Table Of ContentEtymologicalDictionaryofAkkadian
Volume1/1
Etymological Dictionary
of Akkadian
Volume 1/1: Roots beginning with P and B
Preface, Introduction and Dictionary
Edited by
Leonid Kogan and Manfred Krebernik
In collaboration with
Oleg Linkohr, Rim Nurullin and Olga I. Sęk
ISBN978-1-61451-305-6
e-ISBN(PDF)978-1-61451-239-4
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Contents
A. Preface 1
B. Introduction 4
I TheAkkadianlanguage 4
II FromProto-SemitictoAkkadian 4
A. Thelexicon 4
A.1 Generalities 4
A.2 TheSemiticvocabularyfromEbla 6
A.3 LexicalspecificityofAkkadiandialects,chronologicalperiodsandtextcorpora 7
B. Phonology 8
B.1 Generalities 8
B.2 PSconsonantsinOB:theregularcorrespondences 9
B.3 PSconsonantsinOB:irregularities 10
B.3.1 Thesibilants 10
B.3.2 Thegutturals 10
B.3.2.1 Irregulare-colouring 11
B.3.2.2 PS*ḥ>Akkadianḫ 11
B.3.2.3 PS*ġinAkkadian 11
B.4 PSconsonantsinSargonicandatEbla 12
B.4.1 Thesibilants 12
B.4.2 Thegutturals 13
B.4.3 Theglides 14
B.5 PhonologicalaspectsofSumero-Akkadianlexicalinteraction 15
III ThehistoryofAkkadianetymology 17
A. TheinheritedSemiticvocabulary 17
A.1 Synchronic(descriptive)dictionariesofAkkadian 17
A.2 DescriptiveandetymologicaldictionariesofotherSemiticlanguages 17
A.3 ReferencetoolsforSemiticetymology 18
A.4 SpecialstudiesdealingwiththeSemiticbackgroundoftheAkkadianlexicon 18
B. Thecontactvocabulary 19
B.1 LoanwordsintoAkkadian 19
B.2 LoanwordsfromAkkadian 20
IV ThescopeoftheEDA 20
A. ThegoalsoftheEDA 20
B. LexicaldataincludedintheEDA 21
C. Thevolumes 22
V Howtousethedictionary 22
A. Signsandsymbols 22
A.1 Characters 22
A.1.1 Coversymbols 22
A.1.2 Specialcharacters 23
A.2 Principlesoftransliterationandtranscription 23
A.2.1 Transliteration 24
A.2.2 Transcription 24
B. Organizationofthevolumes 24
B.1 Theinternaldivision 24
B.2 Orderingofthearticles 25
vi Contents
C. Structureofindividualarticles 25
C.1 Theinternaldivisionofanarticle 25
C.2 Theheading 26
C.3 Orderoflexicalitemsinanarticle 27
C.3.1 Representationofpatterns 27
C.3.2 Orderingofpatterns 27
C.4 Organizationofindividuallexicalitems 29
C. Etymologicaldictionary 31
A. Preface
Theideatocreatealong-termGerman–Russianprojectdedicatedtoacomprehensiveetymologicalinvestigationof
AkkadianvocabularyemergedandthencrystallizedinaseriesofmeetingsheldbytheauthorsofthisPrefaceduring
thefirstdecadeofthe2000sinandaroundthelibraryoftheInstitutfürAssyriologieundHethitologie,LMUMünchen.1
Ittookabout10years,however,beforethisinitiativeacquireditsdefinitiveshape,duenotinsmallparttotheefforts
ofMichaelP.Streck(UniversityofLeipzig)whowaseagertodiscusswithuseverydetailoftheoriginalconcept,and
whokindlyagreedtoparticipateinwhathadbecometheEtymologicalDictionaryofAkkadian(EDA).
