Akkadian language
Akkadian | |
---|---|
Babylonian or Assyrian | |
𒀝𒅗𒁺𒌑 Akkadû | |
Region | Mesopotamia |
Era | c. 2500–500 BC; academic or liturgical use until AD 100[1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Dialects | |
Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Initially Akkad (central Mesopotamia); lingua franca of the Middle East and Egypt in the late Bronze and early Iron Ages. |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | akk |
ISO 639-3 | akk |
akk | |
Glottolog | akka1240 |
Akkadian (
It is the earliest documented
Akkadian proper names are first attested in Sumerian texts in the mid-3rd millennium BC, and inscriptions ostensibly written in Sumerian but whose character order reveals that they were intended to be read in East Semitic (presumably early Akkadian) date back to as early as c. 2600 BC.[11] From about the 25th century BC, texts fully written in Akkadian begin to appear. By the 10th century BC, two variant dialectic forms of the same language were in use in Assyria and Babylonia, known as Assyrian and Babylonian respectively. The bulk of preserved material is from this later period, corresponding to the Near Eastern Iron Age. In total, hundreds of thousands of texts and text fragments have been excavated, covering a vast textual tradition of religious and mythological narrative, legal texts, scientific works, personal correspondence, political, civil and military events, economic tracts and many other examples.
Centuries after the fall of the Akkadian Empire, Akkadian (in its Assyrian and Babylonian varieties) was the native language of the Mesopotamian empires (
Akkadian is a
Classification
Akkadian belongs with the other Semitic languages in the Near Eastern branch of the Afroasiatic languages, a family native to Middle East, Arabian Peninsula, parts of Anatolia, parts of the Horn of Africa, North Africa, Malta, Canary Islands and parts of West Africa (Hausa). Akkadian is only ever attested in Mesopotamia and neighboring regions in the Near East.
Within the Near Eastern Semitic languages, Akkadian forms an
Additionally Akkadian is the only Semitic language to use the
In contrast to most other Semitic languages, Akkadian has only one non-sibilant
History and writing
Writing
Old 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 scribes, the adapted cuneiform script could represent either (a) Sumerian logograms (i.e., picture-based characters representing entire words), (b) Sumerian syllables, (c) Akkadian syllables, or (d) phonetic complements. However, in Akkadian the script practically became a fully fledged syllabic script, and the original logographic nature of cuneiform became secondary[citation needed], 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 or even the syllable -an-. Additionally, this sign was used as a determinative for divine names.
Another peculiarity of 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 was in many ways unsuited to Akkadian: among its flaws was its inability to represent important
Development
Akkadian is divided into several
- Old Akkadian, 2500–1950 BC
- Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian, 1950–1530 BC
- Middle Babylonian and Middle Assyrian, 1530–1000 BC
- Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian, 1000–600 BC
- Late Babylonian, 600 BC–100 AD
One of the earliest known Akkadian inscriptions was found on a bowl at
Old Akkadian, which was used until the end of the 3rd millennium BC, differed 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') were first encountered in Old Babylonian instead of the older la-prus. While generally more archaic, Assyrian developed certain innovations as well, such as the "Assyrian vowel harmony". Eblaite was even more so, retaining a productive dual and a relative pronoun declined in case, number and gender. Both of these had already disappeared in Old Akkadian. Over 20,000 cuneiform tablets in Old Assyrian have been recovered from the Kültepe site in Anatolia. Most of the archaeological evidence is typical of Anatolia rather than of Assyria, but the use both of cuneiform and the dialect is the best indication of Assyrian presence.[20]
Old Babylonian was the language of king Hammurabi and his code, which is one of the oldest collections of laws in the world. (see Code of Ur-Nammu.) 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. It was, however, notably used in the correspondence of Assyrian traders in Anatolia in the 20th-18th centuries BC and that even led to its temporary adoption as a diplomatic language by various local Anatolian polities during that time.[21]
The Middle Babylonian period started in the 16th century BC. The division is marked by the Kassite invasion of 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 Near East, including Egypt (Amarna Period).[22] During this period, a large number of loan words were included in the language from Northwest Semitic languages and Hurrian; however, the use of these words was confined to the fringes of the Akkadian-speaking territory.
