kar

“Kar” is likely the most recognisable international sign cluster in the age of syllabic writing from the 4th millennium BC. It combines a wonderword with a kind of wondersign, akin to the spread of alphabets throughout many cultures:

𒆳 kur 𒆠 ki 𔗜 ku 𜐺 KU 𐘾 ka 𐀏 KA 𑁣 керла 𔕆 •KAR 𔕈 KA 𔕇 𐀤 𐘿 QE 𒉽 KUR₂ 𒄯 Ḫar 𓊖 [1]

It combines two similar sounding concepts, Kreuz and Kreis (cross and circle) or Kreuz and Karos (cross and squares) into a very persistant phonetic and logographic unit of "KAR". Naturally associated with the number 4 (sometimes 3 or π ), semantically via city quarters, also supporting the "kar" root in some branches.

“Kar” has two main semantic meanings "city" and "mountain", connected through the concept of tell (city-hill). Later also via extension: "country".

Representatives of Kar can have all vowels a,e,i,o,u,… labeling this cluster Kar is somewhat arbitrary, K-R would be more fitting. For extended discussion of connections between this well defined group and other far reaching concepts see KUR!

Representatives of Kar are visible in near all logographich systems.

𒆳 kur 𒆠 ki 𔗜 ku 𜐺 KU 𐘾 ka 𐀏 KA 𑁣 керла 𔕆 •KAR 𔕈 KA 𔕇 𐀤 𐘿 QE 𒉽 KUR₂ 𒄯 Ḫar 𓊖 [1] 𜐺 口 kǒu => 国 국 guk

The phonetic R 𔖱 of 𔕆 KAR is often omitted in syllabic practice, reduced to 𔕈 KA, just as only the 'be' of beta (β) is used in alphabetic usage.

Phonetic inside and outside the syllabaries was far from stable though:
Especially words for city (or related signs) corroded from kar > car > šar sar > ḫar > har via common sound-chage chains. On the other hand it might have been reattached conciously to similar concepts and variants.

[1]:
𓊖 had probably many phonetic readings over time, but symbollically it fits the above description of Kar perfectly!!
𓐍 fits phonetically but has no city connotation, unlike similar 𓊖.
𓊨 may be an imperfect specimen.

see KUR
𓊖
𓐍
𓈉 •karst ⋍
𒆳 KUR
𓂓
𒆠 KI®
𒋼𒀀 ⋍ 𒋼𒀀 = 𒋼 𒀀
𒄯 ḪAR chert քար kʿar kʰɑɾ ढुंगा kerre ქვა kva ကျောက် kyau' quartz حجر ħája Ħaġra kura@Peru "stone"
𒄯 ḫur.shan 𒄯𒊓𒉡 kur山 mountain

𔔓 kī₄ 𜑳 KŪ court

𜎂𓊖𜎂 ≈ Nagar 𒈾 ≈ 𒆠 @ Indus