The final decision was taken one winter evening in 2011, during a dinner in a Kurdish restaurant in Leipzig. It
wasagreedthatalong-termprojectapplicationwouldbesubmittedtotheDeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft(DFG),
co-headed by Krebernik and Streck and supported by Kogan. The project would develop along two principal lines:
the etymological analysis of the Akkadian vocabulary proper, directed by Krebernik in Jena and cumulating in the
EDAvolumes,andtheupdatingandcorrectingoftheexistingdescriptivedictionariesofAkkadian,headedbyStreck
inLeipzig.Theresultsofthesecondinitiative,fromwhichtheEDAhasimmenselybenefited,sinceitsinceptionup
tothepresentmoment,arenowpublishedasSupplementtotheAkkadianDictionaries(SAD),authoredbyStreckand
his Leipzig collaborators.2 Finally, it was agreed that the Eblaite lexical evidence would be analysed as an integral
part of the Akkadian vocabulary. For this purpose, a special sub-project within the framework of the Jena branch
wouldbedesigned,withthepurposeofcreatinganannotateddatabaseoftherelevantEblaitematerials.
Theapplication,preparedbyKrebernikandStreck,wassubmittedtotheFoundationinMay2012,andinDecem-
ber2012wewereinformedthatourrequestwasgranted.InJune2013,theDFGprojectKR1114/10wasinaugurated.
It goes without saying that the EDA team is immensely grateful to the DFG authorities and experts for supporting
suchamajor,challenginginitiative,withhardlyanyprecedentintheSemiticandAncientNearEasternlexicographi-
calundertakingsoftherecentdecadesanywhereintheworld,andwhichpromisedtobeavirtualterraincognitain
somanyrespects.
Thatlexicographyhasitsownpaceisawell-knownmaxim,anditsoonbecameevidentthatEDAwouldbeno
exception.Sufficeittomentionthattheoriginalestimateofthenumberoflexicalentriesbeginningwiththelabials
(ca. 405) has been more than doubled (1001) in the final version of this volume. It is hoped, however, that the
authors not be too harshly blamed for their inexact initial calculations. Several factors, most of them difficult or
impossibletopredict,playedarole:
– theamountof“new”wordsemergingfromtheworkoftheSADteaminLeipzigprovedtobemuchhigherthan
expected;
– theEblaitematerial,acomprehensivediachronicassessmentofwhichhadneverbeenundertakenbefore,turned
outtobeconsiderablymoreextensivethanonecouldhaveexpectedbeforethedatabaseofrelevantattestations
wascompiled;
– careful philological work led to the discovery of scores of forms attributed to known lexemes in the Akkadian
dictionaries, but which in fact represent independent, previously unrecognized lexical entities in need of their
ownin-depthetymologicaltreatment.3
From the very beginning, work on the EDA was conceived as fully-fledged teamwork. During the many years of
cooperation which have led to the present volume, each participant has inevitably been faced with a variety of
linguistic, philological, technical and administrative tasks which are impossible to describe in full. Nevertheless, a
briefoverviewofthemainareasofresponsibilityofthefiveauthorsofthisvolumeseemsinorderhere.
1 OurwarmthanksgotoProf.Dr.WaltherSallabergerforhisgeneroushospitality.
2 ThefirstissueofSAD,dealingwithAkkadianwordsbeginningwithlabials,waspublishedbyM.P.StreckaspartoftheLAOSseriesin
collaboration with N.Rudik in 2018 (Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz). The second issue, dedicatedto the words beginningwith dentals, has
appearedin2019(incollaborationwithJ.Wende,N.J.C.Kouwenberg,N.Rudik,J.Hackl,F.SimonsandE.Zomer).