From 1500 BC onwards, the Assyrian language is termed Middle Assyrian. It was the language of the Middle Assyrian Empire. However, the Babylonian cultural influence was strong and the Assyrians wrote royal inscriptions, religious and most scholarly texts in Middle Babylonian, whereas Middle Assyrian was used mostly in letters and administrative documents.[23]
Neo-Assyrian received an upswing in popularity in the 10th century BC when the Assyrian kingdom became a major power with the
Similarly, the Persian conquest of the Mesopotamian kingdoms also contributed to the decline of Babylonian (from that point on known as Late Babylonian) as a popular language. However, the language was still used in its written form; and even after the Greek invasion under Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, Akkadian was still a contender as a written language, but spoken Akkadian was likely extinct by this time, or at least rarely used. The last positively identified Akkadian text comes from the 1st century AD.[25] The latest known text in cuneiform Babylonian is an astronomical almanac dated to 79/80 AD.[26] However, the latest cuneiform texts are almost entirely written in Sumerian logograms.[27]
Decipherment
The Akkadian language began to be rediscovered when
In the early 21st century it was shown that automatic high-quality translation of Akkadian can be achieved using Natural Language Processing methods such as Convolutional neural networks.[28]
Dialects
The following table summarises the dialects of Akkadian identified with certainty so far.
Dialect | Location |
---|---|
Assyrian | Northern Mesopotamia |
Babylonian | Central and Southern Mesopotamia |
Mariotic | Central Euphrates (in and around the city of Mari) |
Nuzi | Northern Tigris (in and around the city of Nuzi)[29] |
Tell Beydar | Northern Syria (in and around Tell Beydar) |
Some researchers (such as W. Sommerfeld 2003) believe that the Old 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 dialect, is now generally considered a separate East Semitic language.
Phonetics and phonology
Because Akkadian as a spoken language is extinct and no contemporary descriptions of the pronunciation are known, little can be said with certainty about the
Consonants
The following table presents the consonants of the Akkadian language, as distinguished in Akkadian cuneiform. The reconstructed phonetic value[8] of a phoneme is given in IPA transcription, alongside its standard (DMG-Umschrift) transliteration in angle brackets ⟨ ⟩
.
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩
|
|||||
Stop/ Affricate |
voiceless | p ⟨p⟩ | t ⟨t⟩
|
t͡s ⟨s⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ | ʔ ⟨ʾ⟩ | |
emphatic | t’ ⟨ṭ⟩
|
t͡s’ ⟨ṣ⟩ | k’ ⟨q⟩ | ||||
voiced | b ⟨b⟩ | d ⟨d⟩
|
d͡z ⟨z⟩ | ɡ ⟨g⟩ | |||
Fricative | s ⟨š⟩[a] | ʃ ⟨š⟩[b] | x ⟨ḫ⟩ | ||||
Approximant | r ⟨r⟩[c]
|
l ⟨l⟩
|
j ⟨y⟩ | w ⟨w⟩ |
- ^ Assyrian Akkadian š represented the voiceless alveolar fricative [s].
- ^ Babylonian Akkadian š represented the voiceless postalveolar fricative [ʃ].
- ^ Akkadian r is alternatively interpreted as a guttural rhotic [ʁ] or [ʀ] .
Reconstruction
Akkadian emphatic consonants are typically reconstructed as
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 /r/ was transcribed using the Greek ρ, indicating it was pronounced similarly as an
Descent from Proto-Semitic
Several
Proto-Semitic
|
Akkadian | Arabic
|
Aramaic | Hebrew | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
*b | b | ب | b | 𐡁 | ḇ, b | ב | b, ḇ |
*d | d | د | d | 𐡃 | ḏ, d | ד | d, ḏ |
*g | g | ج | ǧ | 𐡂 | ḡ, g | ג | g, ḡ |
*p | p | ف | f | 𐡐 | p̄, p | פ | p, p̄ |
*t | t | ت | t | 𐡕 | ṯ, t | ת | t, ṯ |
*k | k | ك | k | 𐡊 | ḵ, k | כ | k, ḵ |
*ʔ | (∅)/ ʾ | ء | ʾ | 𐡏 | ʻ | א | ʾ |
