Searc

Akkadian language

Akkadian (/əˈkeɪdiən/ akkadû, 𒀝𒅗𒁺𒌑 ak-ka-du-u2; logogram: 𒌵𒆠 URIKI)[1][2] is an East

Semitic language, now extinct, that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia (Akkad, Assyria, Isin, Larsa and
Babylonia) from the third millennium BC until its gradual replacement by Akkadian-influenced Old Aramaic
among Mesopotamians by the 8th century BC.
 Akkadian

𒀝𒅗𒁺𒌑
akkadû

Akkadian language inscription on the obelisk of Manishtushu

Native to Assyria and Babylon

Region Mesopotamia

Era c. 2500 – 500 BCE; academic or liturgical use until AD

100

Language family Afro-Asiatic

Semitic
East Semitic
Akkadian

Writing system Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform

Official status

Official language in initially Akkad (central Mesopotamia); lingua franca of the

Middle East and Egypt in the late Bronze and early Iron
Ages.

Language codes

ISO 639-2 akk (https://www.loc.gov/standards/

iso639-2/php/langcodes_name.php?code
_ID=12)

ISO 639-3 akk

Glottolog akka1240 (http://glottolog.org/reso

urce/languoid/id/akka1240)
It is the earliest documented Semitic language.[3] It used the cuneiform script, which was originally used to
write the unrelated, and also extinct, Sumerian (which is a language isolate). Akkadian is named after the city
of Akkad, a major centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire (c. 2334–2154 BC). The
mutual influence between Sumerian and Akkadian had led scholars to describe the languages as a
Sprachbund.[4]

Akkadian proper names were first attested in Sumerian texts from around the mid 3rd-millennium BC.[5] From
about the 25th or 24th century BC, texts fully written in Akkadian begin to appear. By the 10th century BC,
two variant forms of the language were in use in Assyria and Babylonia, known as Assyrian and Babylonian
respectively. The bulk of preserved material is from this later period, corresponding to the Near Eastern Iron
Age. In total, hundreds of thousands of texts and text fragments have been excavated, covering a vast textual
tradition of mythological narrative, legal texts, scientific works, correspondence, political and military events,
and many other examples.

Centuries after the fall of the Akkadian Empire, Akkadian (in its Assyrian and Babylonian varieties) was the
native language of the Mesopotamian empires (Old Assyrian Empire, Babylonia, Middle Assyrian Empire)
throughout the later Bronze Age, and became the lingua franca of much of the Ancient Near East by the time
of the Bronze Age collapse c. 1150 BC. Its decline began in the Iron Age, during the Neo-Assyrian Empire, by
about the 8th century BC (Tiglath-Pileser III), in favour of Old Aramaic. By the Hellenistic period, the language
was largely confined to scholars and priests working in temples in Assyria and Babylonia. The last known
Akkadian cuneiform document dates from the 1st century AD.[6]Mandaic and Assyrian are two (Northwest
Semitic) Neo-Aramaic languages that retain some Akkadian vocabulary and grammatical features.[7]

Akkadian is a fusional language with grammatical case; and like all Semitic languages, Akkadian uses the
system of consonantal roots. The Kültepe texts, which were written in Old Assyrian, include Hittite loanwords
and names, which constitute the oldest record of any Indo-European language.[8][9]

Classification

Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform syllabary

(circa 2200 BC)
  

Left: Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform syllabary, used by early Akkadian rulers.[10] Right: Seal of Akkadian Empire ruler Naram-Sin (reversed
for readability), c. 2250 BC. The name of Naram-Sin (Akkadian: 𒀭𒈾𒊏𒄠𒀭𒂗𒍪: DNa-ra-am DSîn, Sîn being written 𒂗𒍪
EN.ZU), appears vertically in the right column.[11] British Museum.

Akkadian belongs with the other Semitic languages in the Near Eastern branch of the Afroasiatic languages, a
family native to the Middle East, Arabian Peninsula, the Horn of Africa, parts of Anatolia, North Africa, Malta,
Canary Islands and parts of West Africa (Hausa). Akkadian and its successor Aramaic, however, are only ever
attested in Mesopotamia and the Near East.

Within the Near Eastern Semitic languages, Akkadian forms an East Semitic subgroup (with Eblaite). This
group distinguishes itself from the Northwest and South Semitic languages by its subject–object–verb word
order, while the other Semitic languages usually have either a verb–subject–object or subject–verb–object
order.

Additionally Akkadian is the only Semitic language to use the prepositions ina and ana (locative case, English
in/on/with, and dative-locative case, for/to, respectively). Other Semitic languages like Arabic, Hebrew and
Aramaic have the prepositions bi/bə and li/lə (locative and dative, respectively). The origin of the Akkadian
spatial prepositions is unknown.

In contrast to most other Semitic languages, Akkadian has only one non-sibilant fricative: ḫ [x]. Akkadian lost
both the glottal and pharyngeal fricatives, which are characteristic of the other Semitic languages. Until the Old
Babylonian period, the Akkadian sibilants were exclusively affricated.[2]

History and writing

Writing
E…
 

Cuneiform writing (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 clay tablets dating back to c. 2500 BC. It was written using cuneiform, a script
adopted from the Sumerians using wedge-shaped symbols pressed in wet clay. As employed by Akkadian
scribes, the adapted cuneiform script could represent either (a) Sumerian logograms (i.e., picture-based
characters representing entire words), (b) Sumerian syllables, (c) Akkadian syllables, or (d) phonetic
complements. However, in Akkadian the script practically became a fully fledged syllabic script, and the
original logographic nature of cuneiform became secondary, though logograms for frequent words such as
'god' and 'temple' continued to be used. For this reason, the sign AN can on the one hand be a logogram for
the word ilum ('god') and on the other signify the god Anu or even the syllable -an-. Additionally, this sign was
used as a determinative for divine names.

Another peculiarity of Akkadian cuneiform is that many signs do not have a well-defined phonetic value.
Certain signs, such as AḪ, do not distinguish between the different vowel qualities. Nor is there any
coordination in the other direction; the syllable -ša-, for example, is rendered by the sign ŠA, but also by the
sign NĪĜ. Both of these are often used for the same syllable in the same text.

Cuneiform was in many ways unsuited to Akkadian: among its flaws was its inability to represent important
phonemes in Semitic, including a glottal stop, pharyngeals, and emphatic consonants. In addition, cuneiform
was a syllabary writing system—i.e., a consonant plus vowel comprised one writing unit—frequently
inappropriate for a Semitic language made up of triconsonantal roots (i.e., three consonants plus any vowels).

Development
E…
Akkadian is divided into several varieties based on geography and historical period:[12]

Old Akkadian, 2500–1950 BC

Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian, 1950–1530 BC

Middle Babylonian and Middle Assyrian, 1530–1000 BC

Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian, 1000–600 BC

Late Babylonian, 600 BC–100 AD

One of the earliest known Akkadian inscriptions was found on a bowl at Ur, addressed to the very early pre-
Sargonic king Meskiagnunna of Ur (c. 2485–2450 BC) by his queen Gan-saman, who is thought to have been
from Akkad.[13] The Akkadian Empire, established by Sargon of Akkad, introduced the Akkadian language (the
"language of Akkad") as a written language, adapting Sumerian cuneiform orthography for the purpose.
During the Middle Bronze Age (Old Assyrian and Old Babylonian period), the language virtually displaced
Sumerian, which is assumed to have been extinct as a living language by the 18th century BC.