3 Generally speaking, “separate before uniting” was among the main principles by which the EDA authors have been guided in their
work.Itisourconvictionthatamethodologicallyandmateriallysoundetymologicalanalysiscanonlybeachievedifpotentiallyunrelated
formsandmeaningsaredisentangledtothemaximumpossibleextent.Onlythenmayaseriousdiscussionontheireventualdiachronic
relationshipbecomepossible.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614512394-001
2 A. Preface
Manfred Krebernik (University of Jena), apart from acting as the principal coordinator of the project, designed
thegenerallayoutoftheDictionaryandthepatternsafterwhichthevarioustypesoflexicalentriesareorganized.He
authorednumerouslexicalentries,particularlythoseinvolvingphilologicallydifficultandobscurewords(including
borrowings).HeisresponsibleforthesectionsoftheIntroductiondealingwithSumero-Akkadianphonologicalinter-
action, final versions of the Eblaite articles, as well as for the general editorial work on the volume during various
stagesofitspreparation.
Leonid Kogan (National Research University–Higher School of Economics, Moscow) is primarily responsible for
theentriesinvolvingAkkadianwordswithreliableorprobableSemiticetymology(includingWestSemiticloanwords
from various periods), as well as for the draft versions of most of the Eblaite entries. Together with Krebernik, he
carriedoutfinaleditorialworkontheentiremanuscript.
Dr.OlegLinkohr(UniversityofJena)preparedtheAkkadiansegmentsofarticlesbeginningwithp-.Heauthored
mostofthearticlesdedicatedtowordsofElamite,Kassite,Anatolian,Greek,Indo-AryanandOldIranianorigin,as
wellastheearlydraftsofsomeEblaitearticles.Muchoftheeditorialworkonthefinalversionofthemanuscriptis
due to him, as well as many suggestions pertaining to the general layout of the book. Finally, he assumed a great
dealofcoordinationbetweentheEDAauthorsandcontributorsduringvariousstagesofitsdevelopment.
Rim Nurullin, MA (National Research University–Higher School of Economics, Moscow) is responsible for the
entries with certain or likely Sumerian etymology, which he prepared during his stay in Jena in 2015–2016. He also
authorednumerousentriesdealingwithphilologicallydifficultAkkadianlexemesofvariousorigins,andmadeinnu-
merablecontributionstothefinalversionofthemanuscript.
Dr. Olga I. Sęk (University of Jena) wrote the articles involving certain or possible Hurrian etymons. She also
contributed substantially to a number of articles dealing with philologically difficult Akkadian words. Large seg-
ments of the Introduction, particularly those dealing with the general organization of EDA and its articles, are due
to her efforts, as well as many painstaking hours of editorial work during different stages of the preparation of the
manuscript.
Prof. Dr. Michael Streck (University of Leipzig) invested much of his time, energy and erudition into the DFG
proposaldocuments,decisivelycontributingtoitssuccessfulreception.Ourwarmestthanksgotohimforensuring
asteadyandfruitfulcooperationbetweentheLeipzigandJenaworkingteams,aswellasscoresofingenioussugges-
tionsinthefieldofdescriptiveAkkadianlexicography.
From2013until2017,Dr.NadezhdaRoudik(UniversityofGöttingen)wasafull-timeresearcherintheframework
oftheSADinitiativeinLeipzig.Herworkprimarilyfocusedon“new”Akkadianwordsbeginningwithb-andp-and
wasaconstantsourceofinspirationfortheEDAteaminJena.
From 2013 until 2016, Dr. Ilya Khait (University of Frankfurt) was active as a full-time researcher within the
frameworkoftheEDAprojectinJena.TohimweowetheearlydraftsoftheAkkadiansegmentsofarticlesbeginning
with b. He also participated in the discussions on the general layout of the Dictionary, suggesting many important
improvements.
OurSyriancolleagues,Dr.MuhammadHajouzandDr.ImadSamir,workedontheEblaitedatafortheEDAfrom
2013to2016asmembersoftheEDAresearchteaminJena.Theirprimarytaskwastodigitizeandannotateallwords
andformsattestedintheEblaarchives.TheresultingdatabasewasthenusedastheprincipalsourceofEblaitedata
fortheEDA.Asidefromthis,Dr.Hajouzdeservesourspecialthanksforhiskindpermissiontousehisunpublished
dissertationdealingwiththeinterpretationoftheSemiticglossesintheVocabolariodiEbla,whoserichbibliographic
resourcesprovedtobeofgreathelpforthewholeEDAteam.