*ṭ | ṭ | ط | ṭ | 𐡈 | ṭ | ט | ṭ |
*ḳ | q | ق | q | 𐡒 | q | ק | q |
*ḏ | z | ذ | ḏ | 𐡆 ,𐡃 | ḏ, d | ז | z |
*z | ز | z | 𐡆 | z | |||
*ṯ | š | ث | ṯ | 𐡔 ,𐡕 | ṯ, t | שׁ | š |
*š | س | s | 𐡔 | š | |||
*ś | ش | š | 𐡔 ,𐡎 | ś, s | שׂ | ś | |
*s | s | س | s | 𐡎 | s | ס | s |
*ṱ | ṣ | ظ | ẓ | 𐡑 ,𐡈 | ṯʼ, ṭ | צ | ṣ |
*ṣ | ص | ṣ | 𐡑 | ṣ | |||
*ṣ́ | ض | ḍ | 𐡒 ,𐡏 | ġ, ʻ | |||
*ġ | ḫ | غ | ġ | 𐡏 | ġ, ʻ | ע | ʿ /ʕ/ |
*ʕ | ḫ / (e) [t2 1] | ع | ʿ /ʕ/ | 𐡏 | ʻ | ||
*ḫ | ḫ | خ | ḫ /x/ | 𐡇 | ḫ, ḥ | ח | ḥ |
*ḥ | (e) [t2 1] | ح | ḥ /ħ/ | 𐡇 | ḥ | ||
*h | (∅) | ه | h | 𐡄 | h | ה | h |
*m | m | م | m | 𐡌 | m | מ | m |
*n | n | ن | n | 𐡍 | n | נ | n |
*r | r | ر | r | 𐡓 | r | ר | r |
*l | l | ل | l | 𐡋 | l | ל | l |
*w | w | و | w | 𐡅 | w | ו | w |
*y | y | ي | y /j/ | 𐡉 | y | י | y |
Proto-Semitic
|
Akkadian | Arabic
|
Aramaic | Hebrew |
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | 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.[35] 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.[36]
All consonants and vowels appear in long and short forms. Long consonants are transliterated as double consonants, and inconsistently written as such in cuneiform. Long vowels are transliterated with a macron (ā, ē, ī, ū) or a circumflex (â, ê, î, û), the latter being used for long vowels arising from the contraction of vowels in hiatus. The distinction between long and short is phonemic, and is used in the grammar; for example, iprusu ('that he decided') versus iprusū ('they decided').
Stress
The stress patterns of 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, 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.[citation needed]
Huehnergard claims that stress in Akkadian is completely predictable.[37] 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 non-final syllable is stressed. If a word contains only light syllables, the first syllable is stressed.
A rule of 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.[citation needed]
Grammar
Morphology
Consonantal root
Most roots of the 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
Formally, 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
The nouns šarrum (king) and šarratum (queen) and the adjective dannum (strong) will serve to illustrate the case system of Akkadian.
Noun | Adjective | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
masc. | fem. | masc. | 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 the um-locative replaces several constructions with the preposition ina.
In the later stages of Akkadian, the
Noun states and nominal sentences
"Antiochus, King, Great King, King of multitudes, King of Babylon, King of countries"
As is also the case in other Semitic languages, 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 has the status absolutus (the
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.
Awīl-um
man.NOM
šū
3SG.MASC
šarrāq
thief.ABSOLUTUS
This man is a thief
šarrum
king.NOM.RECTUS
lā
NEG
šanān
oppose.INF.ABSOLUTUS
The king who cannot be rivaled
The status constructus is more common by far, 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:
māri-šu
son.CONSTRUCTUS-3SG.POSS
His son, its (masculine) son
but
mār
son.CONSTRUCTUS
šarr-im
king.GEN.SG
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 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).
kalab
dog.CONSTRUCTUS
belim
master.GEN.SG
The master's dog
šakin
governor.CONSTRUCTUS
ālim
city.GEN.SG
The city’s governor
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.
salīmātum
Alliances.NOM.RECTUS
ša
which
awīl
man.CONSTRUCTUS
Ešnunna
Ešnunna.GEN
The alliances of the Ruler of Ešnunna (lit. "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.
awīl-um
man.NOM
ša
that
māt-am
land.SG.ACC
i-kšud-Ø-u
3-conquer.PRET-SG.MASC-SJV
The man who conquered the land.
