Akkadian

Sound Changes i > e Before the consonants r and h, i could change to e. This is inconsistent (cf. nakirum, nakerum, nakrum) a > e a and e vowels would not exist in the same word. The a would become an e. *bēlātum > bēlētum Exceptions: There are a number of precise rules, but the gist is that if it is part of an ending or connection to an ending, the a is unchanged. III-weak G Verbs III-weak verbs are verbs that are missing the third radical. (It has dropped out.) Basic rules for forming the verb: If the third radical would have occurred after a vowel, nothing happens (end in the vowel). ...

Injunctives There are four tenses that together make up the injunctive “tense” (commands and wishes): Imperative 2nd person commands Precative 1st and 3rd person commands/wishes (jussive) Prohibitive negative commands Vetitive negative wishes G Imperative Commands in the second person The Imperative is never used with a negative adverb. (Use Prohibitive below.) Essential form is the G preterite without the prefix In most words, the theme vowel is inserted between the first two radicals. ...

Assimilation of n n nearly always assimilates to the following consonant the following consonant then doubles (called compensatory lengthening) nC1 > C1C1 The verbal adjective of šakānum is šaknum. In the feminine singular, it is **šakintum > šakittum. Exceptions: frequently, verbal adjectives with a second radical of n Sumerian loan words Assimilation before Feminine Marker t d and ṭ completely assimilate with the accompanying compensatory lengthening (e.g. **kašidtum > kašittum) sibilants (s, ṣ, z) become š exceptions are rare Weak Verbs Weak verbs contain one or more radicals that are prone to phonological change. Weak verbs identified with a Roman numeral and the weak consonant e.g. I-n, identifies a verb with a first radical of n The weak radicals are ʾ, y, n, w. n assimilates anywhere (not just verbs). ʾ, y, w generally only adjust in verbs. The generic designation “-weak”, refers to the consonants ʾ, w, y. G Preterite I-n Verbs always assimilate due to n always being followed by a consonant Verbal adjective and Infinitive are always regular due to n always being followed by a vowel. nadānum G Preterite Form Singular Plural 3m iddin iddinū 3f iddin iddinā 2m taddin taddinā 2f taddinī taddinā 1c addin niddin Verb Semantics Double Accusatives: some Akkadian verbs take two direct objects. Rarely occurs in English (She taught him Akkadian.) More common but still not frequent in Akkadian. Pay attention to the vocabulary entries to identify which verbs take a double accusative. Prepositions: prepositions can have particular meaning with (certain) verbs. Pay attention to the vocabulary. ina, normally instrumental or locative, can have the sense of “from” with verbs (amtum ina bītim iḫliq “the slave escaped from the house”, not “the slave escaped in/with the house”) ina qātim ša not “in the hand of” but “from the hand of” Anki Deck ...

Vowel Syncope Two light syllables cannot stand immediately next to one another. If two stand next to each other, the second is syncopated (the vowel is omitted). eg. **napišātum > napšātum Exceptions can occur: at the end of a word (most often prepositions) eg. ina before a vowel (rabiam) before r and l (zikarum, ubilū) other exceptions less frequently Adjectives Attributive Adjective Endings are the same as nouns. Exceptions: masculine plural endings are -ūtum, -ūtim no dual adjectives; dual nouns take a feminine plural adjective Directly modify a noun (mighty kings) Follow the modified noun (šarrū dannūtum, mighty kings) Agree with the noun in gender, number, case Can modify more than one noun (compound antecedent) takes a plural adjective (abum u mārum dannūtum, the mighty father and son) mixed gender takes a masculine adjective (abum u ummum dannūtum, the mighty father and mother) Substantizing Adjectives Any adjective can be used as a noun. In the masculine plural, the noun (-um/im) or adjective (-ūtum/ūtim) endings may be used. Feminine singular may be used as an abstract noun (eg. damqum = “the good man”, but damiqtum = “goodness”) The G Verbal Adjective Many adjectives are formed from the verbal root. not all verbal roots have attested verbal adjectives more rarely vice versa meaning is related to the verbal root in a generally passive manner (i.e. “to strike” (maḫaṣum) becomes “struck” (maḫṣum), not “striking”) The G verbal adjective pattern is parVs (R1aR2VR3), where V is a short vowel. most of the time V is i; must be memorized when not i V is only visible in the feminine singular due to Vowel Syncope (above) V is not necessarily the same as the theme vowel Damāqum (Stem Damiq-) Masc Fem nom s damqum damiqtum Gen S damqim damiqtim Acc S damqam damiqtam Nom P damqūtum damqātum Gen/Acc P damqūtim damqātim ul(a) Negates the predicate of a main clause Placed immediately before the verb. (ḫuraṣam ina bītim ul aṣbat) If no verb, placed immediately before predicate. (ul šarrum ša Bābilim šu) Anki Deck ...

