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Contents
1 Classification 2 History and writing
2.1 Writing 2.2 Development 2.3 Decipherment 2.4 Dialects
3 Phonetics and phonology
3.1 Consonants 3.2 Reconstruction 3.3 Descent from Proto-Semitic 3.4 Vowels 3.5 Stress
4 Grammar
4.1 Morphology
4.1.1 Consonantal root 4.1.2 Case, number and gender 4.1.3 Noun states and nominal sentences 4.1.4 Verbal morphology
4.1.4.1 Verb aspects 4.1.4.2 Verb moods 4.1.4.3 Verb patterns
4.2 Stative 4.3 Derivation 4.4 Pronouns
4.4.1 Personal pronouns
4.4.1.1 Independent personal pronouns 4.4.1.2 Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns
4.4.2 Demonstrative pronouns 4.4.3 Relative pronouns 4.4.4 Interrogative pronouns
4.5 Prepositions 4.6 Numerals 4.7 Syntax
4.7.1 Nominal phrases 4.7.2 Sentence syntax
5 Vocabulary
6 Sample text
7
Akkadian
Akkadian literature
8 Notes
9 Sources
10 Further reading
10.1 General description and grammar
10.2 Textbooks
10.3 Dictionaries
10.4
Akkadian
Akkadian cuneiform
10.5 Technical literature on specific subjects
11 External links
Classification[edit]
Akkadian
Akkadian belongs with the other
Semitic languages
Semitic languages in the Near Eastern
branch of the Afroasiatic languages, a family native to the Middle
East, Arabian peninsula, parts of Asia Minor, North Africa, Malta,
Canary Islands
Canary Islands and then spread to the
Horn of Africa
Horn of Africa by the 8th
century BC, which then later spread further to parts of West Africa
(Hausa).
Akkadian
Akkadian and its successor
Aramaic
Aramaic however are only ever
attested in
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia and the Near East.
Within the Near Eastern Semitic languages,
Akkadian
Akkadian forms an East
Semitic subgroup (with Eblaite). This group distinguishes itself from
the Northwest and South
Semitic languages
Semitic languages by its
subject–object–verb, while the other
Semitic languages
Semitic languages usually
have either a verb–subject–object or subject–verb–object
order. This novel word order is due to the influence of the Sumerian
substratum, which has an SOV order.
Additionally
Akkadian
Akkadian is the only
Semitic language
Semitic language to use the
prepositions ina and ana (locative case, English in/on/with, and
dative-locative case, for/to, respectively). Other Semitic languages
like
Arabic
Arabic and
Aramaic
Aramaic have the prepositions bi/bə and li/lə
(locative and dative, respectively). The origin of the Akkadian
spatial prepositions is unknown.
In contrast to most other Semitic languages,
Akkadian
Akkadian has only one
non-sibilant fricative: ḫ [x].
Akkadian
Akkadian lost both the glottal and
pharyngeal fricatives, which are characteristic of the other Semitic
languages. Until the Old Babylonian period, the
Akkadian
Akkadian sibilants
were exclusively affricated.[3]
History and writing[edit]
Writing[edit]
Main article:
Akkadian
Akkadian cuneiform
Cuneiform
Cuneiform writing (Neoassyrian script)
(1 =
Logogram
Logogram (LG) "mix"/syllabogram (SG) ḫi,
2 = LG "moat",
3 = SG aʾ,
4 = SG aḫ, eḫ, iḫ, uḫ,
5 = SG kam,
6 = SG im,
7 = SG bir)
Old
Akkadian
Akkadian is preserved on clay tablets dating back to c. 2500 BC.
It was written using cuneiform, a script adopted from the Sumerians
using wedge-shaped symbols pressed in wet clay. As employed by
Akkadian
Akkadian scribes, the adapted cuneiform script could represent either
(a) Sumerian logograms (i.e., picture-based characters representing
entire words), (b) Sumerian syllables, (c)
Akkadian
Akkadian syllables, or (d)
phonetic complements. However, in
Akkadian
Akkadian the script practically
became a fully fledged syllabic script, and the original logographic
nature of cuneiform became secondary, though logograms for frequent
words such as 'god' and 'temple' continued to be used. For this
reason, the sign AN can on the one hand be a logogram for the word
ilum ('god') and on the other signify the god
Anu
Anu or even the syllable
-an-. Additionally, this sign was used as a determinative for divine
names.
Another peculiarity of
Akkadian cuneiform
Akkadian cuneiform is that many signs do not
have a well-defined phonetic value. Certain signs, such as AḪ, do
not distinguish between the different vowel qualities. Nor is there
any coordination in the other direction; the syllable -ša-, for
example, is rendered by the sign ŠA, but also by the sign NĪĜ. Both
of these are often used for the same syllable in the same text.
Cuneiform
Cuneiform was in many ways unsuited to Akkadian: among its flaws was
its inability to represent important phonemes in Semitic, including a
glottal stop, pharyngeals, and emphatic consonants. In addition,
cuneiform was a syllabary writing system—i.e., a consonant plus
vowel comprised one writing unit—frequently inappropriate for a
Semitic language
Semitic language made up of triconsonantal roots (i.e., three
consonants plus any vowels).
Development[edit]
Akkadian
Akkadian is divided into several varieties based on geography and
historical period:[10]
Old Akkadian, 2500–1950 BC Old Babylonian/Old Assyrian, 1950–1530 BC Middle Babylonian/Middle Assyrian, 1530–1000 BC Neo-Babylonian/Neo-Assyrian, 1000–600 BC Late Babylonian, 600 BC–100 AD
One of the earliest known
Akkadian
Akkadian inscriptions was found on a bowl at
Ur, addressed to the very early pre-Sargonic king Meskiagnunna of Ur
(c. 2485–2450 BC) by his queen Gan-saman, who is thought to have
been from Akkad.[11]
The
Akkadian
Akkadian Empire, established by Sargon of Akkad, introduced the
Akkadian
Akkadian language (the "language of Akkad") as a written language,
adapting Sumerian cuneiform orthography for the purpose. During the
Middle
Bronze Age
Bronze Age (Old Assyrian and Old Babylonian period), the
language virtually displaced Sumerian, which is assumed to have been
extinct as a living language by the 18th century BC.
Old Akkadian, which was used until the end of the 3rd millennium BC,
differs from both Babylonian and Assyrian, and was displaced by these
dialects. By the 21st century BC Babylonian and Assyrian, which were
to become the primary dialects, were easily distinguishable. Old
Babylonian, along with the closely related dialect Mariotic, is
clearly more innovative than the Old Assyrian dialect and the more
distantly related Eblaite language. For this reason, forms like
lu-prus ('I will decide') are first encountered in Old Babylonian
instead of the older la-prus (even though it was archaic compared to
Akkadian). On the other hand, Assyrian developed certain innovations
as well, such as the "Assyrian vowel harmony" (which is not comparable
to that found in Turkish or Finnish). Eblaite is even more archaic,
retaining a productive dual and a relative pronoun declined in case,
number and gender. Both of these had already disappeared in Old
Akkadian.
Old Babylonian was the language of king
Hammurabi
Hammurabi and his code, which
is one of the oldest collections of laws in the world. (see Code of
Ur-Nammu.)