AnnaCherkashina(Moscow)isresponsibleforthedraftversionsofthearticlesdealingwithAramaicloanwords
inAkkadian,whichshepreparedwithremarkablepatienceanddevotion.
Prof.Dr.MauroGiorgieri(UniversityofPavia)kindlyagreedtoreadthedraftsofthearticleswithHurrianetymol-
ogies,providingnumerousimportantimprovements.
Prof. Dr. Martin Joachim Kümmel (University of Jena) generously shared with us his knowledge of Indo-Iranian
etymology,checkingandcommentingonarticlesdealingwithearlyIndo-AryanandOldIranianborrowingsinAkka-
dian.
Prof.Dr.AlfonsoArchiputatourdisposalhisforthcomingneweditionoftheVocabolariodiEbla,whichproved
tobeofcrucialimportanceforelicitingtheformandmeaningofseveraldifficultEblaiteentries.
Prof. Dr. Pascal Attinger advised us on several problematic issues in Sumerian grammar and lexicography, for
whichwearemostsincerelygratefultohim.
A. Preface 3
Dr. Ryan Winters (University of Jena) is to be thanked for his advice during the preparation of several Eblaite
articles.
EmilyZeran,MA(UniversityofJena)hasbeeninchargeofthelexicalindicesoftheEDA.Shealsokindlyagreed
to read the draft version of the Introduction as a native speaker of English. Both tasks have been carried out with
exemplarycareandprecision,forwhichshedeservesourwarmestthanks.
Janine Barth, BA (University of Jena) performed the meticulous task of compiling the bibliography, the list of
abbreviations,aswellastheencodedreferencestosyllabicspellingsofAkkadianwordsthroughoutthevolume.Our
thanksgotoMs.Barthforhercareandpatience.
Ms.BirgitTauch,thesecretaryofJenaAltorientalistik,helpedourteamwithavarietyoftechnicalandadministra-
tiveissues,forwhichwearemostindebtedtoher.
During various stages of the preparation of the EDA, Kogan and Nurullin have benefited from the financial
support of Russian sponsoring institutions, to which they extend their warm thanks: RSF (grant 16–18–10343) and
RFBR(grant20–012–00577).
Our sincere thanks go to the hosting institution of this project, the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, whose
unconditionalsupportwegladlyenjoyedduringtheentireperiodofthedevelopmentofthisvolume.Itisourmodest
hope that the EDA will contribute to uphold the glorious tradition of Ancient Near Eastern and Semitic studies in
Jena.
Last but not least, it is a pleasant duty to thank our publisher, Walter de Gruyter, for their friendly and patient
collaborationonthisdifficultmanuscript.Specialthanksgotoourcontactperson,theeditorialdirectorDr.Albrecht
Döhnert,forhiscareandattentiontothisbook,andSabinaDabrowskiforthefruitfulcollaborationontheproduction
stage.
Jena,May2019 ManfredKrebernik
LeonidKogan
B. Introduction
I The Akkadian language
Akkadian (Babylonian-Assyrian), written in the cuneiform script, is the earliest Semitic language attested and the
mostimportantAncientNearEasternlanguagewithregardtodurationandsizeofdocumentation.Indeed,Akkadian
is one of the best attested languages of antiquity: the Akkadian textual corpus is nearly equal in size to the Latin
corpus before300 AD(Streck 2010c). Duringits almost threethousand yearhistory of attestation,Akkadian served
asoneofthemainspokenandwrittenlanguagesoftheNearEast.
