Akkadian belongs with the added Semitic languages in the Afro-Asiatic ancestors of languages, a ancestors built-in to Western Asia and Northern Africa.
Within the Semitic languages, Akkadian forms an East Semitic subgroup (with Eblaite). This accumulation distinguishes itself from the Northwest and South Semitic languages by its SOV chat order, while the added Semitic languages usually accept either a VSO or SVO order. This atypical chat adjustment is due to the access of the Sumerian substratum, which has an SOV order.
Additionally Akkadian is the alone Semitic accent to use the prepositions ina and ana (locative, English in/on/with, and dative-locative, for/to, respectively). Added Semitic languages like Arabic and Aramaic accept the prepositions bi/bə and li/lə (locative and dative, respectively). The agent of the Akkadian spatial prepositions is unknown.
In adverse with best added Semitic languages, Akkadian has alone one non-sibilant fricative: ḫ x. Akkadian absent both the glottal and pharyngeal fricatives, which are appropriate of the added Semitic languages. Up until the Old Babylonian period, the Akkadian sibilants were alone affricate.
edit History and writing
edit Writing
Main article: Assyrian cuneiform
Cuneiform autograph (Neoassyrian script)
(1 = 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 is preserved on adobe tablets dating aback to 2600 BC. It was accounting application cuneiform, a calligraphy adopted from the Sumerians application wedge-shaped signs apprenticed in wet clay. As active by Akkadian scribes the acclimatized cuneiform calligraphy could represent either (a) Sumerian logograms (i.e. picture-based characters apery absolute words), (b) Sumerian syllables, (c) Akkadian syllables, or (d) phonetic complements. However, in Akkadian the calligraphy about became a absolutely fledged syllabic script, and the aboriginal logographic attributes of cuneiform became secondary. However, logograms for common words such as 'god' and 'temple' were still used. For this acumen the assurance AN can on the one duke be a logogram for the chat ilum ('god'), and on the added announce the god Anu, or alike the affricate -an-. Additionally the assurance was acclimated as a absolute for all-powerful names.
Example 4 in the angel on the appropriate shows accession abnormality of Akkadian cuneiform. Abounding signs do not accept a categorical phonetic value. Assertive signs, such as AḪ, do not analyze amid the altered beat qualities. Nor is there any allocation in the added direction; the affricate -ša-, for example, is rendered by the assurance ŠA, but additionally by the assurance NĪĜ. Both of these are generally acclimated for the aforementioned affricate in the aforementioned text.
Cuneiform was in abounding means abnormal to Akkadian: amid its flaws was its disability to represent important phonemes in Semitic, including a glottal stop, pharyngeals, and absolute consonants. In addition, cuneiform was a syllabary autograph arrangement — i.e. a accordant additional beat comprised one autograph assemblage — frequently inappropriate for a Semitic accent fabricated up of triconsonantal roots (i.e. three consonants additional any vowels).
edit Development
Akkadian is disconnected into several varieties based on cartography and actual period:5
Old Akkadian, 2500–1950 BC
Old Babylonian/Old Assyrian, 1950–1530 BC
Average Babylonian/Middle Assyrian, 1530–1000 BC
Neo-Babylonian/Neo-Assyrian, 1000–600 BC
Late Babylonian, 600 BC–100 AD
The age-old accepted Akkadian inscription was begin on a basin at Ur, addressed to the actual aboriginal pre-Sargonic baron Meskiang-nuna of Ur by his queen Gan-saman, who is anticipation to accept been from Akkad.
The Akkadian Empire, accustomed by Sargon of Akkad, alien the Akkadian accent (the "language of Akkad") as a accounting language, adapting Sumerian cuneiform orthography for the purpose. During the Average Bronze Age (Old Assyrian and Old Babylonian period), the accent about displaced Sumerian, which is affected to accept been abolished as a active accent by the 18th aeon BC.
Old Akkadian, which was acclimated until the end of the 3rd aeon BC, differs from both Babylonian and Assyrian, and was displaced by these dialects. By the 21st aeon BC Babylonian and Assyrian, which were to become the primary dialects, were calmly distinguishable. Old Babylonian, forth with the carefully accompanying accent Mariotic, is acutely added avant-garde than the Old Assyrian accent and the added distantly accompanying Eblaite language. For this reason, forms like lu-prus ('I will decide') are aboriginal encountered in Old Babylonian instead of the earlier la-prus (even admitting it was age-old compared to Akkadian). On the added hand, Assyrian developed assertive innovations as well, such as the "Assyrian beat harmony" (which is not commensurable to that begin in Turkish or Finnish). Eblaite is alike added archaic, application a advantageous bifold and a about pronoun beneath in case, cardinal and gender. Both of these had already abolished in Old Akkadian.