The Middle Babylonian (or Assyrian) period started in the 16th century
BC. The division is marked by the Kassite invasion of
Babylonia
Babylonia around
1550 BC. The Kassites, who reigned for 300 years, gave up their own
language in favor of Akkadian, but they had little influence on the
language. At its apogee, Middle Babylonian was the written language of
diplomacy of the entire ancient Orient, including Egypt. During this
period, a large number of loan words were included in the language
from North West
Semitic languages
Semitic languages and Hurrian; however, the use of
these words was confined to the fringes of the
Akkadian
Akkadian speaking
territory.
Middle Assyrian served as a lingua franca in much of the Ancient Near
East of the Late
Bronze Age
Bronze Age (Amarna Period). During the Neo-Assyrian
Empire,
Neo-Assyrian
Neo-Assyrian began to turn into a chancellery language, being
marginalized by Old Aramaic. Under the Achaemenids,
Aramaic
Aramaic continued
to prosper, but Assyrian continued its decline. The language's final
demise came about during the
Hellenistic period
Hellenistic period when it was further
marginalized by Koine Greek, even though
Neo-Assyrian
Neo-Assyrian cuneiform
remained in use in literary tradition well into Parthian times. The
latest known text in cuneiform Babylonian is an astronomical text
dated to 75 AD.[12] The youngest texts written in
Akkadian
Akkadian date from
the 3rd century AD.
An
Akkadian
Akkadian inscription
Old Assyrian developed as well during the second millennium BC, but
because it was a purely popular language — kings wrote in Babylonian
— few long texts are preserved. From 1500 BC onwards, the language
is termed Middle Assyrian.
During the first millennium BC,
Akkadian
Akkadian progressively lost its status
as a lingua franca. In the beginning, from around 1000 BC, Akkadian
and
Aramaic
Aramaic were of equal status, as can be seen in the number of
copied texts: clay tablets were written in Akkadian, while scribes
writing on papyrus and leather used Aramaic. From this period on, one
speaks of
Neo-Babylonian
Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian.
Neo-Assyrian
Neo-Assyrian received an
upswing in popularity in the 10th century BC when the Assyrian kingdom
became a major power with the
Neo-Assyrian
Neo-Assyrian Empire, but texts written
'exclusively' in
Neo-Assyrian
Neo-Assyrian disappear within 10 years of Nineveh's
destruction in 612 BC.
After the end of the Mesopotamian kingdoms, which fell due to the
Persian conquest of the area,
Akkadian
Akkadian (which existed solely in the
form of Late Babylonian) disappeared as a popular language. However,
the language was still used in its written form; and even after the
Greek invasion under
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC,
Akkadian
Akkadian was still a contender as a written language, but spoken
Akkadian
Akkadian was likely extinct by this time, or at least rarely used. The
latest positively identified
Akkadian
Akkadian text comes from the 1st century
AD.[13]
Decipherment[edit]
Georg Friedrich Grotefend
Edward Hincks
Sir Henry Rawlinson
The
Akkadian
Akkadian language began to be rediscovered when
Carsten Niebuhr
Carsten Niebuhr in
1767 was able to make extensive copies of cuneiform texts and
published them in Denmark. The deciphering of the texts started
immediately, and bilinguals, in particular Old Persian-Akkadian
bilinguals, were of great help. Since the texts contained several
royal names, isolated signs could be identified, and were presented in
1802 by Georg Friedrich Grotefend. By this time it was already evident
that
Akkadian
Akkadian was a Semitic language, and the final breakthrough in
deciphering the language came from Edward Hincks, Henry Rawlinson and
Jules Oppert
Jules Oppert in the middle of the 19th century. The Oriental Institute
of the University of Chicago recently completed a 21 volume dictionary
of the
Akkadian
Akkadian language, which is available commercially and
online.[14]
The Deluge tablet of the
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian.
Dialects[edit]
The following table summarises the dialects of
Akkadian
Akkadian identified
with certainty so far.
Known
Akkadian
Akkadian dialects
Dialect Location
Assyrian Northern Mesopotamia
Babylonian Central and Southern Mesopotamia
Mariotic
Central
Euphrates
Euphrates (in and around the city of Mari)
Tell Beydar
Northern
Syria
Syria (in and around Tell Beydar)
Some researchers (such as W. Sommerfeld 2003) believe that the Old
Akkadian
Akkadian variant used in the older texts is not an ancestor of the
later Assyrian and Babylonian dialects, but rather a separate dialect
that was replaced by these two dialects and which died out early.
Eblaite, formerly thought of as yet another
Akkadian
Akkadian dialect, is now
generally considered a separate
East Semitic language.
Phonetics and phonology[edit]
Because
Akkadian
Akkadian as a spoken language is extinct and no contemporary
descriptions of the pronunciation are known, little can be said with
certainty about the phonetics and phonology of Akkadian. Some
conclusions can be made, however, due to the relationship to the other
Semitic languages
Semitic languages and variant spellings of
Akkadian
Akkadian words.
Consonants[edit]
The following table gives the consonant sounds distinguished in the
Akkadian
Akkadian use of cuneiform, with the presumed pronunciation in IPA
transcription according to Huehnergard and Woods,[3] which most
closely corresponds to recent reconstructions of Proto-Semitic
phonology. The parenthesised symbol following is the transcription
used in the literature, in the cases where that symbol is different
from the phonetic symbol. This transcription has been suggested for
all
Semitic languages
Semitic languages by the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft
(DMG), and is therefore known as DMG-Umschrift.
Akkadian
Akkadian consonantal phonemes
Labial Dental/Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive voiceless p t
k ʔ ⟨ʾ⟩
voiced b d
ɡ
emphatic
tʼ ⟨ṭ⟩
kʼ ⟨q⟩
Fricative voiceless
s ~ ʃ ⟨š⟩ x ⟨ḫ⟩
voiced
ɣ ~ ʁ ⟨r⟩
Affricate voiceless
t͡s ⟨s⟩
voiced
d͡z ⟨z⟩
emphatic
t͡s’ ⟨ṣ⟩
Approximant
l j ⟨y⟩ w
Reconstruction[edit]
Akkadian
Akkadian emphatic consonants are typically reconstructed as ejectives,
which are thought to be the oldest realization of emphatics across the
Semitic languages.[15] For the sibilants, traditionally /š/ has been
held to be postalveolar [ʃ], and /s/, /z/, /ṣ/ analyzed as
fricatives; but attested assimilations in
Akkadian
Akkadian suggest
otherwise.[3][16] For example, when the possessive suffix -šu is
added to the root awat ('word'), it is written awassu ('his word')
even though šš would be expected. The most straightforward
interpretation of this shift from tš to ss is that /s, ṣ/ form a
pair of voiceless alveolar affricates [t͡s t͡sʼ], *š is a
voiceless alveolar fricative [s], and *z is a voiced alveolar
affricate or fricative [d͡z~z]. The assimilation is then [awat+su]
> [awatt͡su]. In this vein, an alternative transcription of *š is
*s̠, with the macron below indicating a soft (lenis) articulation in
Semitic transcription. Other interpretations are possible, however.
[ʃ] could have been assimilated to the preceding [t], yielding [ts],
which would later have been simplified to [ss].