Written documentation of Akkadian began in Southern Mesopotamia in c. 2600 BC (Gelb; Steinkeller; Whiting
1989,11–14,Krebernik1998,270,Sommerfeld2010),andby2000BCAkkadianhadreplacedSumerianasthevernacu-
lar of Babylonia (Sallaberger 2004, Woods 2006, Michalowski 2006). From the onset of the second millennium BC,
AkkadianwasadoptedasawrittenlanguageintheneighbouringkingdomofElam(Lambert1991,Krebernik2006c,
Basello; Ascalone 2018), where Elamite was the spoken language. Several ethnic groups entering Mesopotamia, or
at least their ruling elites, – such as Guteans (Hallo 1971, Hallo 2005), Amorites (Streck 2000, 29–75), Hurrians
(Wilhelm 1982, 9–23) and Kassites (Sassmannshausen 1999) – also adopted Akkadian as their written language.
DuringthesecondmillenniumBC,AkkadiangainedinternationalsignificanceasthelanguageofpowerfulMesopota-
mianempiresandbecamethemediumofdiplomaticcorrespondencebetweenmajorandminorpowersoftheregion
(van Soldt 2011). In the course of the first millennium BC, Akkadian was increasingly replaced by Aramaic (Fales
2005,596–616,Streck2011,Cherry2017,39–62),whichitselfwassupersededbyArabicafterthespreadofIslam.The
finaldocumentswritteninAkkadiandatefromthefirstcenturyAD(Geller1997).
TheearliestlinguisticallysignificantcorpusoftextsinAkkadiandatestothemiddleofthethirdmillenniumBC,
when most of the Mesopotamian area was united under the Akkadian-speaking Sargonic dynasty. The Akkadian
variety reflected in these documents is known as Old Akkadian (Hasselbach 2005, 1–20). Other Akkadian dialects
must have been spoken in Mesopotamia at the same time (Mari Akkadian, Proto-Assyrian, possibly Proto-Babylo-
nian), but little is known of these (Kouwenberg 2010, 21–27). A century earlier, a highly specific Akkadian dialect
(which may itself be an independent East Semitic language, see Chapter II, Section A.2) is attested in the archives
from the ancient city of Ebla in Syria. For at least half of the third millennium BC Akkadian stood in close contact
withSumerian,theearliestattestedlanguagewrittenwithcuneiformscript(Zólyomi2011).
Fromthebeginningofthesecondmillennium,Akkadianisknownintwomainvarieties:Assyrianinthenorth
(Kouwenberg 2017, 10–14) and Babylonian in the south (Buccellati 1996, 3f., Kouwenberg 2010, 12–19). Each of the
twodialectsistraditionallydividedintothreechronologicalstages:Old,MiddleandNew.OldBabyloniandatesfrom
2000–1500 BC, Middle Babylonian from 1500–1000 BC, and the term Neo-Babylonian covers texts from the first
millennium BC. The language evidenced in Babylonian documents from the period after the fall of the Assyrian
empire (609 BC) is sometimes designated as “Late Babylonian”, a distinction not maintained in the present study.
Old Assyrian dates from 2000–1700 BC, Middle Assyrian between 1500–1000 BC, and Neo-Assyrian dates from
c.1000BCuntilthecollapseoftheAssyrianempirein609BC.Fromthemiddleofthesecondmillenniumonward,
a literary dialect of Akkadian based on Old Babylonian was also in use. It was in this idiom, called “Standard
Babylonian” (Kouwenberg 2010, 16f.) that most Akkadian literature was written, in both Assyria and Babylonia,
untiltheendofcuneiformcivilization.
II From Proto-Semitic to Akkadian
A. Thelexicon
A.1 Generalities
The profound specificity of the inherited Akkadian vocabulary as compared to its West Semitic (WS) sister tongues
canscarcelygounnoticed.1Toformalizethisintuitiveperception,familiartoeveryphilologistandlinguistwhohas
1 The ES/WS genealogical bifurcation is taken for granted here, following common opinion (Huehnergard 2006, Huehnergard; Rubin
2011)andinspiteofcertaindifficultieswhichitpresents(Kogan2015,47–106).
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614512394-002
