Akkadian Grammar Study Guide 001

Alphabet and Sounds of Akkadian a, b, d, e, g, ḫ, i, y, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, ṣ, š, t, ṭ, u, w, z Unique Letters Akkadian Value Note ḫ ch as in loch Called "hooked h" y y as in Mayan also written j ṣ ts as in bits emphatic, called "dotted s" š sh as in shot Hebrew Shin ṭ t as in tot emphatic, called "dotted t" ʾ glottal stop Aleph, ignored in the dictionary Vowels Short Vowel Value Long Vowel Value a a as in swap ā, â a as in father e e as in pet ē, ê e as in reign i i as in pit ī, î i as in marine u u as in put ū, û u as in rule Notes on the Vowels The length of the vowels is an important part of the spelling. (mutum ‘husband’ vs mūtum ‘death’) Long vowels are marked either with a macron, ā, or with a circumflex, â, depending on the origin of the length (see Lesson 6). Notes on the Consonants w does not occur before other consonants except itself except at the end of a word y only occurs between vowels or (rarely) at the beginning of a word) also transliterated as ‘j’ ʾ (aleph) only occurs between vowels and rarely at the end of a syllable some scholars put an aleph between every doubled vowel ignored in the dictionary (words containing ʾ are treated as if it were not there) all consonants can be doubled b, d, g, z are “voiced” p, t, k, s are “voiceless” q, ṣ, ṭ are “emphatic” (important later, see Lesson 9) Voiced Voiceless Emphatic b p — d t ṭ g k q z s ṣ - note the coorespondences in the physiology (e.g. b & p are formed the same way in the mouth, one is voiced, one not) Syllables The writing system is based on syllables. Therefore crucial to master syllabification! Three rules: Every syllable has one and only one vowel. No syllable may begin with a vowel except the beginning of a word except the second of two vowels (kiam -> ki / am) No syllable may begin or end with two consonants Accents Three types of syllables: ...

August 4, 2024 · 3 min · Forrest Berry

Akkadian Grammar Study Guide Intro

Introduction Akkadian is the oldest Semitic language. the lingua franca of the ANE from about 2000-500 BC aka Assyrian and Babylonian Material culture written on clay tablets (good because virtually indestructible) vary in size from 1in square to 18in square most are hand-sized rectangles written on the face, but also the edges (often so could be read on a shelf) written with wedge-shaped stylus hundreds of thousands of extant texts (more than classical Latin) Cuneiform “wedge shaped” writing system of Akkadian syllable based adapted from Sumerian (a non-related but geographically close language) each character called a “sign” thousands of signs varies based on time and geography transliteration involves use of sign list Dialects Assyrian (in the north) Babylonian (in the south) Old Babylonian becomes the classical standard Standard Babylonian is the later imitation of Old Babylonian Peripheral Akkadian is the term for the Akkadian dialects of futher reaches (often mixed with the grammar and vocabulary of the native language.) Akkadian Dialects by Time and Geography Old Akkadian (OAkk) 2500-2000 Assyrian Babylonian Old Assyrian (OA) 2000–1500 Old Babylonian (OB) Middle Assyrian (MA) 1500–1000 Middle Babylonian (MB) Neo-Assyrian (NA) 1000–600 Neo-Babylonian (NB) — 600–100 CE Late Babylonian (LB) Learning Old Babylonian in this course Research Tools and Context Assyriologist is a person who studies and prepares texts of Akkadian. Massive field with lots of opportunity. Hundreds of thousands of texts (not all inventoried) More discovered every year Preparation of a text photography autograph copy a hand-drawn representation of a text transliteration a Latin-character representation of a text translation Tools sign list a “dictionary” of cuneiform signs and thier values dictionary dialect grammar Download Anki Deck ...

August 4, 2024 · 2 min · Forrest Berry

Akkadian Grammar Study Guides

A Table of Contents for my study guides for John Huehnergard’s Akkadian Grammar.

August 1, 2024 · 1 min · Forrest Berry

Hebrew Typing Helps

◌ used as place holder to put vowels and accent marks (added Alfred text-expander shortcut as !circ) U+05AB ◌֫ the ole, used as a generic accent mark ֫ (added Alfred text-expander shortcut as !ole) ֫Copy

May 10, 2024 · 1 min · Forrest Berry

Hebrew Verb Patterns

Qatal/Perfect Singlar Plural 3M ◌◌◌ ◌◌◌וּ 3F ◌◌◌ָה — 2M ◌◌◌תָּ ◌◌◌תֶּם 2F ◌◌◌תְּ ◌◌◌תֶּן 1C ◌◌◌תִּי ◌◌◌נוּ Yiqtol/Imperfect Singlar Plural 3M י◌◌◌ י◌◌◌וּ 3F תּ◌◌◌ תּ◌◌◌נָה 2M תּ◌◌◌ תּ◌◌◌וּ 2F תּ◌◌◌ִי תּ◌◌◌נָה 1C א◌◌◌ נ◌◌◌ Imperative Note: The Imperative is the same as the Yiqtol/Imperfect but removes the preformatives. Singlar Plural 2M ◌◌◌ ◌◌◌וּ 2F ◌◌◌ִי ◌◌◌נָה

April 28, 2024 · 1 min · Forrest Berry

SBL Hebrew Font

The SBL Hebrew Font User Manual is worth a skim. There is a lot that goes into a unicode Hebrew font whent the cantilation and other Hebrew Bible marks come into play. One issue is normalization. You should not normalize Hebrew fonts because it may affect the ordering of vowels and cantilation marks. Psalm 27:13 is an example of a problematic Hebrew verse with extra markings that are in the text but unknown: ...

April 8, 2024 · 1 min · Forrest Berry

Piel Verb Table

A table of the Hebrew Piel Verb paradigm for דב׳׳ר

April 5, 2024 · 1 min · Forrest Berry

0 min · Forrest Berry

0 min · Forrest Berry

0 min · Forrest Berry