Old Akkadian, which was used until the end of the 3rd millennium BC, differed from both Babylonian and
Assyrian, and was displaced by these dialects. By the 21st century BC Babylonian and Assyrian, which were
to become the primary dialects, were easily distinguishable. Old Babylonian, along with the closely related
dialect Mariotic, is clearly more innovative than the Old Assyrian dialect and the more distantly related Eblaite
language. For this reason, forms like lu-prus ('I will decide') were first encountered in Old Babylonian instead of
the older la-prus. While generally more archaic, Assyrian developed certain innovations as well, such as the
"Assyrian vowel harmony". Eblaite was even more so, retaining a productive dual and a relative pronoun
declined in case, number and gender. Both of these had already disappeared in Old Akkadian. Over 20,000
cuneiform tablets in Old Assyrian have been recovered from the Kültepe site in Anatolia. Most of the
archaeological evidence is typical of Anatolia rather than of Assyria, but the use both of cuneiform and the
dialect is the best indication of Assyrian presence.[14]

Old Babylonian was the language of king Hammurabi and his code, which is one of the oldest collections of
laws in the world. (see Code of Ur-Nammu.) The Middle Babylonian (or Assyrian) period started in the 16th
century BC. The division is marked by the Kassite invasion of Babylonia around 1550 BC. The Kassites, who
reigned for 300 years, gave up their own language in favor of Akkadian, but they had little influence on the
language. At its apogee, Middle Babylonian was the written language of diplomacy of the entire Ancient Near
East, including Egypt. During this period, a large number of loan words were included in the language from
Northwest Semitic languages and Hurrian; however, the use of these words was confined to the fringes of the
Akkadian-speaking territory.

Middle Assyrian served as a lingua franca in much of the Ancient Near East of the Late Bronze Age (Amarna
Period). During the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Neo-Assyrian began to turn into a chancellery language, being
marginalized by Old Aramaic. Under the Achaemenids, Aramaic continued to prosper, but Assyrian continued
its decline. The language's final demise came about during the Hellenistic period when it was further
marginalized by Koine Greek, even though Neo-Assyrian cuneiform remained in use in literary tradition well
into Parthian times. The latest known text in cuneiform Babylonian is an astronomical almanac dated to 79/80
AD.[15] However, the latest cuneiform texts are almost entirely written in Sumerian logograms.[16]

An Akkadian inscription

Old Assyrian developed as well during the second millennium BC, but because it was a purely popular
language — kings wrote in Babylonian — few long texts are preserved. From 1500 BC onwards, the language
is termed Middle Assyrian.

During the first millennium BC, Akkadian progressively lost its status as a lingua franca. In the beginning, from
around 1000 BC, Akkadian and Aramaic were of equal status, as can be seen in the number of copied texts:
clay tablets were written in Akkadian, while scribes writing on papyrus and leather used Aramaic. From this
period on, one speaks of Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian. Neo-Assyrian received an upswing in popularity
in the 10th century BC when the Assyrian kingdom became a major power with the Neo-Assyrian Empire,
but texts written 'exclusively' in Neo-Assyrian disappear within 10 years of Nineveh's destruction in 612 BC.
The dominance of the Neo-Assyrian Empire under Tiglath-Pileser III over Aram-Damascus in the middle of the
8th century led to the establishment of Aramaic as a lingua franca[17] of the empire, rather than it being
eclipsed by Akkadian.

After the end of the Mesopotamian kingdoms, which were conquered by the Persians, Akkadian (which
existed solely in the form of Late Babylonian) disappeared as a popular language. However, the language was
still used in its written form; and even after the Greek invasion under Alexander the Great in the 4th century
BC, Akkadian was still a contender as a written language, but spoken Akkadian was likely extinct by this time,
or at least rarely used. The last positively identified Akkadian text comes from the 1st century AD.[18]

Decipherment
E…

Georg Friedrich Grotefend

 
 Edward Hincks Sir Henry Rawlinson

The Akkadian language began to be rediscovered when Carsten Niebuhr in 1767 was able to make extensive
copies of cuneiform texts and published them in Denmark. The deciphering of the texts started immediately,
and bilinguals, in particular Old Persian-Akkadian bilinguals, were of great help. Since the texts contained
several royal names, isolated signs could be identified, and were presented in 1802 by Georg Friedrich
Grotefend. By this time it was already evident that Akkadian was a Semitic language, and the final
breakthrough in deciphering the language came from Edward Hincks, Henry Rawlinson and Jules Oppert in
the middle of the 19th century.

The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian.

Dialects
E…
The following table summarises the dialects of Akkadian identified with certainty so far.

Known Akkadian dialects

Dialect Location

Assyrian Northern Mesopotamia

Babylonian Central and Southern Mesopotamia

Mariotic Central Euphrates (in and around the city of Mari)

Tell Beydar Northern Syria (in and around Tell Beydar)

Some researchers (such as W. Sommerfeld 2003) believe that the Old Akkadian variant used in the older
texts is not an ancestor of the later Assyrian and Babylonian dialects, but rather a separate dialect that was
replaced by these two dialects and which died out early.

Eblaite, formerly thought of as yet another Akkadian dialect, is now generally considered a separate East
Semitic language.

Phonetics and phonology

Because Akkadian as a spoken language is extinct and no contemporary descriptions of the pronunciation are
known, little can be said with certainty about the phonetics and phonology of Akkadian. Some conclusions can
be made, however, due to the relationship to the other Semitic languages and variant spellings of Akkadian
words.

Consonants
E…
The following table presents the consonants of the Akkadian language, as distinguished in Akkadian
cuneiform. The reconstructed phonetic value[2] of a phoneme is given in IPA transcription, alongside its
standard (DMG-Umschrift) transliteration in angle brackets ⟨ ⟩ .

Akkadian consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal

Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩

voiceless p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ t͡s ⟨s⟩ k ⟨k⟩

Stop/
emphatic t’ ⟨ṭ⟩ t͡s’ ⟨ṣ⟩ k’ ⟨q⟩ ʔ ⟨ʾ⟩
Affricate
voiced b ⟨b⟩ d ⟨d⟩ d͡z ⟨z⟩ g ⟨g⟩

Fricative s ⟨š⟩[a] ʃ ⟨š⟩[b] x ⟨ḫ⟩

Approximant r ⟨r⟩[c] l ⟨l⟩ j ⟨y⟩ w ⟨w⟩

a. Assyrian Akkadian š represented the voiceless alveolar fricative [s].

b. Babylonian Akkadian š represented the voiceless postalveolar fricative [ʃ].

c. Akkadian r is alternatively interpreted as a guttural rhotic [ʁ] or [ʀ] .

Reconstruction
E…
 

The first known Sumerian-Akkadian bilingual tablet dates from the reign of Rimush. Louvre Museum AO 5477. The top column is in
Sumerian, the bottom column is its translation in Akkadian.[19][20]

Akkadian emphatic consonants are typically reconstructed as ejectives, which are thought to be the oldest
realization of emphatics across the Semitic languages.[21] One piece of evidence for this is that Akkadian
shows a development known as Geers' law, where one of two emphatic consonants dissimilates to the
corresponding non-emphatic consonant. For the sibilants, traditionally /š/ has been held to be postalveolar [ʃ],
and /s/, /z/, /ṣ/ analyzed as fricatives; but attested assimilations in Akkadian suggest otherwise.[2][22] For
example, when the possessive suffix -šu is added to the root awat ('word'), it is written awassu ('his word')
even though šš would be expected. The most straightforward interpretation of this shift from tš to ss is that
/s, ṣ/ form a pair of voiceless alveolar affricates [t͡s t͡sʼ], *š is a voiceless alveolar fricative [s], and *z is a voiced
alveolar affricate or fricative [d͡z~z]. The assimilation is then [awat+su] > [awatt͡su]. In this vein, an alternative
transcription of *š is *s̠, with the macron below indicating a soft (lenis) articulation in Semitic transcription.
Other interpretations are possible, however. [ʃ] could have been assimilated to the preceding [t], yielding [ts],
which would later have been simplified to [ss].