Verbal morphology
Verb aspects
The Akkadian verb has six
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.) | ||
plural | niprus | niptaras | niparras | parsānu | ||||||
2nd person |
singular | masc. | taprus | taptaras | taparras | purus | parsāta | |||
fem. | taprusī | taptarsī (< *taptarasī) | taparrasī | pursi | parsāti | |||||
plural | taprusā | taptarsā | taparrasā | pursa | parsātunu (masc.) / parsātina (fem.) | |||||
3rd person |
singular | iprus | iptaras | iparras | paris (masc.) / parsat (fem.) | |||||
plural | masc. | iprusū | iptarsū (< *iptarasū) | iparrasū | parsū | |||||
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 | |
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 |
singular | fem. | ta-prus-ī | tu-parris-ī | tu-šapris-ī | ta-ppars-ī | |
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 | |
plural | masc. | i-prus-ū | u-parris-ū | u-šapris-ū | i-ppars-ū | |
plural | fem. | i-prus-ā | u-parris-ā | u-šapris-ā | i-ppars-ā |
Verb moods
Akkadian verbs have three moods:
- Indicative, used in independent clauses, is unmarked.
- Subjunctive, used in dependent clauses, is marked in forms which do not end in a vowel by the suffix -u (compare Arabic and Ugaritic subjunctives) but is otherwise unmarked. In the later stages of most dialects, the subjunctive is indistinct, as short final vowels were mostly lost.
- verbs of motion, it often indicates motion toward 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 lexicalfunction.
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 |
Verb patterns
Akkadian verbs have thirteen separate
Furthermore,
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
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 intransitive verbs |
Arabic stem I (fa‘ala) and Hebrew pa'al |
II.1 | D | PuRRuS | gemination of the second radical, indicating the intensive | Arabic stem II (fa‘‘ala) and Hebrew pi‘el |
III.1 | Š | šuPRuS | š-preformative, indicating the causative | Arabic stem IV (’af‘ala) and Hebrew hiph‘il |
IV.1 | N | naPRuS | n-preformative, indicating the reflexive/passive | Arabic stem VII (infa‘ala) and Hebrew niph‘al |
I.2 | Gt | PitRuS | simple stem with t-infix after first radical, indicating reciprocal or reflexive | Arabic stem VIII (ifta‘ala) and Aramaic ’ithpe‘al (tG) |
II.2 | Dt | PutaRRuS | doubled second radical preceded by infixed t, indicating intensive reflexive | Arabic stem V (tafa‘‘ala) and Hebrew hithpa‘el (tD) |
III.2 | Št | šutaPRuS | š-preformative with t-infix, indicating reflexive causative | Arabic stem X (istaf‘ala) and 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
A very often appearing form which can be formed by
šarrum | rapšum | parsum | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st person |
singular | šarr-āku | rapš-āku | pars-āku | |
plural | šarr-ānu | rapš-ānu | pars-ānu | ||
2nd person |
singular | masc. | šarr-āta | rapš-āta | pars-āta |
fem. | šarr-āti | rapš-āti | pars-āti | ||
plural | masc. | šarr-ātunu | rapš-ātunu | pars-ātunu | |
fem. | šarr-ātina | rapš-ātina | pars-ātina | ||
3rd person |
singular | masc. | šar-Ø | rapaš-Ø | paris-Ø |
fem. | šarr-at | rapš-at | pars-at | ||
plural | masc. | šarr-ū | rapš-ū | pars-ū | |
fem. | šarr-ā | rapš-ā | pars-ā |
Thus, the stative in 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
Beside the already explained possibility of derivation of different verb stems, Akkadian has numerous nominal formations derived from verb
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), rabûtum (size) from rabûm (large), waṣûtum (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 dīšum (grass), šullušum (to do something for the third time ) from šalāš (three).