The phoneme /r/ has traditionally been interpreted as a trill but its
pattern of alternation with /ḫ/ suggests it was a velar (or uvular)
fricative. In the Hellenistic period,
Akkadian
Akkadian /r/ was transcribed
using the Greek ρ, indicating it was pronounced similarly as an
alveolar trill (though Greeks may also have perceived a uvular trill
as ρ).[3]
Descent from Proto-Semitic[edit]
Several
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic phonemes are lost in Akkadian. The Proto-Semitic
glottal stop *ʾ, as well as the fricatives *ʿ, *h, *ḥ are lost as
consonants, either by sound change or orthographically, but they gave
rise to the vowel quality e not exhibited in Proto-Semitic. The
voiceless lateral fricatives (*ś, *ṣ́) merged with the sibilants
as in Canaanite, leaving 19 consonantal phonemes. Old Akkadian
preserved the /*ś/ phoneme longest but it eventually merged with
/*š/, beginning in the Old Babylonian period.[3][17] The following
table shows
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic phonemes and their correspondences among
Akkadian, Modern Standard
Arabic
Arabic and Tiberian Hebrew:
Proto-Semitic Akkadian Arabic Hebrew
*b b ب b ב b
*d d د d ד d
*g g ج ǧ ג g
*p p ف f פ p
*t t ت t ת t
*k k ك k כ k
*ʾ (Ø)/ ʾ ء ʾ א ʾ
*ṭ ṭ ط ṭ ט ṭ
*ḳ q ق q ק q
*ḏ z ذ ḏ ז z
*z ز z
*ṯ š ث ṯ שׁ š
*š س s
*ś ش š שׂ ś
*s s س s ס s
*ṱ ṣ ظ ẓ צ ṣ
*ṣ ص ṣ
*ṣ́ ض ḍ
*ġ ḫ غ ġ ע ʿ [ʕ]
*ʿ (e) [t2 1] ع ʿ [ʕ]
*ḫ ḫ خ ḫ [x] ח ḥ
*ḥ (e) [t2 1] ح ḥ [ħ]
*h (Ø) ه h ה h
*m m م m מ m
*n n ن n נ n
*r r ر r ר r
*l l ل l ל l
*w w و w ו י w y
*y y ي y [j] י y
Proto-Semitic Akkadian Arabic Hebrew
^ a b These are only distinguished from the Ø (zero) reflexes of /h/ and /ʾ/ by /e/-coloring the adjacent vowel *a, e.g. PS *ˈbaʿ(a)l-um ('owner, lord') → Akk. bēlu(m) (Dolgopolsky 1999, p. 35).
Vowels[edit]
Akkadian
Akkadian vowels
Front Central Back
Closed i
u
Mid e
Open
a
The existence of a back mid-vowel /o/ has been proposed, but the
cuneiform writing gives no good proof for this.[18] There is limited
contrast between different u-signs in lexical texts, but this scribal
differentiation may reflect the superimposition of the Sumerian
phonological system (for which an /o/ phoneme has also been proposed),
rather than a separate phoneme in Akkadian.[19]
All consonants and vowels appear in long and short forms. Long
consonants are represented in writing as double consonants, and long
vowels are written with a macron (ā, ē, ī, ū). This distinction is
phonemic, and is used in the grammar, for example iprusu ('that he
decided') versus iprusū ('they decided').
Stress[edit]
The stress patterns of
Akkadian
Akkadian are disputed, with some authors
claiming that nothing is known of the topic. There are however certain
points of reference, such as the rule of vowel syncope (see the next
paragraph), and some forms in the cuneiform that might represent the
stressing of certain vowels; however, attempts at identifying a rule
for stress have so far been unsuccessful.
Huenergard (2005:3-4) claims that stress in
Akkadian
Akkadian is completely
predictable. In his syllable typology there are three syllable
weights: light (V, CV); heavy (CVC, CV̄, CV̂), and superheavy
(CV̂C). If the last syllable is superheavy, it is stressed, otherwise
the rightmost heavy syllable is stressed. If a word contains only
light syllables, the first syllable is stressed.
A rule of
Akkadian
Akkadian phonology is that certain short (and probably
unstressed) vowels are dropped. The rule is that the last vowel of a
succession of syllables that end in a short vowel is dropped, for
example the declinational root of the verbal adjective of a root PRS
is PaRiS-. Thus the masculine singular nominative is PaRS-um (<
*PaRiS-um) but the feminine singular nominative is PaRiStum (<
*PaRiS-at-um). Additionally there is a general tendency of syncope of
short vowels in the later stages of Akkadian.
Grammar[edit]
Morphology[edit]
Consonantal root[edit]
Most roots of the
Akkadian
Akkadian language consist of three consonants
(called the radicals), but some roots are composed of four consonants
(so-called quadriradicals). The radicals are occasionally represented
in transcription in upper-case letters, for example PRS (to decide).
Between and around these radicals various infixes, suffixes and
prefixes, having word generating or grammatical functions, are
inserted. The resulting consonant-vowel pattern differentiates the
original meaning of the root. Also, the middle radical can be
geminated, which is represented by a doubled consonant in
transcription (and sometimes in the cuneiform writing itself).
The consonants ʔ, w, j and n are termed "weak radicals" and roots
containing these radicals give rise to irregular forms.
Case, number and gender[edit]
Formally,
Akkadian
Akkadian has three numbers (singular, dual and plural) and
three cases (nominative, accusative and genitive). However, even in
the earlier stages of the language, the dual number is vestigial, and
its use is largely confined to natural pairs (eyes, ears, etc.), and
adjectives are never found in the dual. In the dual and plural, the
accusative and genitive are merged into a single oblique case.
Akkadian, unlike Arabic, but like Hebrew, has only "sound" plurals
formed by means of a plural ending (i.e. no broken plurals formed by
changing the word stem). As in all Semitic languages, some masculine
nouns take the prototypically feminine plural ending (-āt).
The nouns šarrum (king), šarratum (queen) and the adjective dannum
(strong) will serve to illustrate the case system of Akkadian.
Noun and adjective paradigms
Noun (masc.) Noun (fem.) Adjective (masc.) Adjective (fem.)
Nominative singular šarr-um šarr-at-um dann-um dann-at-um
Genitive singular šarr-im šarr-at-im dann-im dann-at-im
Accusative singular šarr-am šarr-at-am dann-am dann-at-am
Nominative dual šarr-ān šarr-at-ān
Oblique dual [t3 1] šarr-īn šarr-at-īn
Nominative plural šarr-ū šarr-āt-um dann-ūt-um dann-āt-um
Oblique plural šarr-ī šarr-āt-im dann-ūt-im dann-āt-im
^ The oblique case includes the accusative and genitive.
As is clear from the above table, the adjective and noun endings
differ only in the masculine plural. Certain nouns, primarily those
referring to geography, can also form a locative ending in -um in the
singular and the resulting forms serve as adverbials. These forms are
generally not productive, but in the
Neo-Babylonian
Neo-Babylonian the um-locative
replaces several constructions with the preposition ina.