The phoneme /r/ has traditionally been interpreted as a trill but its pattern of alternation with /ḫ/ suggests it
was a velar (or uvular) fricative. In the Hellenistic period, Akkadian /r/ was transcribed using the Greek ρ,
indicating it was pronounced similarly as an alveolar trill (though Greeks may also have perceived a uvular trill
as ρ).[2]

Descent from Proto-Semitic

E…
Several Proto-Semitic phonemes are lost in Akkadian. The Proto-Semitic glottal stop *ʾ, as well as the
fricatives *ʿ, *h, *ḥ are lost as consonants, either by sound change or orthographically, but they gave rise to the
vowel quality e not exhibited in Proto-Semitic. The voiceless lateral fricatives (*ś, *ṣ́) merged with the sibilants
as in Canaanite, leaving 19 consonantal phonemes. Old Akkadian preserved the /*ś/ phoneme longest but it
eventually merged with /*š/, beginning in the Old Babylonian period.[2][23] The following table shows Proto-
Semitic phonemes and their correspondences among Akkadian, Modern Standard Arabic and Tiberian
Hebrew:

Inscription in Babylonian, in the Xerxes I inscription at Van, 5th century BCE

Proto-Semitic Akkadian Arabic Hebrew

*b b ‫ب‬ b ‫ב‬ b

*d d ‫د‬ d ‫ד‬ d

*g g ‫ج‬ ǧ ‫ג‬ g

*p p ‫ف‬ f ‫פ‬ p

*t t ‫ت‬ t ‫ת‬ t

*k k ‫ك‬ k ‫כ‬ k

*ʾ (∅)/ ʾ ‫ء‬ ʾ ‫א‬ ʾ

*ṭ ṭ ‫ط‬ ṭ ‫ט‬ ṭ

*ḳ q ‫ق‬ q ‫ק‬ q

*ḏ ‫ذ‬ ḏ
z ‫ז‬ z
*z ‫ز‬ z

*ṯ ‫ث‬ ṯ
‫שׁ‬ š
*š š ‫س‬ s

*ś ‫ش‬ š ‫שׂ‬
s
*s s ‫س‬ s ‫ס‬

*ṱ ‫ظ‬ ẓ

*ṣ ṣ ‫ص‬ ṣ ‫צ‬ ṣ

*ṣ́ ‫ض‬ ḍ

*ġ ḫ ‫غ‬ ġ
‫ ע‬ʿ /ʕ/
[t2 1]
*ʿ (e) ‫ ع‬ʿ /ʕ/

*ḫ ḫ ‫ خ‬ḫ /x/
‫ח‬ ḥ
*ḥ (e) [t2 1] ‫ ح‬ḥ /ħ/

*h (∅) ‫ه‬ h ‫ה‬ h

*m m ‫م‬ m ‫מ‬ m

*n n ‫ن‬ n ‫נ‬ n

*r r ‫ر‬ r ‫ר‬ r

*l l ‫ل‬ l ‫ל‬ l

*w w ‫و‬ w ‫ו‬ w
 ‫י‬ y

*y y ‫ ي‬y /j/ ‫י‬ y

Proto-Semitic Akkadian Arabic Hebrew

1. These are only distinguished from the ∅ (zero) reflexes of /h/ and /ʕ/ by /e/-coloring the adjacent vowel *a, e.g. PS
*ˈbaʕ(a)l-um ('owner, lord') → Akk. bēlu(m) (Dolgopolsky 1999, p. 35).

Vowels
E…

Akkadian vowels
Front Central Back

Close i u

Mid e

Open a

The existence of a back mid-vowel /o/ has been proposed, but the cuneiform writing gives no good proof for
this.[24] There is limited contrast between different u-signs in lexical texts, but this scribal differentiation may
reflect the superimposition of the Sumerian phonological system (for which an /o/ phoneme has also been
proposed), rather than a separate phoneme in Akkadian.[25]

All consonants and vowels appear in long and short forms. Long consonants are represented in writing as
double consonants, and long vowels are written with a macron (ā, ē, ī, ū). This distinction is phonemic, and is
used in the grammar, for example iprusu ('that he decided') versus iprusū ('they decided').

Stress
E…
The stress patterns of Akkadian are disputed, with some authors claiming that nothing is known of the topic.
There are however certain points of reference, such as the rule of vowel syncope, and some forms in the
cuneiform that might represent the stressing of certain vowels; however, attempts at identifying a rule for
stress have so far been unsuccessful.

Huenergard (2005:3-4) claims that stress in Akkadian is completely predictable. In his syllable typology there
are three syllable weights: light (V, CV); heavy (CVC, CV̄, CV̂), and superheavy (CV̂C). If the last syllable is
superheavy, it is stressed, otherwise the rightmost heavy non-final syllable is stressed. If a word contains only
light syllables, the first syllable is stressed.
A rule of Akkadian phonology is that certain short (and probably unstressed) vowels are dropped. The rule is
that the last vowel of a succession of syllables that end in a short vowel is dropped, for example the
declinational root of the verbal adjective of a root PRS is PaRiS-. Thus the masculine singular nominative is
PaRS-um (< *PaRiS-um) but the feminine singular nominative is PaRiStum (< *PaRiS-at-um). Additionally
there is a general tendency of syncope of short vowels in the later stages of Akkadian.

Grammar …

Neo-Babylonian inscription of king Nebuchadnezzar II, 7th century BCE

Morphology
E…
Consonantal root
E…
Most roots of the Akkadian language consist of three consonants (called the radicals), but some roots are
composed of four consonants (so-called quadriradicals). The radicals are occasionally represented in
transcription in upper-case letters, for example PRS (to decide). Between and around these radicals various
infixes, suffixes and prefixes, having word generating or grammatical functions, are inserted. The resulting
consonant-vowel pattern differentiates the original meaning of the root. Also, the middle radical can be
geminated, which is represented by a doubled consonant in transcription (and sometimes in the cuneiform
writing itself).

The consonants ʔ, w, j and n are termed "weak radicals" and roots containing these radicals give rise to
irregular forms.

Case, number and gender

E…
Formally, Akkadian has three numbers (singular, dual and plural) and three cases (nominative, accusative and
genitive). However, even in the earlier stages of the language, the dual number is vestigial, and its use is largely
confined to natural pairs (eyes, ears, etc.), and adjectives are never found in the dual. In the dual and plural, the
accusative and genitive are merged into a single oblique case.

Akkadian, unlike Arabic, has only "sound" plurals formed by means of a plural ending; broken plurals are not
formed by changing the word stem. As in all Semitic languages, some masculine nouns take the prototypically
feminine plural ending (-āt).

The nouns šarrum (king) and šarratum (queen) and the adjective dannum (strong) will serve to illustrate the
case system of Akkadian.

Noun and adjective paradigms

Noun Adjective

masc. fem. masc. fem.