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Independent personal pronouns
Independent
Nominative | Oblique | Dative
| |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Person | singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |
1st | anāku "I" | nīnu "we" | yâti | niāti | yâšim | niāšim | |
2nd | masculine | atta "you" | attunu "you" | kâti (kâta) | kunūti | kâšim | kunūšim |
feminine | atti "you" | attina "you" | kâti | kināti | kâšim | kināšim | |
3rd | masculine | šū "he" | šunu "they" | šātilu (šātilu) | šunūti | šuāšim (šāšim) | šunūšim |
feminine | šī "she" | šina "they" | šiāti (šuāti, šâti) | šināti | šiāšim (šâšim) | šināšim |
Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns
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 | -šu | -šunu | -šu | -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
Masculine | Feminine | ||
---|---|---|---|
Singular | Nom. | annûm | annītum |
Acc. | anniam | annītam | |
Gen. | annîm | annītim | |
Plural | Nom. | annûtum | anniātum |
Acc./Gen. | annûtim | anniātim |
Masculine | Feminine | ||
---|---|---|---|
Singular | Nom. | ullûm | ullītum |
Acc. | ulliam | ullītam | |
Gen. | ullîm | ullītim | |
Plural | Nom. | ullûtum | ulliātum |
Acc./Gen. | ullûtim | ulliātim |
Relative pronouns
Nominative
|
Accusative
|
Genitive
| ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | masc. | šu | ša | ši |
fem. | šāt | šāti | ||
Dual | šā | |||
Plural | masc. | šūt | ||
fem. | šāt |
Unlike plural relative pronouns, singular relative pronouns in 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
The following table shows the
Akkadian | English |
---|---|
mannum | who? |
mīnum, minûm | what? |
ayyum | which? |
Prepositions
Akkadian has
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
Since
The
# | Cardinal | Congruence | Ordinal | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(masculine) | (feminine) | (Gender agreement of the cardinal numeral) | (masculine) | (feminine) | |||
(absolute) | (free) | (absolute) | (free) | ||||
1 | ištēn | (ištēnum) | išteat, ištēt | (ištētum) | Congruent (no gender polarity) | pānûm maḫrûm (ištīʾum) ištēn |
pānītum maḫrītum (ištītum) išteat |
2 | šinā | — | šittā | — | Congruent | šanûm | šanītum |
3 | šalāšat | šalāštum | šalāš | šalāšum | Gender polarity | šalšum | šaluštum |
4 | erbet(ti) | erbettum | erbe, erba | erbûm | Gender polarity | rebûm | rebūtum |
5 | ḫamšat | ḫamištum | ḫamiš | ḫamšum | Gender polarity | ḫamšum | ḫamuštum |
6 | šeššet | šedištum | šediš? | šeššum | Gender polarity | šeššum | šeduštum |
7 | sebet(ti) | sebettum | sebe | sebûm | Gender polarity | sebûm | sebūtum |
8 | samānat | samāntum | samāne | samānûm | Gender polarity | samnum | samuntum |
9 | tišīt | tišītum | tiše | tišûm | Gender polarity | tešûm | tešūtum |
10 | eš(e)ret | ešertum | ešer | eš(e)rum | Gender polarity | ešrum | ešurtum |
11 | ištēššeret | ištēššer | Gender polarity | ištēššerûm | ištēššerītum | ||
12 | šinšeret | šinšer | Gender polarity | šinšerûm | šinšerītum | ||
13 | šalāššeret | šalāššer | Gender polarity | šalāššerûm | šalāššerītum | ||
14 | erbēšeret | erbēšer | Gender polarity | erbēšerûm | erbēšerītum | ||
15 | ḫamiššeret | ḫamiššer | Gender polarity | ḫamiššerûm | ḫamiššerītum | ||
16 | šeššeret? | šeššer? | Gender polarity | šeššerûm? | šeššerītum? | ||
17 | sebēšeret | sebēšer | Gender polarity | sebēšerûm | sebēšerītum | ||
18 | samāššeret | samāššer | Gender polarity | samāššerûm | samāššerītum | ||
19 | tišēšeret | tišēšer | Gender polarity | tišēšerûm | tišēšerītum | ||
20 | ešrā | No gender distinction | ešrûm | ešrītum? | |||
30 | šalāšā | No gender distinction | (as with 20?) | ||||
40 | erbeā, erbâ | No gender distinction | (as with 20?) | ||||
50 | ḫamšā | No gender distinction | (as with 20?) | ||||
60 | absolute šūš(i), free šūšum | No gender distinction | (as with 20?) | ||||
100 | absolute sg. meat, pl. meât[43] (free meatum) | No gender distinction | (as with 20?) | ||||
600 | absolute nēr, free nērum | No gender distinction | (as with 20?) | ||||
1000 | absolute līm(i), free līmum | No gender distinction | (as with 20?) | ||||
3600 | absolute šār, free šārum | No gender distinction | (as with 20?) |
Examples: erbē aššātum (four wives) (masculine numeral), meat ālānū (100 towns).