In the later stages of
Akkadian
Akkadian the mimation (word-final -m) - along
with nunation (dual final "-n") - that occurs at the end of most case
endings has disappeared, except in the locative. Later, the nominative
and accusative singular of masculine nouns collapse to -u and in
Neo-Babylonian
Neo-Babylonian most word-final short vowels are dropped. As a result,
case differentiation disappeared from all forms except masculine
plural nouns. However many texts continued the practice of writing the
case endings (although often sporadically and incorrectly). As the
most important contact language throughout this period was Aramaic,
which itself lacks case distinctions, it is possible that Akkadian's
loss of cases was an areal as well as phonological phenomenon.
Noun states and nominal sentences[edit]
As is also the case in other Semitic languages,
Akkadian
Akkadian nouns may
appear in a variety of "states" depending on their grammatical
function in a sentence. The basic form of the noun is the status
rectus (the governed state), which is the form as described above,
complete with case endings. In addition to this,
Akkadian
Akkadian has the
status absolutus (the absolute state) and the status constructus
(Construct state). The latter is found in all other Semitic languages,
while the former appears only in
Akkadian
Akkadian and some dialects of
Aramaic.
The status absolutus is characterised by the loss of a noun's case
ending (e.g. awīl < awīlum, šar < šarrum). It is relatively
uncommon, and is used chiefly to mark the predicate of a nominal
sentence, in fixed adverbial expressions, and in expressions relating
to measurements of length, weight, and the like.
(1) Awīl-um šū šarrāq
Awīl-um šū šarrāq.
Man (Masculine, nominative) he (3rd masc. personal pronoun) thief (status absolutus)
Translation: This man is a thief (2) šarrum lā šanān
šarr-um lā šanān.
King (Status rectus, nominative) not (negative particle) oppose (verbal infinitive, status absolutus)
Translation: The king who cannot be rivaled The status constructus is a great deal more common, and has a much wider range of applications. It is employed when a noun is followed by another noun in the genitive, a pronominal suffix, or a verbal clause in the subjunctive, and typically takes the shortest form of the noun which is phonetically possible. In general, this amounts to the loss of case endings with short vowels, with the exception of the genitive -i in nouns preceding a pronominal suffix, hence: (3) māri-šu
māri-šu
Son (status constructus) + his (3rd person singular possessive pronoun
Translation: His son, its (masculine) son but (4) mār šarr-im
mār šarr-im
Son (Status constructus) king (genitive singular)
Translation: The king's son
There are numerous exceptions to this general rule, usually involving
potential violations of the language's phonological limitations. Most
obviously,
Akkadian
Akkadian does not tolerate word final consonant clusters,
so nouns like kalbum (dog) and maḫrum (front) would have illegal
construct state forms *kalb and *maḫr unless modified. In many of
these instances, the first vowel of the word is simply repeated (e.g.
kalab, maḫar). This rule, however, does not always hold true,
especially in nouns where a short vowel has historically been elided
(e.g. šaknum < *šakinum "governor"). In these cases, the lost
vowel is restored in the construct state (so šaknum yields šakin).
(5) kalab belim
kalab bel-im
dog (Status constructus) master (genitive singular)
Translation: The master's dog (6) šakin ālim
šakin āl-im
Governor (Status constructus) city (genitive singular)
A genitive relation can also be expressed with the relative preposition ša, and the noun that the genitive phrase depends on appears in status rectus. (7) salīmātum ša awīl Ešnunna
salīmātum ša awīl Ešnunna
Alliances (Status rectus, nominative) which (relative particle) man (status constructus) Ešnunna (genitive, unmarked)
Translation: The alliances of the Ruler of Ešnunna (literally "Alliances which man of Ešnunna (has)") The same preposition is also used to introduce true relative clauses, in which case the verb is placed in the subjunctive mood. (7) awīl-um ša māt-am i-kšud-Ø-u
Awīl-um ša māt-am i-kšud-Ø-u
Man (Masculine, nominative) that (relative pronoun) land (singular, accusative) 3rd person - conquer (preterite) - singular, masculine - subjunctive
Translation: The man who conquered the land
Verbal morphology[edit]
Verb aspects[edit]
The
Akkadian
Akkadian verb has six finite verb aspects (preterite, perfect,
present, imperative, precative and vetitive) and three infinite forms
(infinitive, participle and verbal adjective). The preterite is used
for actions that are seen by the speaker as having occurred at a
single point in time. The present is primarily imperfective in meaning
and is used for concurrent and future actions as well as past actions
with a temporal dimension. The final three finite forms are injunctive
where the imperative and the precative together form a paradigm for
positive commands and wishes, and the vetitive is used for negative
wishes. Additionally the periphrastic prohibitive, formed by the
present form of the verb and the negative adverb lā, is used to
express negative commands. The infinitive of the
Akkadian
Akkadian verb is a
verbal noun, and in contrast to some other languages the Akkadian
infinitive can be declined in case. The verbal adjective is an
adjectival form and designates the state or the result of the action
of the verb, and consequently the exact meaning of the verbal
adjective is determined by the semantics of the verb itself. The
participle, which can be active or passive, is another verbal
adjective and its meaning is similar to the English gerund.
The following table shows the conjugation of the G-stem verbs derived
from the root PRS ("to decide") in the various verb aspects of
Akkadian:
Preterite Perfect Present Imperative stative Infinitive Participle (active) Verbal adjective
1st person singular aprus aptaras aparras
parsāku parāsum pārisum (masc.) pāristum (fem.) parsum (masc.) paristum (fem.)
1st person plural niprus niptaras niparras parsānu
2nd person singular masc. taprus taptaras taparras purus parsāta
2nd person singular fem. taprusī taptarsī (< *taptarasī) taparrasī pursi parsāti
2nd person plural taprusā taptarsā taparrasā pursa parsātunu (masc.) / parsātina(fem.)
3rd person singular iprus iptaras iparras
paris (masc.) /parsat (fem.)
3rd person plural masc. iprusū iptarsū (< *iptarasū) iparrasū parsū
3rd person plural fem. iprusā iptarsā(< *iptarasā) iparrasā parsā
The table below shows the different affixes attached to the preterite aspect of the verb root PRS "to decide"; and as can be seen, the grammatical genders differ only in the second person singular and third person plural.
G-Stem D-Stem Š-Stem N-Stem
1st person singular a-prus-Ø u-parris-Ø u-šapris-Ø a-pparis-Ø
1st person plural ni-prus-Ø nu-parris-Ø nu-šapris-Ø ni-pparis-Ø
2nd person singular masc. ta-prus-Ø tu-parris-Ø tu-šapris-Ø ta-pparis-Ø
2nd person singular fem. ta-prus-ī tu-parris-ī tu-šapris-ī ta-ppars-ī
2nd person plural ta-prus-ā tu-parris-ā tu-šapris-ā ta-ppars-ā
3rd person singular i-prus-Ø u-parris-Ø u-šapris-Ø i-pparis-Ø
3rd person plural masc. i-prus-ū u-parris-ū u-šapris-ū i-ppars-ū
3rd person plural fem. i-prus-ā u-parris-ā u-šapris-ā i-ppars-ā
Verb moods[edit]
Akkadian
Akkadian verbs have 3 moods:
Indicative, used in independent clauses, is unmarked.