Old Babylonian was the accent of baron Hammurabi and his code, which is one of the oldest collections of laws in the world. (see Cipher of Ur-Nammu.)
The Average Babylonian (or Assyrian) aeon started in the 16th aeon BC. The analysis is apparent by the Kassite aggression of Babylonia about 1550 BC. The Kassites, who reigned for 300 years, gave up their own accent in favor of Akkadian, but they had little access on the language. At its apogee, Average Babylonian was the accounting accent of address of the absolute age-old Orient, including Egypt. During this period, a ample cardinal of accommodation words were included in the accent from North West Semitic languages and Hurrian; however, the use of these words was bedfast to the bound of the Akkadian speaking territory.
Middle Assyrian served as a lingua franca in abundant of the Age-old Near East of the Late Bronze Age (Amarna Period). During the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Neo-Assyrian began to about-face into a chancellery language, actuality marginalized by Old Aramaic. Beneath the Achaemenids, Aramaic connected to prosper, but Assyrian connected its decline. The language's final annihilation came about during the Hellenistic aeon back it was added marginalized by Koine Greek, alike admitting Neo-Assyrian cuneiform remained in use in arcane attitude able-bodied into Parthian times. The most recent accepted argument in cuneiform Babylonian is an ample argument anachronous to 75 AD.6 The youngest texts accounting in Akkadian date from the 3rd aeon AD. A cardinal of Akkadian words and abounding claimed names survive to this day in the avant-garde Assyrian (or Neo Aramaic) accent announced by indigenous Assyrians (aka Chaldo-Assyrians)in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.
An Akkadian inscription
Old Assyrian developed as able-bodied during the additional millennium BC, but because it was a absolutely accepted accent — kings wrote in Babylonian — few continued texts are preserved. From 1500 BC onwards, the accent is termed Average Assyrian.
During the aboriginal millennium BC, Akkadian progressively absent its cachet as a lingua franca. In the beginning, from about 1000 BC, Akkadian and Aramaic were of according status, as can be apparent in the cardinal of affected texts: adobe tablets were accounting in Akkadian, while scribes autograph on card and covering acclimated Aramaic. From this aeon on, one speaks of Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian. Neo-Assyrian accustomed an advance in acceptance in the 8th aeon BC back the Assyrian commonwealth became a above power, but texts accounting alone in Neo-Assyrian abandon aural 10 years of Nineveh's abolition in 612 BC.
After the end of the Mesopotamian kingdoms, which fell due to the Persian acquisition of the area, Akkadian (which existed alone in the anatomy of Late Babylonian) abolished as a accepted language. However, the accent was still acclimated in its accounting form; and alike afterwards the Greek aggression beneath Alexander the Abundant in the 4th aeon BC, Akkadian was still a adversary as a accounting language, but announced Akkadian was acceptable abolished by this time, or at atomic not often used. The most recent absolutely articular Akkadian argument comes from the 1st aeon AD.7
edit Decipherment
The Akkadian accent was rediscovered back the Dane Carsten Niebuhr in 1767 was able to accomplish all-encompassing copies of cuneiform texts and appear them in Denmark. The deciphering of the texts started immediately, and bilinguals, in accurate Old Persian-Akkadian bilinguals, were of abundant help. Since the texts independent several aristocratic names abandoned signs could be identified, and were presented in 1802 by Georg Friedrich Grotefend. By this time it was already axiomatic that Akkadian was a Semitic language, and the final advance in deciphering the accent came from Henry Rawlinson in the average of the 19th century.
The Deluge book of the Gilgamesh ballsy in Akkadian.
edit Dialects
The afterward table summarises the dialects of Akkadian absolutely articular so far.
Known Akkadian dialects Accent Location
Assyrian Northern Mesopotamia
Babylonian Central and Southern Mesopotamia
Mariotic Central Euphrates (in and about the burghal of Mari)
Tell Beydar Northern Syria (in and about Tell Beydar)
Some advisers (such as W. Sommerfeld 2003) accept that the Old Akkadian alternative acclimated in the earlier texts isn't an antecedent of the after Assyrian and Babylonian dialects, but rather a abstracted accent that was replaced by these two dialects and which died out early.