Syntax
Nominal phrases
Word | Meaning | Analysis | Part of the nominal phrase |
---|---|---|---|
erbēt | four | masculine (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
Akkadian sentence order was Subject+Object+Verb (SOV), which sets it apart from most other ancient Semitic languages such as
Vocabulary
The Akkadian vocabulary is mostly of
Due to extensive contact with Sumerian and
and other ancient languages. Since Sumerian and Hurrian, two non-Semitic languages, differ from 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 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 |
---|---|---|---|
dûm | hill | Sumerian | du |
erēqum | flee | Aramaic | ʿRQ ( root )
|
gadalûm | dressed in linen | Sumerian | gada lá |
isinnum | firmly | Sumerian | ezen |
kasulatḫum | a device of copper | Hurrian | kasulatḫ- |
kisallum | court | Sumerian | kisal |
laqāḫum | take | Ugaritic | LQḤ ( root )
|
paraššannum | part of horse riding gear | Hurrian | paraššann- |
purkullum | stone cutter | Sumerian | bur-gul |
qaṭālum | kill | Aramaic | QṬL ( root )
|
uriḫullum | conventional penalty | Hurrian | uriḫull- |
Akkadian was also a source of borrowing to other languages, above all Sumerian. Some examples are: Sumerian da-ri ('lastingly', from Akkadian dārum), Sumerian ra gaba ('riders, messenger', from Akkadian rākibum).
In 2011, the
Sample text
The following is the 7th section of the Hammurabi law code, written in the mid-18th century BC:
lū
or
alp-am
cattle/oxen-ACC
lū
or
immer-am
sheep-ACC
lū
or
imēr-am
donkey-ACC
ū
and
lū
or
mimma šumšu
something
ina
from
an ox, a sheep, or a donkey—or anything for that matter—
qāt
hand-CONST
mār
son-CONST
awīl-im
man-GEN
ū
and
lū
or
warad
slave-CONST
awīl-im
man-GEN
balum
without
šīb-ī
witnesses-GEN
u
and
from another man or from another man's slave without witnesses or contract,
riks-ātim
contracts-
or if he accepted something for safekeeping without same,
awīl-um
man-
then this man is a thief and hence to be killed.
Akkadian literature
- Atrahasis Epic(early 2nd millennium BC)
- Enûma Elish(c. 18th century BC)
- Amarna letters (14th century BC)
- Sin-liqe-unninni', Standard Babylonian version, 13th to 11th century BC)
- Ludlul Bel Nemeqi
Notes
- ^ "Neo-Assyrian". Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
- ^ "Akkadian".
- ^ I.J. Gelb. "Old Akkadian writing and grammar" (PDF). uchicago.edu. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ "Babylonian dialect | Akkadian dialect | Britannica".
- ^ Shlomo Izre’el (2007). "Canaano-Akkadian" (PDF). tau.ac.il. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ von Dassow, Eva, "Canaanite in Cuneiform", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 124, no. 4, pp. 641–74, 2004
- ISBN 9783447042642. Archivedfrom the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "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 and Eblaite", in Roger D. Woodard, ed., The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum, Cambridge University Press, 2008, p.83
- ISBN 978-0-19-953222-3.
- ^ [1] Archived 2020-07-31 at the Wayback Machine 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.
- S2CID 161968187.
- ^ Müller-Kessler, Christa (20 July 2009). "Mandaeans v. Mandaic Language". Encyclopædia Iranica (online 2012 ed.). Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasitische Archäologie 86 (1997): 43–95.
- ISBN 975-16-0246-7
- ISBN 978-0-511-39353-2
- ISBN 978-0-7914-0168-2. Archivedfrom the original on 9 March 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
- ^ Mémoires. Mission archéologique en Iran. 1900. p. 53.
- ^ Caplice, p.5 (1980)
- ISBN 978-019-518364-1. Archivedfrom the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
- ISBN 978-975-16-2235-8
- ^ Vita, Juan-Pablo (1 January 2020). "Akkadian as a Lingua Franca". R. Hasselbach-Andee (ed.), A Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Languages, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Hoboken 2020, 357-372.: 358–359.
- ^ Vita, Juan-Pablo (1 January 2020). "Akkadian as a Lingua Franca". R. Hasselbach-Andee (ed.), A Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Languages, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Hoboken 2020, 357-372.: 360.
- ^ Kouwenberg. Bert. A review of A Descriptive Middle Assyrian Grammar, by J. J. de Ridder, Leipziger Altorientalistische Studien 8 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2018). Pp. 628. $133.00 (cloth). P. 348
- from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^ John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, 2004 "Akkadian and Eblaite", The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages, pg. 218.
- S2CID 163700758.
- ISBN 978-0-520-06115-6. Archivedfrom the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
- PMID 37143863.