Subjunctive, used in dependent clauses. The subjunctive is marked in
forms which do not end in a vowel by the suffix -u (compare
Arabic
Arabic and
Ugaritic
Ugaritic subjunctives), but is otherwise unmarked. In the later stages
of most dialects, the subjunctive is indistinct, as short final vowels
were mostly lost
Venitive or allative. The venitive is not a mood in the strictest
sense, being a development of the 1st person dative pronominal suffix
-am/-m/-nim. With verbs of motion, it often indicates motion towards
an object or person (e.g. illik, "he went" vs. illikam, "he came").
However, this pattern is not consistent, even in earlier stages of the
language, and its use often appears to serve a stylistic rather than
morphological or lexical function.
The following table demonstrates the verb moods of verbs derived from the root PRS ("to decide","to separate"):
Preterite.[t4 1] Stative.[t4 1]
Indicative iprus paris
Subjunctive iprusu parsu
Venitive iprusam parsam
^ a b Both verbs are for the 3rd person masculine singular.
Verb patterns[edit]
Akkadian
Akkadian verbs have thirteen separate derived stems formed on each
root. The basic, underived, stem is the G-stem (from the German
Grundstamm, meaning "basic stem").
Causative or intensive forms are
formed with the doubled D-stem, and it gets its name from the
doubled-middle radical that is characteristic of this form. The
doubled middle radical is also characteristic of the present, but the
forms of the D-stem use the secondary conjugational affixes, so a
D-form will never be identical to a form in a different stem. The
Š-stem is formed by adding a prefix š-, and these forms are mostly
causatives. Finally, the passive forms of the verb are in the N-stem,
formed by adding a n- prefix. However the n- element is assimilated to
a following consonant, so the original /n/ is only visible in a few
forms.
Furthermore, reflexive and iterative verbal stems can be derived from
each of the basic stems. The reflexive stem is formed with an infix
-ta, and the derived stems are therefore called Gt, Dt, Št and Nt,
and the preterite forms of the Xt-stem are identical to the perfects
of the X-stem. Iteratives are formed with the infix -tan-, giving the
Gtn, Dtn, Štn and Ntn. Because of the assimilation of n, the /n/ is
only seen in the present forms, and the Xtn preterite is identical to
the Xt durative.
The final stem is the ŠD-stem, a form mostly attested only in poetic
texts, and whose meaning is usually identical to either the Š-stem or
the D-stem of the same verb. It is formed with the Š prefix (like the
Š-stem) in addition to a doubled-middle radical (like the D-stem).
An alternative to this naming system is a numerical system. The basic
stems are numbered using Roman numerals so that G, D, Š and N become
I, II, III and IV, respectively, and the infixes are numbered using
Arabic
Arabic numerals; 1 for the forms without an infix, 2 for the Xt, and 3
for the Xtn. The two numbers are separated using a solidus. As an
example, the Štn-stem is called III/3. The most important user of
this system is the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary.
There is mandatory congruence between the subject of the sentence and
the verb, and this is expressed by prefixes and suffixes. There are
two different sets of affixes, a primary set used for the forms of the
G and N-stems, and a secondary set for the D and Š-stems.
The stems, their nomenclature and examples of the third-person
masculine singular stative of the verb parāsum (root PRS: 'to decide,
distinguish, separate') is shown below:
# Stem Verb Description Correspondence
I.1
G
PaRiS
the simple stem, used for transitive and intransitive verbs
Arabic
Arabic stem I (fa‘ala) and
Hebrew
Hebrew pa'al
II.1
D
PuRRuS
gemination of the second radical, indicating the intensive
Arabic
Arabic stem II (fa‘‘ala) and
Hebrew
Hebrew pi‘el
III.1
Š
šuPRuS
š-preformative, indicating the causative
Arabic
Arabic stem IV (’af‘ala) and
Hebrew
Hebrew hiph‘il
IV.1
N
naPRuS
n-preformative, indicating the reflexive/passive
Arabic
Arabic stem VII (infa‘ala) and
Hebrew
Hebrew niph‘al
I.2
Gt
PitRuS
simple stem with t-infix after first radical, indicating reciprocal or
reflexive
Arabic
Arabic stem VIII (ifta‘ala) and
Aramaic
Aramaic ’ithpe‘al (tG)
II.2
Dt
PutaRRuS
doubled second radical preceded by infixed t, indicating intensive
reflexive
Arabic
Arabic stem V (tafa‘‘ala) and
Hebrew
Hebrew hithpa‘el (tD)
III.2
Št
šutaPRuS
š-preformative with t-infix, indicating reflexive causative
Arabic
Arabic stem X (istaf‘ala) and
Aramaic
Aramaic ’ittaph‘al (tC)
IV.2 Nt itaPRuS n-preformative with a t-infix preceding the first radical, indicating reflexive passive
I.3 Gtn PitaRRuS
II.3 Dtn PutaRRuS doubled second radical preceded by tan-infix
III.3 Štn šutaPRuS š-preformative with tan-infix
IV.3 Ntn itaPRuS n-preformative with tan-infix
ŠD šuPuRRuS š-preformative with doubled second radical
Stative[edit]
A very often appearing form which can be formed by nouns, adjectives
as well as by verbal adjectives is the stative. Nominal predicatives
occur in the status absolutus and correspond to the verb "to be" in
English. The stative in
Akkadian
Akkadian corresponds to the Egyptian
pseudo-participle. The following table contains an example of using
the noun šarrum (king), the adjective rapšum (wide) and the verbal
adjective parsum (decided).
šarrum rapšum parsum
1st Person singular šarr-āku rapš-āku pars-āku
1st Person plural šarr-ānu rapš-ānu pars-ānu
2nd Person singular masc. šarr-āta rapš-āta pars-āta
2nd Person singular fem. šarr-āti rapš-āti pars-āti
2nd Person plural masc. šarr-ātunu rapš-ātunu pars-ātunu
2nd Person plural fem. šarr-ātina rapš-ātina pars-ātina
3rd Person singular masc. šar-Ø rapaš-Ø paris-Ø
3rd Person singular fem. šarr-at rapš-at pars-at
3rd Person plural masc. šarr-ū rapš-ū pars-ū
3rd Person plural fem. šarr-ā rapš-ā pars-ā
Thus, the stative in
Akkadian
Akkadian is used to convert simple stems into
effective sentences, so that the form šarr-āta is equivalent to:
"you were king", "you are king" and "you will be king". Hence, the
stative is independent of time forms.
Derivation[edit]
Beside the already explained possibility of derivation of different
verb stems,
Akkadian
Akkadian has numerous nominal formations derived from verb
roots. A very frequently encountered form is the maPRaS form. It can
express the location of an event, the person performing the act and
many other meanings. If one of the root consonants is labial (p, b,
m), the prefix becomes na- (maPRaS > naPRAS). Examples for this
are: maškanum (place, location) from ŠKN (set, place, put),
mašraḫum (splendour) from ŠRḪ (be splendid), maṣṣarum
(guards) from NṢR (guard), napḫarum (sum) from PḪR (summarize).
A very similar formation is the maPRaSt form. The noun derived from
this nominal formation is grammatically feminine. The same rules as
for the maPRaS form apply, for example maškattum (deposit) from ŠKN
(set, place, put), narkabtum (carriage) from RKB (ride, drive, mount).