The Semantic Root Semitic languages are built on a consonantal root pattern. Generally there are three consonants that form the basis for many derivatives. Each consonant is called a radical. The sequence of radicals is called the root. Derivatives are formed with vowel patterns, prefixes, suffixes, and duplication. p-r-s is the traditional paradigmatic root. sometimes R1R2R3 and V are used instead. Verbs Verb Semantics Active-transitive: take a direct object Active-intransitive: do not take a direct object often verbs of motion Stative (adjectival): to be X or to become X Note: some verbs can be in more than one category. ...

Nouns Noun Endings singular dual plural (m) plural (f) nominative —um —ān —ū —ātum genitive —im —īn —ī —ātim accusative —am Technically the feminine endings are —um, —im, but the āt infix (see below) is perfectly regular. Case nominative: subjects, nominal predicates genitive: possession, noun-noun modification, after prepositions accusative: direct object, adverbial expressions oblique: the combined genitive/accusative case is sometimes referred to as oblique Gender There are two genders: masculine and feminine. Feminine is generally marked out by a t infix. For phonological reasons, the t can be preceeded by an a when the base ends in two consonants. (See syllable rules in chapter 1.) e.g. iltum, šarratum Exceptions: Some nouns that look masculine are feminine and vice versa. Some nouns that are masculine in the singular are feminine in the plural. But all singular feminine nouns are feminine in the plural. Some nouns are variable gender. Masculine is the common plural. Exceptions need to be memorized. Number There are three numbers: singular, dual, plural. Singular End in m (mimation) Dual The dual indicates precisely two and is usully confined to natural pairs (eg, eyes) Genitive and accusative have the same form end in n (nunation) Adjectives, verbs, and pronouns do not have dual forms (in OB). Dual nouns have feminine plural agreement with adjectives and verbs (rarely take masculine plural). Plural Genitive and accusative have the same form. In the masculine, the ending is a macron-long version of the singular vowel ending. (um > ū, im > ī) In the feminine, the t infix is always accompanied with a ā (-āt-) In the feminine, end in m (mimation) Some words occur only in plural. “Collectives” are collective nouns that describe groups and can be construed in singular or plural (e.g. ṣābum: singular= worker, solder; collective= gang, troop) Miscellaneous There is no definite or indefinite marker. Context determines. Final -m is called mimation Final -n is called nunation Prepositions Most prepositions are two-syllable words ending in a short vowel. Nouns following prepositions are always in the genitive. ša ša means “the one of” usually occurs in apposition to a preceeding noun the following noun appears in the genitive eg šarrum ša Bābilim (king of Babylon) Independent Personal Pronouns Singular Plural 1c anāku ‘I’ nīnu ‘we’ 2m atta ‘you (ms)’ attunu ‘you (mp)’ 2f atti ‘you (fs)’ attina ‘you (fp)’ 3m šū ‘he, it (m)’ šunu ‘they (m)’ 3f šī ‘she, it (f)’ šina ‘they (f)’ Used in subjects of verbless clauses (see more uses in Chapter 3) Verbless Clauses No being verb in Akkadian. ...

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: ...

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 ...

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

Alephs and Vowel Changes There were five Proto-Semitic letters that are not present in Akkadian. These are referred to as aleph 1-5. (Some of these alephs exist in Hebrew.) ʾ1 = ʾ (א) ʾ2 = h (ה) ʾ3 = ḥ (ח) ʾ4 = ʿ (ע) ʾ5 = ǵ (ע) The Akkadian letters y and w may also be referred to as alephs. ʾ6 = w (ו) ʾ7 = y (י) These alephs largely disappear in Akkadian, but they can affect the word formation. If a word began or ended with an ʾ1-7, the aleph was lost with no change to the word. ...