- JSTOR 43581190.
- JSTOR 23284567.
- ^ "Site officiel du musée du Louvre". cartelfr.louvre.fr. Archived from the original on 15 July 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
- ^ Hetzron, Robert. The Semitic Languages.
- ^ Kogan, Leonid (2011). "Proto-Semitic Phonetics and Phonology". In Semitic languages: an international handbook, Stefan Weninger, ed. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 68.
- ^ Hendrik, Jagersma, Abraham (4 November 2010). A descriptive grammar of Sumerian. openaccess.leidenuniv.nl (Thesis). p. 46. Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
{{cite thesis}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Sabatino Moscati et al. "An Introduction to Comparative Grammar of Semitic Languages Phonology and Morphology". (section on vowels and semi-vowels)
- ^ Huehnergard & Woods. "Akkadian and Eblaite". www.academia.edu: 233. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ISBN 1-57506-922-9.
- ISBN 9781107010765. Archivedfrom the original on 17 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
- ISBN 9781107244566. Archivedfrom the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
- ^ "Antiochus cylinder". British Museum. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
- ^ Wallis Budge, Ernest Alfred (1884). Babylonian Life and History. Religious Tract Society. p. 94.
- ^ Huehnergard, 3rd ed., §23.2
- ^ E.g. šalāš meât '300'
- ^ Deutscher 2000, p. 21.
- ^ Hebblethwaite, Cordelia (14 June 2011). "Dictionary 90 years in the making". BBC News. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
- from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
Sources
- 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 88-7653-566-7) (The 1980 edition is partly available online Archived 2006-05-07 at the Wayback Machine.)
- Dolgopolsky, Aron (1999). From Proto-Semitic to Hebrew. Milan: Centro Studi Camito-Semitici di Milano.
- Deutscher, G. (2000). Syntactic Change in Akkadian: The Evolution of Sentential Complementation. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-154483-5. Archivedfrom the original on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
- Gelb, I.J. (1961). Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar. Second edition. Materials for the Assyrian Dictionary 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Huehnergard, John (2005). A Grammar of 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 and Morphology. Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-00689-7.
- ISBN 88-7653-258-7)
- Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum. Cambridge University Press 2008. ISBN 978-0-521-68497-2
Further reading
General description and grammar
- Gelb, I. J. (1961). Old 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 (3rd ed. 2011.) Harvard Semitic Museum Studies 45. ISBN 978-1-57506-922-7
- Huehnergard, J. (2005). A Key to A Grammar of Akkadian. Harvard Semitic Studies. Eisenbrauns.
- 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 and Aksum. Cambridge University Press 2008. ISBN 978-0-521-68497-2
- Ikeda, Jun. Early Japanese and Early Akkadian Writing Systems. University of Tsukuba. 2007 [2]
Textbooks
- Basics of Akkadian: A Grammar Workbook and Glossary, By Gordon P. Hugenberg with Nancy L. Erickson, 2022.
- 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. ISBN 3-324-00364-4
- Martin Worthington: "Complete Babylonian: Teach Yourself" London 2010 ISBN 0-340-98388-4
Dictionaries
- 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 Archived 18 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine)
Akkadian cuneiform
- 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
- ISBN 2-7053-3583-8
Translations
- Shin Shifra, Jacob Klein (1996). In Those Far Days. Tel Aviv, Am Oved and The Israeli Center for Libraries' project for translating Exemplary Literature to Hebrew. This is an anthology of Sumerian and Akkadian poetry, translated into Hebrew.
Technical literature on specific subjects
- Ignace J. Gelb: Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar. Materials for the Assyrian dictionary. Bd 2. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1952, 1961, 1973. ISSN 0076-518X
- [3]Gutherz, Gai, et al. "Translating Akkadian to English with neural machine translation." PNAS nexus 2.5, 2023
- 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
- Introduction to Cuneiform Script and the Akkadian language on The Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (Oracc)
- 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.
- 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) Archived 18 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar, by I. J. Gelb, 2nd Ed. (1961) Archived 19 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- Glossary of Old Akkadian, by I. J. Gelb (1957) Archived 14 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- List of 1280 Akkadian roots, with a representative verb form for each
- Recordings of Assyriologists Reading Babylonian and Assyrian
- Unicode Fonts for Ancient Scripts and 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 in the wiki Glossing Ancient Languages (recommendations for the Interlinear Morphemic Glossing of Akkadian texts)