Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar, 2nd edition, revised and enlarged

240 Pages·1961·8.84 MB·English

by  I.J. Gelb

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OLD AKKADIAN WRITING AND GRAMMAR
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MATERIALS FOR THE ASSYRIAN DICTIONARY
NO. 2
OLD AKKADIAN WRITING AND GRAMMAR
BY
I. J.-GE LB
SECOND EDITION, REVISED and ENLARGED
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
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InternationalS tandard Book Number: 0-226-62304-1
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 1952 and 1961 by The University of Chicago. All
rights reserved. Published 1952. Second Edition
Published 1961. Second Impression 1973. Printed by
Cushing-Malloy, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan,
United States of America
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
pages
I. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF OLD AKKADIAN 1-19
A. Definition of Old Akkadian 1
B. Pre-Sargonic Sources 1
C. Sargonic Sources 6
D. Ur III Sources 16
II. OLD AKKADIAN WRITING 20-118
A. Logograms 20
B. Syllabograms 23
1. Writing of Vowels, "Weak" Consonants, and
the Like 24
2. Writing of Stops and Sibilants 28
3. General Remarks 40
C. Auxiliary Marks 43
D. Signs 45
E. Syllabary 46
III. GRAMMAR OF OLD AKKADIAN 119-192
A. Phonology 119
1. Consonants 119
2. Semi-vowels 122
3. Vowels and Diphthongs 123
B. Pronouns 127
1. Personal Pronouns 127
a. Independent 127
b. Suffixal 128
i. With Nouns 128
ii. With Verbs 130
2. Demonstrative Pronouns 132
3. Determinative-Relative-Indefinite
Pronouns 133
4. Comparative Discussion 134
5. Possessive Pronoun 136
6. Interrogative Pronouns 136
7. Indefinite Pronoun 137
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C. Nouns 137
1. Declension 137
a. Gender 137
b. Number 138
c. Case Endings 139
d. Mimation 145
2. Construct State 145
3. Predicate State 146
4. Indeterminate State 153
5. Nouns before Pronominal Suffixes 153
6. Adjectives and Participles 154
7. Formation 155
D. Verbs 156
1. Conjugation 157
a. Preterit and Present-Future 157
i. Stems I and IV 157
(a.) Prefixes before Consonants
Other than 1-7 157
(b.) Prefixes with Verbs
Primae -2 160
(c.) Prefixes with Verbs
Primae 33 -55 161
(d.) Prefixes with Verbs Primae 162
6
(e.) Prefixes with Verbs Primae 163
7
ii. Stems II and III 163
b. Imperative 166
c. Stative 166
2. Verbal Nouns 167
a. Active Participle 167
b. Passive Participle 168
c. Infinitive 169
3. Moods 169
a. Indicative 169
b. Allative 169
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c. Subjunctive 169
d. Imperative 171
e. Precative 172
f. Prohibitive 173
4. Stems 174
5. Classes 175
a. Strong Verbs 175
b. Geminates 178
c. Verbs Primae n 179
d. Quadriconsonantals 181
e. Weak Verbs 181
i. Verbs Primae -2 181
ii. Verbs Primae 5 182
iii. Verbs Primae 183
iv. Verbs Primae ' 185
v. Verbs Primae 7 185
vi. Verbs Secundae12 185
vii. Verbs Secundae 2186
vii. Verbs Secundae 6 187
ixv . Verbs Secundae 188
ix. Verbs Secundae 7 188
x. Verbs Secundae ' 189
xi. Verbs Tertiae -2 189
xii. Verbs Tertiae 3-5 190
xiii. Verbs Tertiae 6 190
xiv. Verbs Tertiae 7 191
xv. Verbs Tertiae x 192
IV. APPENDICES 193-235
A. Bibliography of Sargonic Royal Inscriptions 193
B. Additions and Corrections 208
C. Sign List of the Sargonic Period 218
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PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
The present study of Old Akkadian writing and grammar is
based on sources fully listed and discussed in the Glossary of
Old Akkadian published in 1957 as MAD III.
The sources are quoted in the measure of their relevance.
Thus, under Writing, only the typical examples -ma-tum, ma-na-ma,
Ma-al-kum are listed for the use of the common syllabic value
ma (p. 93), but all the known examples are quoted for the use of
the rare syllabic value Ja (pp. 88f.). Similarly, under Grammar,
only the typical examples be-li, a-bi are found under the discus-
sion of the common pronominal suffix of the first person Sg. (p.
128), but all sources are listed under the discussion of the
various forms of the pronominal suffix of the first person P1.
(p. 129).
References to sources, published and unpublished, as well
as a list of abbreviations, are to be found in MAD III. Refer-
ences are quoted in this study only for occurrences which became
available to me since the publication of MAD III and for non-
Semitic proper names not listed in MAD III.
In MAD III will be found acknowledgments of the generous
permission given me to quote unpublished sources, as well as of
the help received from various scholars in the interpretation of
many difficult expressions. I am very happy to thank especially
Messrs. Edmond Sollberger and William Hallo for suggestions and
corrections received during the preparation of this edition.
Immediately after the first edition of the Old Akkadian
Writing and Grammar was sold out, soon after its publication in
1952, the necessity to prepare a new, revised and much enlarged
edition became apparent. The opportunity to publish a new
edition was all the more welcome since the older edition con-
tained a number of misreadings and inconsistencies which had
crept into the manuscript when it was recopied, during my ab-
sence from Chicago and without my knowledge, because the original
stencils had been spoiled as a result of the intense summer heat
in Chicago.
The new edition differs in several aspects from the first
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edition. While the bulk of the materials discussed and the order
of presentation remains the same in the two editions, the second
edition contains a large number of corrections and additions.
The additions consist of new materials made available to me since
the publication of the first edition, much enlarged attestation
of evidence (especially in the case of the verb), and three new
appendices. Since the manuscript of this edition was completed
in the main about two years ago, further additions and correc-
tions were collected in Appendix B (pp. 208-217). The cross ref-
erences to Appendix B are marked by an asterisk * in the main
part of the book. Even though the two editions of the Old
Akkadian Writing and Grammar contain practically the same number
of pages, the second edition is two-thirds larger in terms of
contents than the first edition. This was accomplished by
having the manuscript of the second edition typed on pages much
larger than those of the first edition and then having them re-
duced photomechanically to the present size.
The dates quoted in this as in the former edition are those
of T. Jacobsen, The Sumerian King List (AS XI) minus 276 years.
The resulting dates correspond with the chronology proposed by
Sidney Smith, yielding the dates 1792-1749 B. C. for Hammurapi.
For additional prefatory remarks, see pp. 46f. (preface to
the Syllabary) and pp. 218f. (preface to the Sign List of the
Sargonic Period).