sargon.

Answer 2

Sargon of Akkad (Šarrukînu, also known as Sargon the Great, Sargon I), Mesopotamian king, founder of the city of Agade and the Akkadian dynasty, unifier of Sumer and Akkad (2334 BC - 2279 BC).

Answer 3

Which Sargon? Do you mean the original "Sargon of Akkad" ca. 2300 B.C. or the Neo-Assyrian king (now often labeled "Sargon II") who ruled in the 7th century B.C. and decided to borrow the name of the ancient legendary empire builder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargon_II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargon_of_Akkad


First, note that our form "Sargon" comes from the form used in Bible translations (referring to the Neo-Assyrian king), going back to the Greek translation of the original name.

The form of this name in the original Neo-Assyrian dialect of "Akkadian" (the name covers about two millenia, and includes various Assyrian and Babylonian dialects) may be transcribed "Sharru-kîn", a sentence name meaning "the king is legitimate"

Actually, the king of Akkad spoke an older form of the language (labeled "Old Akkadian") in which certain endings were still found. In his day it was "sharrum" rather than "sharru". Further complicating things -- prior to Sargon of Akkad's rule the non-Semitic SUMERIANS ruled Mesopotamia, and under his rule Sumerian continued to be used for official purposes (esp. religious ones). For centuries thereafter the elite would have used BOTH Sumerian and Akkadian (and many words that they may have actually spoken aloud in their own Akkadian language would be written down in the Sumerian form [compare OUR use of Latin abbreviations for words which we speak aloud in English -- viz., i.e., e.g.]).

Also uncertain are the details of pronunciation and how it differed across times and dialects of Akkadian -- we know a bit about this, but can hardly reconstruct precisely how 7th century Assyrians (much less 3rd millennium Akkadians) pronounced their vowel sounds.
http://xoomer.alice.it/bxpoma/akkadeng/dialects.htm
http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/4914_5134.pdf
(Sargonic Akkadian: A Historical and Comparative Study of the Syllabic Texts)
http://cdli.ucla.edu/pubs/cdlj/2003/cdlj2003_004.html


Now notice that the very meaning of the name indicates that this was a "throne name", taken after the man became king (a rather defensive way of asserting his claim!), clearly not his given name in either case. Did some people close to the king continue to use his given name? Perhaps. But certainly the common people would not dare do so!

Also note that the subjects of these kings might refer to the kings by these throne names (as in inscriptions, legal documents) but would not necessarily address them by this name. Rather, they would be likely to use various broader titles, beginning with things like "O king..."

For example, the first of these kings was called, "Sargon, the king of Agade, the King of the Land"
http://cornellia.fws1.com/sargon.htm

Answer 4

I've often wondered about these names. I mean, did Tiglath-pileser's wife call him Tig?

Answer 5

Akkadian Sharru-kin, "the true king"

Hope this answers your question................