The suffix - ūt is used to derive abstract nouns. The nouns which are
formed with this suffix are grammatically feminine. The suffix can be
attached to nouns, adjectives and verbs, e.g. abūtum (paternity) from
abum (father), rabutum (size) from rabum (large), waṣūtum (leaving)
from WṢY (leave).
Also derivatives of verbs from nouns, adjectives and numerals are
numerous. For the most part, a D-stem is derived from the root of the
noun or adjective. The derived verb then has the meaning of "make X do
something" or "becoming X", for example: duššûm (let sprout) from
dišu (grass), šullušum (to do something for the third time ) from
šalāš (three).
Pronouns[edit]
Personal pronouns[edit]
Independent personal pronouns[edit]
Independent personal pronouns in
Akkadian
Akkadian are as follows:
Nominative Oblique Dative
Person Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st anāku "I" nīnu "we" yāti niāti yāšim niāšim
2nd masculine atta "you" attunu "you" kāti (kāta) kunūti kāšim kunūšim
feminine atti "you" attina "you" kāti kināti kāšim kināšim
3rd masculine šū "he" šunu "they" šātilu (šātilu) šunūti šuāšim (šāšim) šunūšim
feminine šī "she" šina "they" šiāti (šuāti;šāti) šināti šiāšim (šāšim, šāšim) šināšim
Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns[edit] Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns (mainly denoting the genitive, accusative and dative) are as follows:
Genitive Accusative Dative
Person singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st -i, -ya [t5 1] -ni -ni -niāti -am/-nim -niāšim
2nd masculine -ka -kunu -ka -kunūti -kum -kunūšim
feminine -ki -kina -ki -kināti -kim -kināšim
3rd masculine -šū -šunu -šū -šunūti -šum -šunūšim
feminine -ša -šina -ši -šināti -šim -šināšim
^ -ni is used for the nominative, i.e. following a verb denoting the subject.
Demonstrative pronouns[edit]
Demonstrative pronouns in
Akkadian
Akkadian differ from the Western Semitic
variety. The following table shows the
Akkadian
Akkadian demonstrative pronouns
according to near and far deixis:
Deixis
Proximal Distal
Masc. singular annū "this" ullū "that"
Fem. Singular annītu "this" ullītu "that"
Masc. plural annūtu "these" ullūtu "those"
Fem. plural annātu "these" ullātu "those"
Relative pronouns[edit]
Relative pronouns in
Akkadian
Akkadian are shown in the following table:
Nominative Accusative Genitive
Masc. singular šu ša ši
Fem. Singular šāt šāti
Dual šā
Masc. plural šūt
Fem. plural šāt
Unlike plural relative pronouns, singular relative pronouns in
Akkadian
Akkadian exhibit full declension for case. However, only the form ša
(originally accusative masculine singular) survived, while the other
forms disappeared in time.
Interrogative pronouns[edit]
The following table shows the
Interrogative pronouns used in Akkadian:
Akkadian English
mannu who?
mīnū what?
ayyu which?
Prepositions[edit]
Akkadian
Akkadian has prepositions which consist mainly of only one word. For
example: ina (in, on, out, through, under), ana (too, for, after,
approximately), adi (to), aššu (because of), eli (up, over),
ištu/ultu (of, since), mala (in accordance with), itti (also, with).
There are, however, some compound prepositions which are combined with
ina and ana (e.g. ina maḫar (forwards), ina balu (without), ana
ṣēr (up to), ana maḫar (forwards). Regardless of the complexity
of the preposition, the following noun is always in the genitive case.
Examples: ina bītim (in the house, from the house), ana dummuqim (to
do good), itti šarrim (with the king), ana ṣēr mārīšu (up to
his son).
Numerals[edit]
Since numerals are written mostly as a number sign in the cuneiform
script, the transliteration of many numerals is not well ascertained
yet. Along with the counted noun, the cardinal numerals are in the
status absolutus. Because other cases are very rare, the forms of the
status rectus are known only by isolated numerals. The numerals 1 and
2 as well as 21–29, 31–39, 41–49 correspond with the counted in
the grammatical gender, while the numerals 3–20, 30, 40 and 50 show
gender polarity, i.e. if the counted noun is masculine, the numeral
would be feminine and vice versa. This polarity is typical of the
Semitic languages
Semitic languages and appears also in classical
Arabic
Arabic for example.
The numerals 60, 100 and 1000 do not change according to the gender of
the counted noun. Counted nouns more than two appear in the plural
form. However, body parts which occur in pairs appear in the dual form
in Akkadian. e.g. šepum (foot) becomes šepān (two feet).
The ordinals are formed (with a few exceptions) by adding a case
ending to the nominal form PaRuS (the P, R and S. must be substituted
with the suitable consonants of the numeral). It is noted, however,
that in the case of the numeral "one", the ordinal (masculine) and the
cardinal number are the same. A metathesis occurs in the numeral
"four". The following table contains the masculine and feminine forms
of the status absolutus of some of the
Akkadian
Akkadian cardinal numbers, as
well as the corresponding ordinals.
# Cardinal numeral (masc.) Cardinal numeral (fem.) Congruence (Gender agreement of the cardinal numeral) Ordinal (masc.) Ordinal (fem.)
1 ištēn išteʾat, ištāt Congruent (no gender polarity) ištēn išteʾat
2 šinā šittā Congruent šanûm šanītum
3 šalāš šalāšat Gender polarity šalšum šaluštum
4 erbē erbēt Gender polarity rebûm rebūtum
5 ḫamiš ḫamšat Gender polarity ḫamšum ḫamuštum
6 šediš šiššet Gender polarity šeššum šeduštum
7 sebē sebēt Gender polarity sebûm sebūtum
8 samānē samānat Gender polarity samnum, samnûm samuntum
9 tešē tišīt Gender polarity tišûm, tešûm tišūtum, tešūtum
10 ešer ešeret Gender polarity ešrum ešurtum
60 šūš No gender distinction
100 meʾat, māt No gender distinction
1000 līm No gender distinction
Examples: erbē aššātum (four wives) (male numeral), meʾat ālānū (100 towns). Syntax[edit] Nominal phrases[edit] Adjectives, relative clauses and appositions follow the noun. While numerals precede the counted noun. In the following table the nominal phrase erbēt šarrū dannūtum ša ālam īpušū abūya 'the four strong kings who built the city are my fathers' is analyzed:
Word Meaning Analysis Part of the nominal phrase
erbēt four feminine (gender polarity) Numeral
šarr-ū king nominative plural Noun (Subject)
dann-ūtum strong nominative masculine plural Adjective
ša which relative pronoun Relative clause
āl-am city accusative singular
īpuš-ū built 3rd person masculine plural
ab-ū-ya my fathers masculine plural + possessive pronoun Apposition
Sentence syntax[edit]
Akkadian
Akkadian sentence order was Subject+Object+Verb (SOV), which sets it
apart from most other ancient
Semitic languages
Semitic languages such as
Arabic
Arabic and
Biblical Hebrew, which typically have a verb–subject–object (VSO)
word order. (Modern South
Semitic languages
Semitic languages in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia also have SOV
order, but these developed within historical times from the classical
verb–subject–object (VSO) language Ge'ez.) It has been
hypothesized that this word order was a result of influence from the
Sumerian language, which was also SOV. There is evidence that native
speakers of both languages were in intimate language contact, forming
a single society for at least 500 years, so it is entirely likely that
a sprachbund could have formed. Further evidence of an original VSO or
SVO ordering can be found in the fact that direct and indirect object
pronouns are suffixed to the verb. Word order seems to have shifted to
SVO/VSO late in the 1st millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD,
possibly under the influence of Aramaic.