Nominative singular šarr-um šarr-at-um dann-um dann-at-um

Genitive singular šarr-im šarr-at-im dann-im dann-at-im

Accusative singular šarr-am šarr-at-am dann-am dann-at-am

Nominative dual šarr-ān šarr-at-ān

Oblique dual[t3 1] šarr-īn šarr-at-īn

Nominative plural šarr-ū šarr-āt-um dann-ūt-um dann-āt-um

Oblique plural šarr-ī šarr-āt-im dann-ūt-im dann-āt-im

1. The oblique case includes the accusative and genitive.

As is clear from the above table, the adjective and noun endings differ only in the masculine plural. Certain
nouns, primarily those referring to geography, can also form a locative ending in -um in the singular and the
resulting forms serve as adverbials. These forms are generally not productive, but in the Neo-Babylonian the
um-locative replaces several constructions with the preposition ina.
In the later stages of Akkadian, the mimation (word-final -m) and nunation (dual final -n) that occurred at the
end of most case endings disappeared, except in the locative. Later, the nominative and accusative singular of
masculine nouns collapsed to -u and in Neo-Babylonian most word-final short vowels were dropped. As a
result, case differentiation disappeared from all forms except masculine plural nouns. However, many texts
continued the practice of writing the case endings, although often sporadically and incorrectly. As the most
important contact language throughout this period was Aramaic, which itself lacks case distinctions, it is
possible that Akkadian's loss of cases was an areal as well as phonological phenomenon.

Noun states and nominal sentences

E…

Cylinder of Antiochus I

The Antiochus cylinder, written by Antiochus I Soter, as

great king of kings of Babylon, restorer of gods E-sagila
and E-zida, circa 250 BCE. Written in traditional
Akkadian.[26][27][28][29]

Antiochus I Soter with titles in Akkadian on the cylinder of

 Antiochus:
"Antiochus, King, Great King, King of multitudes, King of
Babylon, King of countries"

As is also the case in other Semitic languages, Akkadian nouns may appear in a variety of "states" depending
on their grammatical function in a sentence. The basic form of the noun is the status rectus (the governed
state), which is the form as described above, complete with case endings. In addition to this, Akkadian has the
status absolutus (the absolute state) and the status constructus (Construct state). The latter is found in all
other Semitic languages, while the former appears only in Akkadian and some dialects of Aramaic.

The status absolutus is characterised by the loss of a noun's case ending (e.g. awīl < awīlum, šar < šarrum). It
is relatively uncommon, and is used chiefly to mark the predicate of a nominal sentence, in fixed adverbial
expressions, and in expressions relating to measurements of length, weight, and the like.

(1) Awīl-um šū šarrāq

man.NOM 3SG.MASC thief.ABSOLUTUS
This man is a thief

(2) šarrum lā šanān

king.NOM.RECTUS NEG oppose.INF.ABSOLUTUS
The king who cannot be rivaled

The status constructus is a great deal more common, and has a much wider range of applications. It is
employed when a noun is followed by another noun in the genitive, a pronominal suffix, or a verbal clause in
the subjunctive, and typically takes the shortest form of the noun which is phonetically possible. In general, this
amounts to the loss of case endings with short vowels, with the exception of the genitive -i in nouns
preceding a pronominal suffix, hence:

(3) māri-šu
son.CONSTRUCTUS-3SG.POSS
His son, its (masculine) son

but

(4) mār šarr-im

son.CONSTRUCTUS king.GEN.SG
The king's son
There are numerous exceptions to this general rule, usually involving potential violations of the language's
phonological limitations. Most obviously, Akkadian does not tolerate word final consonant clusters, so nouns
like kalbum (dog) and maḫrum (front) would have illegal construct state forms *kalb and *maḫr unless
modified. In many of these instances, the first vowel of the word is simply repeated (e.g. kalab, maḫar). This
rule, however, does not always hold true, especially in nouns where a short vowel has historically been elided
(e.g. šaknum < *šakinum "governor"). In these cases, the lost vowel is restored in the construct state (so
šaknum yields šakin).

(5) kalab belim

dog.CONSTRUCTUS master.GEN.SG
The master's dog

(6) šakin ālim

governor.CONSTRUCTUS city.GEN.SG

A genitive relation can also be expressed with the relative preposition ša, and the noun that the genitive
phrase depends on appears in status rectus.

(7) salīmātum ša awīl Ešnunna

Alliances.NOM.RECTUS which man.CONSTRUCTUS Ešnunna.GEN
The alliances of the Ruler of Ešnunna (lit. "Alliances which man of Ešnunna (has)")

The same preposition is also used to introduce true relative clauses, in which case the verb is placed in the
subjunctive mood.

(7) awīl-um ša māt-am i-kšud-Ø-u

man.NOM that land.SG.ACC 3-conquer.PRET-SG.MASC-SJV
The man who conquered the land.

Verbal morphology
E…
Verb aspects
E…
The Akkadian verb has six finite verb aspects (preterite, perfect, present, imperative, precative, and vetitive
(the negative form of precative)) and three infinite forms (infinitive, participle and verbal adjective). The
preterite is used for actions that are seen by the speaker as having occurred at a single point in time. The
present is primarily imperfective in meaning and is used for concurrent and future actions as well as past
actions with a temporal dimension. The final three finite forms are injunctive where the imperative and the
precative together form a paradigm for positive commands and wishes, and the vetitive is used for negative
wishes. Additionally the periphrastic prohibitive, formed by the present form of the verb and the negative
adverb lā, is used to express negative commands. The infinitive of the Akkadian verb is a verbal noun, and in
contrast to some other languages the Akkadian infinitive can be declined in case. The verbal adjective is an
adjectival form and designates the state or the result of the action of the verb, and consequently the exact
meaning of the verbal adjective is determined by the semantics of the verb itself. The participle, which can be
active or passive, is another verbal adjective and its meaning is similar to the English gerund.

The following table shows the conjugation of the G-stem verbs derived from the root PRS ("to decide") in the
various verb aspects of Akkadian:

Participle Verbal
Preterite Perfect Present Imperative Stative Infinitive
(active) adjective

1st singular aprus aptaras aparras parsāku

person plural niprus niptaras niparras parsānu

masc. taprus taptaras taparras purus parsāta

singular taptarsī (<
fem. taprusī taparrasī pursi parsāti
*taptarasī)
2nd
person parsātunu
(masc.) / parsum
plural taprusā taptarsā taparrasā pursa pārisum
parsātina (masc.)
(masc.) /
(fem.) parāsum /
pāristum
paristum
paris (fem.)
(fem.)
(masc.) /
singular iprus iptaras iparras
parsat

3rd (fem.)

person iptarsū (<

masc. iprusū iparrasū parsū
*iptarasū)
plural
iptarsā (<
fem. iprusā iparrasā parsā
*iptarasā)

The table below shows the different affixes attached to the preterite aspect of the verb root PRS "to decide";
and as can be seen, the grammatical genders differ only in the second person singular and third person plural.
 G-Stem D-Stem Š-Stem N-Stem

1st singular a-prus-Ø u-parris-Ø u-šapris-Ø a-pparis-Ø

person plural ni-prus-Ø nu-parris-Ø nu-šapris-Ø ni-pparis-Ø

singular masc. ta-prus-Ø tu-parris-Ø tu-šapris-Ø ta-pparis-Ø

2nd
singular fem. ta-prus-ī tu-parris-ī tu-šapris-ī ta-ppars-ī
person
plural ta-prus-ā tu-parris-ā tu-šapris-ā ta-ppars-ā

singular i-prus-Ø u-parris-Ø u-šapris-Ø i-pparis-Ø

3rd
plural masc. i-prus-ū u-parris-ū u-šapris-ū i-ppars-ū
person
plural fem. i-prus-ā u-parris-ā u-šapris-ā i-ppars-ā

Verb moods
E…
Akkadian verbs have 3 moods:

1. Indicative, used in independent clauses, is unmarked.

2. Subjunctive, used in dependent clauses. The subjunctive is marked in forms which do not end in a vowel
by the suffix -u (compare Arabic and Ugaritic subjunctives), but is otherwise unmarked. In the later
stages of most dialects, the subjunctive is indistinct, as short final vowels were mostly lost

3. Venitive or allative. The venitive is not a mood in the strictest sense, being a development of the 1st
person dative pronominal suffix -am/-m/-nim. With verbs of motion, it often indicates motion towards an
object or person (e.g. illik, "he went" vs. illikam, "he came"). However, this pattern is not consistent, even
in earlier stages of the language, and its use often appears to serve a stylistic rather than morphological
or lexical function.

