An Akkadian Handbook: Helps, Paradigms, Glossary, Logograms, and Sign List

322 Pages·2014·32.9 MB·English

by  Douglas B. Miller

An Akkadian Handbook

An Akkadian Handbook
Helps, Paradigms, Glossary,
Logograms, and Sign List
Completely Revised and Expanded Edition
Douglas B. Miller
and
R. Mark Shipp
Winona Lake, Indiana
EisEnbrauns
2014
© Copyright 1993, 1996, and 2014 by Douglas B. Miller
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.

www.eisenbrauns.com
The Akkadian fonts used for the sign lists in this work are available from Linguist’s Software Inc.,
P.O.Box 580, Edmonds, WA 98020-0580 (www.linguistssoftware.com).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
An Akkadian handbook : helps, paradigms, glossary, logograms, and sign list. —
Completely revised and expanded edition. / Douglas B. Miller and R. Mark
Shipp. 1 online resource.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-57506-716-2 (pdf) -- ISBN 978-1-57506-306-5 (pbk. : alk.
paper)
1. Akkadian language—Grammar. 2. Akkadian language—Spoken
Akkadian. 3. Akkadian language—Grammar—Handbooks, manuals,
I. Miller, Douglas B., 1955– author. II. Shipp, R. Mark, 1953– author.
PJ3251.M75 2014
492′.1—dc23
2014037918
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI
Z39.48-1984.™ ♾
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
A. Grammars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
B. Sign Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
C. Dictionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
D. Geographical Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
E. God Names and Temples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
F. Akkadian Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
G. Historical Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
H. Journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
I. Bibliographies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
J. Web sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Part One: Helps 15
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.1. The Order of Akkadian Alphabetization . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.2. The Seven “Alephs” (with Proto-Semitic Equivalent) . . . . 15
1.3. Notations for Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.4. Dialect Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.5. Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.5.1. Fractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.5.2. Cardinal Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.5.3. Ordinal Numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.5.4. Multiplicatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.6. Conjunctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.6.1. Coordinating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.6.2. Subordinating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.7. Prepositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.8. Particles, Interjections, and Interrogatives . . . . . . . . . . 25
v
vi Contents
Part Two: Paradigms 29
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1. Nominal Paradigms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.2. Verbal Paradigms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
A. The Sound Verb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
B. Initial Weak Verbs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
C. Middle Weak Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
D. Final Weak Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
E. Miscellaneous Verbs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
F. Verb Synopses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
2.3. Preformatives and Afformatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Part Three: Glossary of Proper Nouns 81
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Glossary Abbreviations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Part Four: Logograms 157
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
4.1. Individual and Compound Logograms . . . . . . . . . . . 158
4.2. Index of Akkadian Words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
4.3. Index of English Glosses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
4.4. Index of Compound Logograms
by Constituent Sign Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Part Five: Sign List 185
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
5.1. Quick List of Neo-Assyrian Signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
5.2. Sign Number Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
5.3. Determinatives and Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
5.3.1. Determinatives/Markers by Designation . . . . . . 254
5.3.2. Determinatives/Markers by Sign Number. . . . . . 257
5.4. Sign Value Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
5.5. Deimel/MZL Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
5.6. ASy /MZL Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Introduction
This work is designed as a bridge between introductory Akkadian gram-
mars and the sign lists, lexicons, and full grammars necessary for advanced
work in Akkadian. It is also intended as a reference tool for scholars such as us
for whom Akkadian texts are extremely valuable, even though Assyriology is
not our primary field. It was borne out of conviction, during the early days of
the authors’ immersion in this fascinating language, that there must be a better
way. In particular, what we needed was a collection of helps in compact form
to streamline the progression from the signs to transliteration, normalization,
and translation. Responses from those who used the first edition have been
gratifying.