Vocabulary[edit]
The
Akkadian
Akkadian vocabulary is mostly of Semitic origin. Although
classified as 'East Semitic', many elements of its basic vocabulary
find no evident parallels in related Semitic languages. For example:
māru 'son' (Semitic *bn), qātu 'hand' (Semitic *yd), šēpu 'foot'
(Semitic *rgl), qabû 'say' (Semitic *qwl), izuzzu 'stand' (Semitic
*qwm), ana 'to, for' (Semitic *li).
Due to extensive contact with Sumerian and Aramaic, the Akkadian
vocabulary contains many loan words from these languages.
Aramaic
Aramaic loan
words, however, were limited to the 1st centuries of the 1st
millennium BC and primarily in the north and middle parts of
Mesopotamia, whereas Sumerian loan words were spread in the whole
linguistic area. Beside the previous languages, some nouns were
borrowed from Hurrian, Kassite,
Ugaritic
Ugaritic and other ancient languages.
Since Sumerian and Hurrian, two non-Semitic languages, differ from
Akkadian
Akkadian in word structure, only nouns and some adjectives (not many
verbs) were borrowed from these languages. However, some verbs were
borrowed (along with many nouns) from
Aramaic
Aramaic and Ugaritic, both of
which are Semitic languages.
The following table contains examples of loan words in Akkadian:
Akkadian Meaning Source Word in the language of origin
dû hill Sumerian du
erēqu flee Aramaic ʿRQ (root)
gadalû dressed in linen Sumerian gada lá
isinnu firmly Sumerian ezen
kasulatḫu a device of copper Hurrian kasulatḫ-
kisallu court Sumerian kisal
laqāḫu take Ugaritic LQḤ( root)
paraššannu part of horse riding gear Hurrian paraššann-
purkullu stone cutter Sumerian bur-gul
qaṭālu kill Aramaic QṬL (root)
uriḫullu conventional penalty Hurrian uriḫull-
Akkadian
Akkadian was also a source of borrowing to other languages, above all
Sumerian. Some examples are: Sumerian da-ri ('lastingly', from
Akkadian
Akkadian dāru), Sumerian ra gaba ('riders, messenger', from Akkadian
rākibu).
Sample text[edit]
The following is the 7th section of the
Hammurabi
Hammurabi law code, written in
the mid-18th century BC:
Akkadian šumma awīl-um lū kasp-am lū ḫurāṣ-am lū ward-am lū amt-am
English if Man (nominative) or silver (accusative) or gold (accusative) or slave (masculine, accusative) or Slave (feminine, accusative)
Akkadian lū alp-am lū immer-am lū imēr-am ū lū mimma šumšu ina
English or Cattle, oxen (accusative) or sheep (accusative) or donkey (accusative) and or something from
Akkadian qāt mār awīl-im ū lū warad awīl-im balum šīb-ī u
English hand (status constructus) son (status constructus) man (genitive) and or slave (status constructus) man (genitive) without witnesses (genitive) and
Akkadian riks-ātim i-štām-Ø ū lū ana maṣṣārūt-im i-mḫur-Ø
English contracts (genitive) bought (3rd person singular, perfect) and or for safekeeping (genitive) received (3rd person singular, preterite)
Akkadian awīl-um šū šarrāq i-ddāk
English man (nominative) (3rd person masculine singular independent pronoun) stealer (status absolutus) is killed (3rd person singular in passive present tense)
Translation: If a man has bought silver or gold, a male or a female
slave, an ox, a sheep, or a donkey—or anything for that
matter—from another man or from another man’s slave without
witnesses or contract, or if he accepted something for safekeeping
without same, then this man is a thief and hence to be killed.
Akkadian
Akkadian literature[edit]
Ancient
Near East
Near East portal
Main article:
Akkadian
Akkadian literature
Atrahasis Epic
Atrahasis Epic (early 2nd millennium BC)
Enûma Elish
Enûma Elish (c. 18th century BC)
Amarna letters
Amarna letters (14th century BC)
Epic of
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh (Sin-liqe-unninni' "standard" version, 13th to 11th
century BC)
Ludlul Bel Nemeqi
Notes[edit]
^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds.
(2017). "Akkadian".
Glottolog
Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute
for the Science of Human History.
^ Black, Jeremy A.; George, Andrew; Postgate, J. N. (2000-01-01). A
Concise Dictionary of Akkadian. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 10.
ISBN 9783447042642.
^ a b c d e f John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "
Akkadian
Akkadian and
Eblaite", The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages.
Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218-280
^ John Huehnergard and Christopher Woods, "
Akkadian
Akkadian and Eblaite", in
Roger D. Woodard, ed., The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia,
Egypt
Egypt and
Aksum, Cambridge University Press, 2008, p.83
^ Deutscher, Guy (2007). Syntactic Change in Akkadian: The Evolution
of Sentential Complementation.
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press US.
pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-0-19-953222-3.
^ [1] Andrew George, "Babylonian and Assyrian: A History of Akkadian",
In: Postgate, J. N., (ed.), Languages of Iraq, Ancient and Modern.
London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq, pp. 37.
^ Marckham Geller, "The Last Wedge"
^ Müller-Kessler, Christa (July 20, 2009). "Mandaeans v. Mandaic
Language". Encyclopædia Iranica (online 2012 ed.).
^ Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasitische Archäologie 86
(1997): 43–95.
^ Caplice, p.5 (1980)
^ Bertman, Stephen (2003). Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia.
Oxford University Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-019-518364-1.
Retrieved 16 May 2015.
^ Adkins 2003, p. 47.
^ John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, 2004 "
Akkadian
Akkadian and
Eblaite", The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages,
pg. 218.
^ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-13715296
^ Hetzron, Robert. The Semitic Languages.
^ Kogan, Leonid (2011). "
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
Phonetics and Phonology". In
Semitic languages: an international handbook, Stefan Weninger, ed.
Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 68.
^ Hendrik, Jagersma, Abraham. "A descriptive grammar of Sumerian".
openaccess.leidenuniv.nl. p. 46. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
^ Sabatino Moscati et al. "An Introduction to Comparative Grammar of
Semitic Languages
Phonology
Phonology and Morphology". (section on vowels and
semi-vowels)
^ Huehnergard & Woods. "
Akkadian
Akkadian and Eblaite". www.academia.edu.
p. 233. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
Sources[edit]
Aro, Jussi (1957). Studien zur mittelbabylonischen Grammatik. Studia
Orientalia 22. Helsinki: Societas Orientalis Fennica.
Buccellati, Giorgio (1996). A Structural Grammar of Babylonian.
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Buccellati, Giorgio (1997). "Akkadian," The Semitic Languages. Ed.