The following table demonstrates the verb moods of verbs derived from the root PRS ("to decide","to
separate"):

Preterite.[t4 1] Stative.[t4 1]

Indicative iprus paris

Subjunctive iprusu parsu

Venitive iprusam parsam

1. Both verbs are for the 3rd person masculine singular.

Verb patterns
E…
Akkadian verbs have thirteen separate derived stems formed on each root. The basic, underived, stem is the
G-stem (from the German Grundstamm, meaning "basic stem"). Causative or intensive forms are formed with
the doubled D-stem, and it gets its name from the doubled-middle radical that is characteristic of this form.
The doubled middle radical is also characteristic of the present, but the forms of the D-stem use the
secondary conjugational affixes, so a D-form will never be identical to a form in a different stem. The Š-stem is
formed by adding a prefix š-, and these forms are mostly causatives. Finally, the passive forms of the verb are
in the N-stem, formed by adding a n- prefix. However the n- element is assimilated to a following consonant,
so the original /n/ is only visible in a few forms.

Furthermore, reflexive and iterative verbal stems can be derived from each of the basic stems. The reflexive
stem is formed with an infix -ta, and the derived stems are therefore called Gt, Dt, Št and Nt, and the preterite
forms of the Xt-stem are identical to the perfects of the X-stem. Iteratives are formed with the infix -tan-,
giving the Gtn, Dtn, Štn and Ntn. Because of the assimilation of n, the /n/ is only seen in the present forms,
and the Xtn preterite is identical to the Xt durative.

The final stem is the ŠD-stem, a form mostly attested only in poetic texts, and whose meaning is usually
identical to either the Š-stem or the D-stem of the same verb. It is formed with the Š prefix (like the Š-stem) in
addition to a doubled-middle radical (like the D-stem).

An alternative to this naming system is a numerical system. The basic stems are numbered using Roman
numerals so that G, D, Š and N become I, II, III and IV, respectively, and the infixes are numbered using Arabic
numerals; 1 for the forms without an infix, 2 for the Xt, and 3 for the Xtn. The two numbers are separated
using a solidus. As an example, the Štn-stem is called III/3. The most important user of this system is the
Chicago Assyrian Dictionary.

There is mandatory congruence between the subject of the sentence and the verb, and this is expressed by
prefixes and suffixes. There are two different sets of affixes, a primary set used for the forms of the G and N-
stems, and a secondary set for the D and Š-stems.

The stems, their nomenclature and examples of the third-person masculine singular stative of the verb
parāsum (root PRS: 'to decide, distinguish, separate') is shown below:
 # Stem Verb Description Correspondence

the simple stem, used for transitive and intransitive Arabic stem I (fa‘ala) and
I.1 G PaRiS
verbs Hebrew pa'al

gemination of the second radical, indicating the Arabic stem II (fa‘‘ala) and
II.1 D PuRRuS
intensive Hebrew pi‘el

Arabic stem IV (’af‘ala) and

III.1 Š šuPRuS š-preformative, indicating the causative
Hebrew hiph‘il

Arabic stem VII (infa‘ala) and

IV.1 N naPRuS n-preformative, indicating the reflexive/passive
Hebrew niph‘al

simple stem with t-infix after first radical, indicating Arabic stem VIII (ifta‘ala) and
I.2 Gt PitRuS
reciprocal or reflexive Aramaic ’ithpe‘al (tG)

doubled second radical preceded by infixed t, Arabic stem V (tafa‘‘ala) and

II.2 Dt PutaRRuS
indicating intensive reflexive Hebrew hithpa‘el (tD)

š-preformative with t-infix, indicating reflexive Arabic stem X (istaf‘ala) and

III.2 Št šutaPRuS
causative Aramaic ’ittaph‘al (tC)

n-preformative with a t-infix preceding the first

IV.2 Nt itaPRuS
radical, indicating reflexive passive

I.3 Gtn PitaRRuS

II.3 Dtn PutaRRuS doubled second radical preceded by tan-infix

III.3 Štn šutaPRuS š-preformative with tan-infix

IV.3 Ntn itaPRuS n-preformative with tan-infix

ŠD šuPuRRuS š-preformative with doubled second radical

Stative
E…
A very often appearing form which can be formed by nouns, adjectives as well as by verbal adjectives is the
stative. Nominal predicatives occur in the status absolutus and correspond to the verb "to be" in English. The
stative in Akkadian corresponds to the Egyptian pseudo-participle. The following table contains an example of
using the noun šarrum (king), the adjective rapšum (wide) and the verbal adjective parsum (decided).
 šarrum rapšum parsum

1st singular šarr-āku rapš-āku pars-āku

person plural šarr-ānu rapš-ānu pars-ānu

masc. šarr-āta rapš-āta pars-āta

singular
2nd fem. šarr-āti rapš-āti pars-āti
person masc. šarr-ātunu rapš-ātunu pars-ātunu
plural
fem. šarr-ātina rapš-ātina pars-ātina

masc. šar-Ø rapaš-Ø paris-Ø

singular
3rd fem. šarr-at rapš-at pars-at
person masc. šarr-ū rapš-ū pars-ū
plural
fem. šarr-ā rapš-ā pars-ā

Thus, the stative in Akkadian is used to convert simple stems into effective sentences, so that the form šarr-
āta is equivalent to: "you were king", "you are king" and "you will be king". Hence, the stative is independent of
time forms.

Derivation
E…
Beside the already explained possibility of derivation of different verb stems, Akkadian has numerous nominal
formations derived from verb roots. A very frequently encountered form is the maPRaS form. It can express
the location of an event, the person performing the act and many other meanings. If one of the root
consonants is labial (p, b, m), the prefix becomes na- (maPRaS > naPRaS). Examples for this are: maškanum
(place, location) from ŠKN (set, place, put), mašraḫum (splendour) from ŠRḪ (be splendid), maṣṣarum
(guards) from NṢR (guard), napḫarum (sum) from PḪR (summarize).

A very similar formation is the maPRaSt form. The noun derived from this nominal formation is grammatically
feminine. The same rules as for the maPRaS form apply, for example maškattum (deposit) from ŠKN (set,
place, put), narkabtum (carriage) from RKB (ride, drive, mount).

The suffix - ūt is used to derive abstract nouns. The nouns which are formed with this suffix are grammatically
feminine. The suffix can be attached to nouns, adjectives and verbs, e.g. abūtum (paternity) from abum
(father), rabutum (size) from rabum (large), waṣūtum (leaving) from WṢY (leave).

Also derivatives of verbs from nouns, adjectives and numerals are numerous. For the most part, a D-stem is
derived from the root of the noun or adjective. The derived verb then has the meaning of "make X do
something" or "becoming X", for example: duššûm (let sprout) from dišu (grass), šullušum (to do something
for the third time ) from šalāš (three).