This second edition reflects advances in the reference literature by expand-
ing and making other enhancements. Since the publication of this Handbook
some eighteen years ago, notable new works and new editions have become
available to the student of Akkadian: wonderfully compact, yet thorough and
authoritative, is the Concise Dictionary of Akkadian by Black, George, and
Postgate; the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary is now complete; we all benefit
from Professor Huehnergard’s Grammar of Akkadian, Professor Borger’s
Meso potamisches Zeichenlexikon, and the third edition of Professor von
Soden’s Grundriss der akkadischen Grammatik. The health of the field is also
evident in the ongoing publication of Répertoire Géographique des Textes
Cunéiformes, The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Reallexikon
der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie, and the new edition of
Borger’s Babylonisch-Assyrische Lesestücke.
Differences among these resources often give evidence of disagreements
within the field on such matters as the spelling of lexical forms, the designa-
tions of logograms, and the spelling of proper nouns, among other matters. For
the present work, we have relied on the latest and most respected resources
and have distinguished among their disagreements according to our best judg-
ment; in the case of Part Three, sources have been documented for the benefit
of those who wish to do further research. As the field continues to grow and
develop, more uniformity will likely emerge.
Part One of An Akkadian Handbook contains various items of a more in-
troductory nature, starting with the order of Akkadian alphabetization. In-
cluded here are extensive lists of numbers, conjunctions, and prepositions. Part
Two contains a large variety of nominal and verbal paradigms. Old Babylo-
nian forms have been provided, by far the most common dialect presented to
1
2 Introduction
beginners. Part Three is a glossary of more than 600 proper nouns, extending
beyond those provided in introductory grammars.
In the fourth section, a listing is given of logograms frequently found in
introductory study. The list of individual and compound constructions is fol-
lowed by three indexes. The final part of the Handbook contains a sign-list
with graphic representations of Neo-Assyrian signs. Multiple indexes are pro-
vided. The first, organized by sign number, provides the syllabic and logo-
graphic values from Das akkadische Syllabar and MZL. This is followed by
two presentations of determinatives and markers. Another index, organized al-
phabetically by value, provides the complete sign values contained in Borger’s
MZL. These presentations employ Borger’s new numbering system but are
also tagged according to the previous (Deimel) numbering system. The section
concludes with a complete index connecting the older numbering system to the
new and an index of ASy to MZL.
The authors are grateful to their professors of Akkadian, C. Leong Seow
and J. J. M. Roberts, for the help and encouragement they have provided with
this important but complex language. Professor R. E. Whitaker assisted in nu-
merous ways with the first edition; Gerald M. Bilkes also contributed. Valuable
help with the second edition was provided by Holly Swartzendruber, Laura
Arthur, and Brian Peterson. We wish to express our gratitude to reviewers and
others who pointed out errors in the first edition. Our greatest debt is to Prof.
John Huehnergard for his criticism and suggestions, which have been tremen-
dously helpful in shaping the second edition. His careful eye saved us from
many errors, though we bear responsibility for any that remain. As with the
original edition, the manuscript initially was prepared using Nota Bene. The
Akkadian sign fonts displayed in Part Five were developed by Linguist’s Soft-
ware. We trust that the enhancements of this second edition will make it an
even more valuable tool in the study of Akkadian.
Douglas b. MillEr
r. Mark shipp
Abbreviations
in this and other Akkadian reference tools
aA Old Assyrian AK Aššur Is King! Aššur Is
AA A Reconstruction of the King! Religion in the
Assyro-Babylonian God- Exercise of Power in the
Lists, AN: dA-Nu-Um and Neo-Assyrian Empire
AN: Anu Ša Amēli (Litke) (Holloway)
aAK Old Akkadian Akk. Akkadian
aB Old Babylonian Alal. Alalaḫ/Alalakh
AbB Altbablyonische Briefe altaram. Old Aramaic
abbr. abbreviated, abbreviation alw. pl. plurale tantum
Abl. Ableitung (derivation) Am. Amarna
abs(ol). absolute(ly) AMGG Ancient Mesopotamian
abstr. abstract Gods and Goddesses
ABZ Assyrisch-babylonische ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts
Zeichenliste (Borger) (Pritchard)
ACA Ancient Conquest Accounts AoF Altorientalische
(Younger) Forschungen
acc. accusative; according (to) AP Assyrian Prophecies
Achaem. Achaemenid inscriptions (Parpola)
AD anno Domini, since Christ apod. apodosis
add. addition(al) app. appendix
adj. adjective, adjectival appos. apposition
adm. administrative (texts) ar. Arabic
Adn. Adad-nērārī arab. Arabic
adv. adverb, adverbial ARAB Ancient Records of Assyria
AEAD Assyrian-English-Assyrian and Babylonia (Luckenbill)
Dictionary (Parpola) aram. Aramaic
AfO Altorientalische Aram. Aramaic
Forschungen arch. archaic, archaizing
AG An Akkadian Grammar archit. architecture, architectural
(Riemschneider) ARM(T) Archives royales de Mari
äg Egyptian (Transcriptions)
AGE Akkadische Götterepitheta ArOr Archiv Orientální
(Tallqvist) AS Das akkadische Syllabar
AH Atra-Ḫasīs: The (von Soden and Röllig)
Babylonian Story of the asa. Old South Arabic
Flood (Lambert and Asb. Aššurbanipal
Millard) Asn. Aššurnaṣirpal II
AHw Akkadisches Ass. Assyrian
Handwörterbuch (von astr astronomical (texts) (see
Soden) intro to Part Three)
3