Within the Semitic languages, Akkadian forms an East Semitic subgroup (with Eblaite). This accumulation distinguishes itself from the Northwest and South Semitic languages by its SOV chat order, while the added Semitic languages usually accept either a VSO or SVO order. This atypical chat adjustment is due to the access of the Sumerian substratum, which has an SOV order.
Additionally Akkadian is the alone Semitic accent to use the prepositions ina and ana (locative, English in/on/with, and dative-locative, for/to, respectively). Added Semitic languages like Arabic and Aramaic accept the prepositions bi/bə and li/lə (locative and dative, respectively). The agent of the Akkadian spatial prepositions is unknown.
In adverse with best added Semitic languages, Akkadian has alone one non-sibilant fricative: ḫ x. Akkadian absent both the glottal and pharyngeal fricatives, which are appropriate of the added Semitic languages. Up until the Old Babylonian period, the Akkadian sibilants were alone affricate.
edit History and writing
edit Writing
Main article: Assyrian cuneiform
Cuneiform autograph (Neoassyrian script)
(1 = 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 is preserved on adobe tablets dating aback to 2600 BC. It was accounting application cuneiform, a calligraphy adopted from the Sumerians application wedge-shaped signs apprenticed in wet clay. As active by Akkadian scribes the acclimatized cuneiform calligraphy could represent either (a) Sumerian logograms (i.e. picture-based characters apery absolute words), (b) Sumerian syllables, (c) Akkadian syllables, or (d) phonetic complements. However, in Akkadian the calligraphy about became a absolutely fledged syllabic script, and the aboriginal logographic attributes of cuneiform became secondary. However, logograms for common words such as 'god' and 'temple' were still used. For this acumen the assurance AN can on the one duke be a logogram for the chat ilum ('god'), and on the added announce the god Anu, or alike the affricate -an-. Additionally the assurance was acclimated as a absolute for all-powerful names.
Example 4 in the angel on the appropriate shows accession abnormality of Akkadian cuneiform. Abounding signs do not accept a categorical phonetic value. Assertive signs, such as AḪ, do not analyze amid the altered beat qualities. Nor is there any allocation in the added direction; the affricate -ša-, for example, is rendered by the assurance ŠA, but additionally by the assurance NĪĜ. Both of these are generally acclimated for the aforementioned affricate in the aforementioned text.
Cuneiform was in abounding means abnormal to Akkadian: amid its flaws was its disability to represent important phonemes in Semitic, including a glottal stop, pharyngeals, and absolute consonants. In addition, cuneiform was a syllabary autograph arrangement — i.e. a accordant additional beat comprised one autograph assemblage — frequently inappropriate for a Semitic accent fabricated up of triconsonantal roots (i.e. three consonants additional any vowels).
edit Development
Akkadian is disconnected into several varieties based on cartography and actual period:5
Old Akkadian, 2500–1950 BC
Old Babylonian/Old Assyrian, 1950–1530 BC
Average Babylonian/Middle Assyrian, 1530–1000 BC
Neo-Babylonian/Neo-Assyrian, 1000–600 BC
Late Babylonian, 600 BC–100 AD
The age-old accepted Akkadian inscription was begin on a basin at Ur, addressed to the actual aboriginal pre-Sargonic baron Meskiang-nuna of Ur by his queen Gan-saman, who is anticipation to accept been from Akkad.
The Akkadian Empire, accustomed by Sargon of Akkad, alien the Akkadian accent (the "language of Akkad") as a accounting language, adapting Sumerian cuneiform orthography for the purpose. During the Average Bronze Age (Old Assyrian and Old Babylonian period), the accent about displaced Sumerian, which is affected to accept been abolished as a active accent by the 18th aeon BC.
Old Akkadian, which was acclimated until the end of the 3rd aeon BC, differs from both Babylonian and Assyrian, and was displaced by these dialects. By the 21st aeon BC Babylonian and Assyrian, which were to become the primary dialects, were calmly distinguishable. Old Babylonian, forth with the carefully accompanying accent Mariotic, is acutely added avant-garde than the Old Assyrian accent and the added distantly accompanying Eblaite language. For this reason, forms like lu-prus ('I will decide') are aboriginal encountered in Old Babylonian instead of the earlier la-prus (even admitting it was age-old compared to Akkadian). On the added hand, Assyrian developed assertive innovations as well, such as the "Assyrian beat harmony" (which is not commensurable to that begin in Turkish or Finnish). Eblaite is alike added archaic, application a advantageous bifold and a about pronoun beneath in case, cardinal and gender. Both of these had already abolished in Old Akkadian.