Pronouns
E…
Personal pronouns
E…
Independent personal pronouns
E…
Independent personal pronouns in Akkadian are as follows:

Nominative Oblique Dative

Person singular plural singular plural singular plural

1st anāku "I" nīnu "we" yāti niāti yāšim niāšim

masculine atta "you" attunu "you" kāti (kāta) kunūti kāšim kunūšim
2nd
feminine atti "you" attina "you" kāti kināti kāšim kināšim

masculine šū "he" šunu "they" šātilu (šātilu) šunūti šuāšim (šāšim) šunūšim
3rd
feminine šī "she" šina "they" šiāti (šuāti;šāti) šināti šiāšim (šāšim, šāšim) šināšim

Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns

E…
Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns (mainly denoting the genitive, accusative and dative) are as follows:

Genitive Accusative Dative

Person singular plural singular plural singular plural

1st -i, -ya [t5 1] -ni -ni -niāti -am/-nim -niāšim

masculine -ka -kunu -ka -kunūti -kum -kunūšim

2nd
feminine -ki -kina -ki -kināti -kim -kināšim

masculine -šū -šunu -šū -šunūti -šum -šunūšim

3rd
feminine -ša -šina -ši -šināti -šim -šināšim

1. -ni is used for the nominative, i.e. following a verb denoting the subject.

Demonstrative pronouns
E…
Demonstrative pronouns in Akkadian differ from the Western Semitic variety. The following table shows the
Akkadian demonstrative pronouns according to near and far deixis:

Deixis
Proximal Distal

Masc. annū "this" ullū "that"

Singular
Fem. annītu "this" ullītu "that"

Masc. annūtu "these" ullūtu "those"

Plural
Fem. annātu "these" ullātu "those"

Relative pronouns
E…
Relative pronouns in Akkadian are shown in the following table:

Nominative Accusative Genitive

masc. šu ša ši
Singular
fem. šāt šāti

Dual šā

masc. šūt
Plural
fem. šāt

Unlike plural relative pronouns, singular relative pronouns in Akkadian exhibit full declension for case. However,
only the form ša (originally accusative masculine singular) survived, while the other forms disappeared in time.

Interrogative pronouns
E…
The following table shows the interrogative pronouns used in Akkadian:

Akkadian English

mannu who?

mīnū what?

ayyu which?

Prepositions
E…
Akkadian has prepositions which consist mainly of only one word. For example: ina (in, on, out, through,
under), ana (to, for, after, approximately), adi (to), aššu (because of), eli (up, over), ištu/ultu (of, since), mala (in
accordance with), itti (also, with). There are, however, some compound prepositions which are combined with
ina and ana (e.g. ina maḫar (forwards), ina balu (without), ana ṣēr (up to), ana maḫar (forwards). Regardless of
the complexity of the preposition, the following noun is always in the genitive case.

Examples: ina bītim (in the house, from the house), ana dummuqim (to do good), itti šarrim (with the king),
ana ṣēr mārīšu (up to his son).

Numerals
E…
Since numerals are written mostly as a number sign in the cuneiform script, the transliteration of many
numerals is not well ascertained yet. Along with the counted noun, the cardinal numerals are in the status
absolutus. Because other cases are very rare, the forms of the status rectus are known only by isolated
numerals. The numerals 1 and 2 as well as 21–29, 31–39, 41–49 correspond with the counted in the
grammatical gender, while the numerals 3–20, 30, 40 and 50 are characterized by polarity of gender, i.e. if the
counted noun is masculine, the numeral would be feminine and vice versa. This polarity is typical of the
Semitic languages and appears also in classical Arabic for example. The numerals 60, 100 and 1000 do not
change according to the gender of the counted noun. Counted nouns more than two appear in the plural
form. However, body parts which occur in pairs appear in the dual form in Akkadian. e.g. šepum (foot)
becomes šepān (two feet).

The ordinals are formed (with a few exceptions) by adding a case ending to the nominal form PaRuS (the P, R
and S. must be substituted with the suitable consonants of the numeral). It is noted, however, that in the case
of the numeral "one", the ordinal (masculine) and the cardinal number are the same. A metathesis occurs in
the numeral "four".
Akkadian numbers[30]
Cardinal Congruence Ordinal

# (masculine) (feminine) (Gender agreement of the

(masculine) (feminine)
(absolute) (free) (absolute) (free) cardinal numeral)

pānûm pānītum
išteat, Congruent (no gender maḫrûm maḫrītum
1 ištēn (ištēnum) (ištētum)
ištēt polarity) (ištīʾum) (ištītum)
ištēn išteat

2 šinā — šittā — Congruent šanûm šanītum

3 šalāšat šalāštum šalāš šalāšum Gender polarity šalšum šaluštum

4 erbet(ti) erbettum erbe, erba erbûm Gender polarity rebûm rebūtum

5 ḫamšat ḫamištum ḫamiš ḫamšum Gender polarity ḫamšum ḫamuštum

6 šeššet šedištum šediš? šeššum Gender polarity šeššum šeduštum

7 sebet(ti) sebettum sebe sebûm Gender polarity sebûm sebūtum

8 samānat samāntum samāne samānûm Gender polarity samnum samuntum

9 tišīt tišītum tiše tišûm Gender polarity tešûm tešūtum

10 eš(e)ret ešertum ešer eš(e)rum Gender polarity ešrum ešurtum

11 ištēššeret ištēššer Gender polarity ištēššerûm ištēššerītum

12 šinšeret šinšer Gender polarity šinšerûm šinšerītum

13 šalāššeret šalāššer Gender polarity šalāššerûm šalāššerītum

14 erbēšeret erbēšer Gender polarity erbēšerûm erbēšerītum

15 ḫamiššeret ḫamiššer Gender polarity ḫamiššerûm ḫamiššerītum

16 šeššeret? šeššer? Gender polarity šeššerûm? šeššerītum?

17 sebēšeret sebēšer Gender polarity sebēšerûm sebēšerītum

18 samāššeret samāššer Gender polarity samāššerûm samāššerītum

19 tišēšeret tišēšer Gender polarity tišēšerûm tišēšerītum

20 ešrā No gender distinction ešrûm ešrītum?

30 šalāšā No gender distinction (as with 20?)

40 erbeā, erbâ No gender distinction (as with 20?)

50 ḫamšā No gender distinction (as with 20?)

60 absolute šūš(i), free šūšum No gender distinction (as with 20?)

100 absolute sg. meat, pl. meât[31] (free meatum) No gender distinction (as with 20?)

600 absolute nēr, free nērum No gender distinction (as with 20?)

1000 absolute līm(i), free līmum No gender distinction (as with 20?)

3600 absolute šār, free šārum No gender distinction (as with 20?)

Examples: erbē aššātum (four wives) (masculine numeral), meat ālānū (100 towns).

Syntax
E…
Nominal phrases
E…
Adjectives, relative clauses and appositions follow the noun. While numerals precede the counted noun. In the
following table the nominal phrase erbēt šarrū dannūtum ša ālam īpušū abūya 'the four strong kings who built
the city are my fathers' is analyzed:

Word Meaning Analysis Part of the nominal phrase

erbēt four feminine (gender polarity) Numeral

šarr-ū king nominative plural Noun (Subject)

dann-ūtum strong nominative masculine plural Adjective

ša which relative pronoun

āl-am city accusative singular Relative clause

īpuš-ū built 3rd person masculine plural

ab-ū-ya my fathers masculine plural + possessive pronoun Apposition

Sentence syntax
E…
Akkadian sentence order was Subject+Object+Verb (SOV), which sets it apart from most other ancient
Semitic languages such as Arabic and Biblical Hebrew, which typically have a verb–subject–object (VSO)
word order. (Modern South Semitic languages in Ethiopia also have SOV order, but these developed within
historical times from the classical verb–subject–object (VSO) language Ge'ez.) It has been hypothesized that
this word order was a result of influence from the Sumerian language, which was also SOV. There is evidence
that native speakers of both languages were in intimate language contact, forming a single society for at least
500 years, so it is entirely likely that a sprachbund could have formed.[32] Further evidence of an original VSO
or SVO ordering can be found in the fact that direct and indirect object pronouns are suffixed to the verb.
Word order seems to have shifted to SVO/VSO late in the 1st millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD,
possibly under the influence of Aramaic.