Robert Hetzron. New York: Routledge. Pages 69–99.
Bussmann, Hadumod (1996). Routledge Dictionary of Language and
Linguistics. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-20319-8
Caplice, Richard (1980). Introduction to Akkadian. Rome: Biblical
Institute Press. (1983: ISBN 88-7653-440-7; 1988, 2002:
ISBN 88-7653-566-7) (The 1980 edition is partly available
online.)
Dolgopolsky, Aron (1999). From
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic to Hebrew. Milan: Centro
Studi Camito-Semitici di Milano.
Gelb, I.J. (1961). Old
Akkadian
Akkadian Writing and Grammar. Second edition.
Materials for the Assyrian Dictionary 2. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Huehnergard, John (2005). A Grammar of
Akkadian
Akkadian (Second Edition).
Eisenbrauns. ISBN 1-57506-922-9
Marcus, David (1978). A Manual of Akkadian. University Press of
America. ISBN 0-8191-0608-9
Mercer, Samuel A B (1961). Introductory Assyrian Grammar. New York: F
Ungar. ISBN 0-486-42815-X
Sabatino Moscati (1980). An Introduction to Comparative Grammar of
Semitic Languages
Phonology
Phonology and Morphology. Harrassowitz Verlag.
ISBN 3-447-00689-7.
Soden, Wolfram von (1952). Grundriss der akkadischen Grammatik.
Analecta Orientalia 33. Roma: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum. (3rd
ed., 1995: ISBN 88-7653-258-7)
Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia,
Egypt
Egypt and
Aksum. Cambridge University Press 2008. ISBN 978-0-521-68497-2
Further reading[edit] General description and grammar[edit]
Gelb, I. J. (1961). Old
Akkadian
Akkadian writing and grammar. Materials for
the Assyrian dictionary, no. 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
ISBN 0-226-62304-1
Hasselbach, Rebecca. Sargonic Akkadian: A Historical and Comparative
Study of the Syllabic Texts. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag 2005.
ISBN 978-3-447-05172-9
Huehnergard, J. A Grammar of
Akkadian
Akkadian (3rd ed. 2011). Harvard Semitic
Museum Studies 45. ISBN 978-1-57506-922-7[2](requires login)
Huehnergard, J. (2005). A Key to A Grammar of
Akkadian
Akkadian . Harvard
Semitic Studies. Eisenbrauns.[3](requires login)
Soden, Wolfram von: Grundriß der Akkadischen Grammatik. Analecta
Orientalia. Bd 33. Rom 1995. ISBN 88-7653-258-7
Streck, Michael P. Sprachen des Alten Orients. Wiss. Buchges.,
Darmstadt 2005. ISBN 3-534-17996-X
Ungnad, Arthur: Grammatik des Akkadischen. Neubearbeitung durch L.
Matouš, München 1969, 1979 (5. Aufl.). ISBN 3-406-02890-X
Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia,
Egypt
Egypt and
Aksum. Cambridge University Press 2008. ISBN 978-0-521-68497-2
Textbooks[edit]
Rykle Borger: Babylonisch-assyrische Lesestücke. Rom 1963.(3., revidierte Auflage, 2006 Teil. I-II)
Part I: Elemente der Grammatik und der Schrift. Übungsbeispiele. Glossar. Part II: Die Texte in Umschrift. Part III: Kommentar. Die Texte in Keilschrift.
Richard Caplice: Introduction to Akkadian. Biblical Institute Press, Rome 1988, 2002 (4.Aufl.). ISBN 88-7653-566-7 Kaspar K. Riemschneider: Lehrbuch des Akkadischen. Enzyklopädie, Leipzig 1969, Langenscheidt Verl. Enzyklopädie, Leipzig 1992 (6. Aufl.). ISBN 3-324-00364-4 Martin Worthington: "Complete Babylonian: Teach Yourself" London 2010 ISBN 0-340-98388-4
Dictionaries[edit]
Jeremy G. Black, Andrew George, Nicholas Postgate: A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian. Harrassowitz-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2000. ISBN 3-447-04264-8 Wolfram von Soden: Akkadisches Handwörterbuch. 3 Bde. Wiesbaden 1958-1981. ISBN 3-447-02187-X Martha T. Roth, ed.: The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. 21 vols. in 26. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago 1956-2010. (available free online)
Akkadian
Akkadian cuneiform[edit]
Cherry, A. (2003). A basic neo-Assyrian cuneiform syllabary. Toronto, Ont: Ashur Cherry, York University. Cherry, A. (2003). Basic individual logograms (Akkadian). Toronto, Ont: Ashur Cherry, York University. Rykle Borger: Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon. Alter Orient und Altes Testament (AOAT). Bd 305. Ugarit-Verlag, Münster 2004. ISBN 3-927120-82-0 René Labat: Manuel d'Épigraphie Akkadienne. Paul Geuthner, Paris 1976, 1995 (6.Aufl.). ISBN 2-7053-3583-8
Technical literature on specific subjects[edit]
Ignace J. Gelb: Old
Akkadian
Akkadian Writing and Grammar. Materials for the
Assyrian dictionary. Bd 2. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1952,
1961, 1973. ISBN 0-226-62304-1 ISSN 0076-518X
Markus Hilgert: Akkadisch in der Ur III-Zeit. Rhema-Verlag, Münster
2002. ISBN 3-930454-32-7
Walter Sommerfeld: Bemerkungen zur Dialektgliederung Altakkadisch,
Assyrisch und Babylonisch. In: Alter Orient und Altes Testament
(AOAT). Ugarit-Verlag, Münster 274.2003. ISSN 0931-4296
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Akkadian
Akkadian language.
Akkadian
Akkadian repository of Wikisource, the free library
For a list of words relating to Akkadian, see the
Akkadian
Akkadian category of
words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Introduction to
Cuneiform
Cuneiform Script and the
Akkadian
Akkadian language on The Open
Richly Annotated
Cuneiform
Cuneiform Corpus (Oracc)
Akkadian cuneiform
Akkadian cuneiform on Omniglot (Writing Systems and Languages of the
World)
Wilford, John Noble (7 June 2011). "After 90 Years, a Dictionary of an
Ancient World". The New York Times. p. 2.
Akkadian
Akkadian Language Samples
A detailed introduction to Akkadian
Assyrian grammar with chrestomathy and glossary (1921) by Samuel A B
Mercer
Akkadian-English-French Online Dictionary
Old Babylonian Text Corpus (includes dictionary)
The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of
Chicago (CAD)
Old
Akkadian
Akkadian Writing and Grammar, by I. J. Gelb, 2nd Ed. (1961)
Glossary of Old Akkadian, by I. J. Gelb (1957)
List of 1280
Akkadian
Akkadian roots, with a representative verb form for each
Recordings of Assyriologists Reading Babylonian and Assyrian
Unicode
Unicode Fonts for Ancient Scripts and
Akkadian
Akkadian font for Ubuntu
Linux-based operating system (ttf-ancient-fonts)
The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of
Chicago (CAD)
Akkadian
Akkadian in the wiki Glossing Ancient Languages (recommendations for
the Interlinear Morphemic Glossing of
Akkadian
Akkadian texts)
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