Old Babylonian was the accent of baron Hammurabi and his code, which is one of the oldest collections of laws in the world. (see Cipher of Ur-Nammu.)
The Average Babylonian (or Assyrian) aeon started in the 16th aeon BC. The analysis is apparent by the Kassite aggression of Babylonia about 1550 BC. The Kassites, who reigned for 300 years, gave up their own accent in favor of Akkadian, but they had little access on the language. At its apogee, Average Babylonian was the accounting accent of address of the absolute age-old Orient, including Egypt. During this period, a ample cardinal of accommodation words were included in the accent from North West Semitic languages and Hurrian; however, the use of these words was bedfast to the bound of the Akkadian speaking territory.
Middle Assyrian served as a lingua franca in abundant of the Age-old Near East of the Late Bronze Age (Amarna Period). During the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Neo-Assyrian began to about-face into a chancellery language, actuality marginalized by Old Aramaic. Beneath the Achaemenids, Aramaic connected to prosper, but Assyrian connected its decline. The language's final annihilation came about during the Hellenistic aeon back it was added marginalized by Koine Greek, alike admitting Neo-Assyrian cuneiform remained in use in arcane attitude able-bodied into Parthian times. The most recent accepted argument in cuneiform Babylonian is an ample argument anachronous to 75 AD.6 The youngest texts accounting in Akkadian date from the 3rd aeon AD. A cardinal of Akkadian words and abounding claimed names survive to this day in the avant-garde Assyrian (or Neo Aramaic) accent announced by indigenous Assyrians (aka Chaldo-Assyrians)in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.
An Akkadian inscription
Old Assyrian developed as able-bodied during the additional millennium BC, but because it was a absolutely accepted accent — kings wrote in Babylonian — few continued texts are preserved. From 1500 BC onwards, the accent is termed Average Assyrian.
During the aboriginal millennium BC, Akkadian progressively absent its cachet as a lingua franca. In the beginning, from about 1000 BC, Akkadian and Aramaic were of according status, as can be apparent in the cardinal of affected texts: adobe tablets were accounting in Akkadian, while scribes autograph on card and covering acclimated Aramaic. From this aeon on, one speaks of Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian. Neo-Assyrian accustomed an advance in acceptance in the 8th aeon BC back the Assyrian commonwealth became a above power, but texts accounting alone in Neo-Assyrian abandon aural 10 years of Nineveh's abolition in 612 BC.
After the end of the Mesopotamian kingdoms, which fell due to the Persian acquisition of the area, Akkadian (which existed alone in the anatomy of Late Babylonian) abolished as a accepted language. However, the accent was still acclimated in its accounting form; and alike afterwards the Greek aggression beneath Alexander the Abundant in the 4th aeon BC, Akkadian was still a adversary as a accounting language, but announced Akkadian was acceptable abolished by this time, or at atomic not often used. The most recent absolutely articular Akkadian argument comes from the 1st aeon AD.7
edit Decipherment
The Akkadian accent was rediscovered back the Dane Carsten Niebuhr in 1767 was able to accomplish all-encompassing copies of cuneiform texts and appear them in Denmark. The deciphering of the texts started immediately, and bilinguals, in accurate Old Persian-Akkadian bilinguals, were of abundant help. Since the texts independent several aristocratic names abandoned signs could be identified, and were presented in 1802 by Georg Friedrich Grotefend. By this time it was already axiomatic that Akkadian was a Semitic language, and the final advance in deciphering the accent came from Henry Rawlinson in the average of the 19th century.
The Deluge book of the Gilgamesh ballsy in Akkadian.
edit Dialects
The afterward table summarises the dialects of Akkadian absolutely articular so far.
Known Akkadian dialects Accent Location
Assyrian Northern Mesopotamia
Babylonian Central and Southern Mesopotamia
Mariotic Central Euphrates (in and about the burghal of Mari)
Tell Beydar Northern Syria (in and about Tell Beydar)
Some advisers (such as W. Sommerfeld 2003) accept that the Old Akkadian alternative acclimated in the earlier texts isn't an antecedent of the after Assyrian and Babylonian dialects, but rather a abstracted accent that was replaced by these two dialects and which died out early.
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