Vocabulary

The Akkadian vocabulary is mostly of Semitic origin. Although classified as 'East Semitic', many elements of
its basic vocabulary find no evident parallels in related Semitic languages. For example: māru 'son' (Semitic
*bn), qātu 'hand' (Semitic *yd), šēpu 'foot' (Semitic *rgl), qabû 'say' (Semitic *qwl), izuzzu 'stand' (Semitic
*qwm), ana 'to, for' (Semitic *li).

Due to extensive contact with Sumerian and Aramaic, the Akkadian vocabulary contains many loan words
from these languages. Aramaic loan words, however, were limited to the 1st centuries of the 1st millennium
BC and primarily in the north and middle parts of Mesopotamia, whereas Sumerian loan words were spread in
the whole linguistic area. Beside the previous languages, some nouns were borrowed from Hurrian, Kassite,
Ugaritic and other ancient languages. Since Sumerian and Hurrian, two non-Semitic languages, differ from
Akkadian in word structure, only nouns and some adjectives (not many verbs) were borrowed from these
languages. However, some verbs were borrowed (along with many nouns) from Aramaic and Ugaritic, both of
which are Semitic languages.

The following table contains examples of loan words in Akkadian:

 Akkadian Meaning Source Word in the language of origin

dû hill Sumerian du

erēqu flee Aramaic ʿRQ (root)

gadalû dressed in linen Sumerian gada lá

isinnu firmly Sumerian ezen

kasulatḫu a device of copper Hurrian kasulatḫ-

kisallu court Sumerian kisal

laqāḫu take Ugaritic LQḤ (root)

paraššannu part of horse riding gear Hurrian paraššann-

purkullu stone cutter Sumerian bur-gul

qaṭālu kill Aramaic QṬL (root)

uriḫullu conventional penalty Hurrian uriḫull-

Akkadian was also a source of borrowing to other languages, above all Sumerian. Some examples are:
Sumerian da-ri ('lastingly', from Akkadian dāru), Sumerian ra gaba ('riders, messenger', from Akkadian rākibu).

In 2011, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago completed a 21-volume dictionary, the Chicago
Assyrian Dictionary, of the Akkadian language. The dictionary took 90 years to develop, beginning in 1921,
with the first volume published in 1956. The completion of this work was hailed as a significant milestone for
the study of the language by prominent academic Irving Finkel of the British Museum.[33][34]

Sample text

The following is the 7th section of the Hammurabi law code, written in the mid-18th century BC:

šumma awīl-um lū kasp-am lū ḫurāṣ-am lū ward-am lū amt-am

if man-NOM or silver-ACC or gold-ACC or slave-M.ACC or slave-F.ACC
If a man has bought silver or gold, a male or a female slave,

lū alp-am lū immer-am lū imēr-am ū lū mimma šumšu ina

or cattle/oxen-ACC or sheep-ACC or donkey-ACC and or something from
an ox, a sheep, or a donkey—or anything for that matter—

qāt mār awīl-im ū lū warad awīl-im balum šīb-ī

 hand-CONST son-CONST man-GEN and or slave-CONST man-GEN without witnesses-GEN
u
and
from another man or from another man’s slave without witnesses or contract,

riks-ātim i-štām-Ø ū lū ana maṣṣārūt-im i-mḫur-Ø

contracts-GEN bought-3.SG.PERF and or for safekeeping-GEN received-3.SG.PRET
or if he accepted something for safekeeping without same,

awīl-um šū šarrāq i-ddāk

man-NOM he-3.M.SG stealer-ABS is_killed-3.SG.PASS-PRS
then this man is a thief and hence to be killed.

Akkadian literature

Atrahasis Epic (early 2nd millennium BC)

Enûma Elish (c. 18th century BC)

Amarna letters (14th century BC)

Epic of Gilgamesh (Sin-liqe-unninni', Standard Babylonian version, 13th to 11th century BC)

Ludlul Bel Nemeqi

Notes

1. Black, Jeremy A.; George, Andrew; Postgate, J. N. (2000-01-01). A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=-qIuVCsRb98C&q=akkadu&pg=PA10) . Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 10.
ISBN 9783447042642. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210511014731/https://books.google.com/books?i
d=-qIuVCsRb98C&q=akkadu&pg=PA10) from the original on 2021-05-11. Retrieved 2020-10-15.

2. John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's
Ancient Languages. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218-280

3. John Huehnergard and Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", in Roger D. Woodard, ed., The Ancient
Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum, Cambridge University Press, 2008, p.83

4. Deutscher, Guy (2007). Syntactic Change in Akkadian: The Evolution of Sentential Complementation. Oxford
University Press US. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-0-19-953222-3.
 5. [1] (http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/3139/1/PAGE_31%2D71.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202007312041
54/https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/3139/1/PAGE_31-71.pdf) 2020-07-31 at the Wayback Machine Andrew George,
"Babylonian and Assyrian: A History of Akkadian", In: Postgate, J. N., (ed.), Languages of Iraq, Ancient and Modern.
London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq, pp. 37.

6. Geller, Markham Judah (1997). "The Last Wedge". Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie. 87
(1): 43–95. doi:10.1515/zava.1997.87.1.43 (https://doi.org/10.1515%2Fzava.1997.87.1.43) . S2CID 161968187 (http
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31. E.g. šalāš meât '300'

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Sources

Aro, Jussi (1957). Studien zur mittelbabylonischen Grammatik. Studia Orientalia 22. Helsinki: Societas Orientalis Fennica.

Buccellati, Giorgio (1996). A Structural Grammar of Babylonian. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Buccellati, Giorgio (1997). "Akkadian," The Semitic Languages. Ed. Robert Hetzron. New York: Routledge. Pages 69–99.

Bussmann, Hadumod (1996). Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-
20319-8

Caplice, Richard (1980). Introduction to Akkadian. Rome: Biblical Institute Press. (1983: ISBN 88-7653-440-7; 1988,
2002: ISBN 88-7653-566-7) (The 1980 edition is partly available online (http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/introductio
n/ita/start.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20060507045102/http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/introd
uction/ita/start.htm) 2006-05-07 at the Wayback Machine.)

Dolgopolsky, Aron (1999). From Proto-Semitic to Hebrew. Milan: Centro Studi Camito-Semitici di Milano.

Deutscher, G. (2000). Syntactic Change in Akkadian: The Evolution of Sentential Complementation (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=SuoyPWY5gTkC&pg=PA21) . OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-154483-5. Archived (https://web.archive.
org/web/20200316201815/https://books.google.com/books?id=SuoyPWY5gTkC&pg=PA21) from the original on
2020-03-16. Retrieved 2018-08-26.

Gelb, I.J. (1961). Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar. Second edition. Materials for the Assyrian Dictionary 2. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.

Huehnergard, John (2005). A Grammar of Akkadian (Second Edition). Eisenbrauns. ISBN 1-57506-922-9

Marcus, David (1978). A Manual of Akkadian. University Press of America. ISBN 0-8191-0608-9

Mercer, Samuel A B (1961). Introductory Assyrian Grammar. New York: F Ungar. ISBN 0-486-42815-X

Sabatino Moscati (1980). An Introduction to Comparative Grammar of Semitic Languages Phonology and Morphology.
Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-00689-7.
 Soden, Wolfram von (1952). Grundriss der akkadischen Grammatik. Analecta Orientalia 33. Roma: Pontificium Institutum
Biblicum. (3rd ed., 1995: ISBN 88-7653-258-7)

Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum. Cambridge University Press 2008.
ISBN 978-0-521-68497-2

Further reading

General description and grammar

E…
Gelb, I. J. (1961). Old Akkadian writing and grammar. Materials for the Assyrian dictionary, no. 2. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-62304-1

Hasselbach, Rebecca. Sargonic Akkadian: A Historical and Comparative Study of the Syllabic Texts.
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag 2005. ISBN 978-3-447-05172-9

Huehnergard, J. A Grammar of Akkadian (3rd ed. 2011). Harvard Semitic Museum Studies 45. ISBN 978-1-
57506-922-7[2] (https://www.academia.edu/234695/2011_A_Grammar_of_Akkadian_3rd_edition_)
(requires login)

Huehnergard, J. (2005). A Key to A Grammar of Akkadian . Harvard Semitic Studies. Eisenbrauns.[3] (http
s://www.academia.edu/234697/2013_Key_to_A_Grammar_of_Akkadian_3rd_edition_) (requires login)

Soden, Wolfram von: Grundriß der Akkadischen Grammatik. Analecta Orientalia. Bd 33. Rom 1995. ISBN 88-
7653-258-7

Streck, Michael P. Sprachen des Alten Orients. Wiss. Buchges., Darmstadt 2005. ISBN 3-534-17996-X

Ungnad, Arthur: Grammatik des Akkadischen. Neubearbeitung durch L. Matouš, München 1969, 1979 (5.
Aufl.). ISBN 3-406-02890-X

Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum. Cambridge University
Press 2008. ISBN 978-0-521-68497-2

Ikeda, Jun. Early Japanese and Early Akkadian Writing Systems. University of Tsukuba. 2007 [4] (http://ww
w.caeno.org/origins/papers/Ikeda_Kunogenesis.pdf)

Textbooks
E…
Rykle Borger: Babylonisch-assyrische Lesestücke. Rom 1963.(3., revidierte Auflage, 2006 Teil. I-II)
Part I: Elemente der Grammatik und der Schrift. Übungsbeispiele. Glossar.

Part II: Die Texte in Umschrift.

Part III: Kommentar. Die Texte in Keilschrift.

 Richard Caplice: Introduction to Akkadian. Biblical Institute Press, Rome 1988, 2002 (4.Aufl.). ISBN 88-7653-
566-7

Kaspar K. Riemschneider: Lehrbuch des Akkadischen. Verlag Enzyklopädie, Leipzig 1969, Langenscheidt
Verlag Enzyklopädie, Leipzig 1992 (6. Aufl.). ISBN 3-324-00364-4

Martin Worthington: "Complete Babylonian: Teach Yourself" London 2010 ISBN 0-340-98388-4

Dictionaries
E…
Jeremy G. Black, Andrew George, Nicholas Postgate: A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian. Harrassowitz-
Verlag, Wiesbaden 2000. ISBN 3-447-04264-8

Wolfram von Soden: Akkadisches Handwörterbuch. 3 Bde. Wiesbaden 1958–1981. ISBN 3-447-02187-X

Martha T. Roth, ed.: The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. 21 vols. in
26. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago 1956–2010. (available free online (http://oi.uchic
ago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/cad/) )

Akkadian cuneiform
E…
Cherry, A. (2003). A basic neo-Assyrian cuneiform syllabary. Toronto, Ont: Ashur Cherry, York University.

Cherry, A. (2003). Basic individual logograms (Akkadian). Toronto, Ont: Ashur Cherry, York University.

Rykle Borger: Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon. Alter Orient und Altes Testament (AOAT). Bd 305. Ugarit-
Verlag, Münster 2004. ISBN 3-927120-82-0

René Labat: Manuel d'Épigraphie Akkadienne. Paul Geuthner, Paris 1976, 1995 (6.Aufl.). ISBN 2-7053-3583-
8

Translations
E…
Shin Shifra, Jacob Klein (1996). In Those Far Days. Tel Aviv, Am Oved and The Israeli Center for Libraries'
project for translating Exemplary Literature to Hebrew. This is an anthology of Sumerian and Akkadian
poetry, translated into Hebrew.

Technical literature on specific subjects

E…
Ignace J. Gelb: Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar. Materials for the Assyrian dictionary. Bd 2. University of
Chicago Press, Chicago 1952, 1961, 1973. ISBN 0-226-62304-1 ISSN 0076-518X (https://www.worldcat.o
rg/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:0076-518X)

Markus Hilgert: Akkadisch in der Ur III-Zeit. Rhema-Verlag, Münster 2002. ISBN 3-930454-32-7

Walter Sommerfeld: Bemerkungen zur Dialektgliederung Altakkadisch, Assyrisch und Babylonisch. In: Alter
Orient und Altes Testament (AOAT). Ugarit-Verlag, Münster 274.2003. ISSN 0931-4296 (https://www.worl
dcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:0931-4296)

External links

Akkadian language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Akkadian language.

Akkadian language repository of Wikisource, the free library

For a list of words relating to Akkadian language, see the Akkadian language category of words in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Introduction to Cuneiform Script and the Akkadian language (http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/knpp/c

uneiformrevealed/) on The Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (Oracc) (http://oracc.org/)

Akkadian cuneiform on Omniglot (Writing Systems and Languages of the World) (http://www.omniglot.co
m/writing/akkadian.htm)

Wilford, John Noble (7 June 2011). "After 90 Years, a Dictionary of an Ancient World" (https://www.nytime
s.com/2011/06/07/science/07dictionary.html) . The New York Times. p. 2.

Akkadian Language Samples (http://www.language-museum.com/encyclopedia/a/akkadian-cuneiform.ph

p)

A detailed introduction to Akkadian (https://web.archive.org/web/20050206163112/http://www.sron.nl/~jh

eise/akkadian/)

Assyrian grammar with chrestomathy and glossary (1921) by Samuel A B Mercer (https://archive.org/detai
ls/assyriangrammarw00mercuoft)

Akkadian-English-French Online Dictionary (http://www.assyrianlanguages.org/akkadian)

Old Babylonian Text Corpus (includes dictionary) (https://isaw.nyu.edu/publications/awol-index/html/www.

klinopis.cz/www-klinopis-cz.html/)

The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD) (http://oi.uchicago.edu/
research/pubs/catalog/cad/)

Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar, by I. J. Gelb, 2nd Ed. (1961) (http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/mad2.pdf)

Glossary of Old Akkadian, by I. J. Gelb (1957) (http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/mad3.pdf)

 List of 1280 Akkadian roots, with a representative verb form for each (http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/do
c/builder/linganno/AKK/akk-roots/#Index_of_Akkadian_roots)

Recordings of Assyriologists Reading Babylonian and Assyrian (https://web.archive.org/web/2011071611

4724/http://www.speechisfire.com/)

Unicode Fonts for Ancient Scripts (http://packages.ubuntu.com/trusty/ttf-ancient-fonts) and Akkadian

font for Ubuntu Linux-based operating system (ttf-ancient-fonts)

The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD) (http://www.aina.org/ca
d.html)

Akkadian in the wiki Glossing Ancient Languages (https://wikis.hu-berlin.de/interlinear_glossing/Akkadian:Gl

ossing_of_common_Akkadian_forms) (recommendations for the Interlinear Morphemic Glossing of
Akkadian texts)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?

title=Akkadian_language&oldid=1076433190"

Last edited 2 days ago by 96.8.24.95