Akkadian language

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Akkadian
lišānum akkadītum
Spoken in	Assyria and Babylonia
Region	Mesopotamia
Language extinction	100 CE
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.
Regulated by	No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1	None
ISO 639-2	akk
ISO 639-3	akk
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Ancient Mesopotamia
Euphrates · Tigris
Sumer
Eridu · Kish · Uruk · Ur Lagash · Nippur · Ngirsu
Elam
Susa · Anshan
Akkadian Empire
Akkad · Mari
Amorites
Isin · Larsa
Babylonia
Babylon · Chaldea
Assyria
Assur · Nimrud Dur-Sharrukin · Nineveh
Hittites · Kassites Ararat / Mitanni
Chronology
Mesopotamia
Sumer (king list)
Kings of Elam Kings of Assyria Kings of Babylon
Mythology
Enûma Elish · Gilgamesh
Assyrian religion
Language
Sumerian · Elamite
Akkadian · Aramaic
Hurrian · Hittite

Akkadian (lišānum akkadītum, 𒀝𒂵𒌈 ak.ka.dû) (also Accadian, Assyro-Babylonian^[1]) is an extinct Semitic language (part of the greater Afroasiatic language family) that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate. The name of the language is derived from the city of Akkad, a major center of Mesopotamian civilization.

During the third millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism.^[2] The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian (and vice versa) is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a massive scale, to syntactic, morphological, and phonological convergence.^[2] This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the third millennium as a sprachbund.^[2]

Akkadian was first attested in Sumerian texts in proper names from around 2800 BCE.^[3] And from the second half of the third millennium BCE, texts fully written in Akkadian begin to appear. Hundreds of thousands of texts and text fragments have been excavated up to date; covering a vast textual tradition of mythological narrative, legal texts, scientific works, correspondences and many other aspects. By the second millennium BCE, two variant forms of the language were in use in Assyria and Babylonia (known as Assyrian and Babylonian respectively).

Akkadian had been for centuries the lingua franca in the Ancient Near East. However, it began to decline around the 8th century BCE being marginalized by Aramaic. By the Hellenistic period, the language was largely confined to scholars and priests working in temples. The last Akkadian cuneiform document dates to the first century CE.^[4]

Contents 1 Classification 2 History and writing 2.1 Writing 2.2 Development 2.3 Decipherment 2.4 Dialects 3 Phonetics and phonology 3.1 Consonants 3.2 Vowels 3.3 Stress 4 Grammar 4.1 Morphology 4.1.1 Overview 4.1.2 Case, number and gender 4.1.3 Status 4.1.4 Verbal morphology 4.1.4.1 Verb aspects 4.1.4.2 Verb moods 4.1.4.3 Verb patterns 4.2 Stative 4.3 Derivation 4.4 Pronouns 4.4.1 Personal pronouns 4.4.1.1 Independent personal pronouns 4.4.1.2 Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns 4.4.2 Demonstrative pronouns 4.4.3 Relative pronouns 4.4.4 Interrogative pronouns 4.5 Prepositions 4.6 Numerals 4.7 Syntax 4.7.1 Nominal phrases 4.7.2 Sentence syntax 5 Vocabulary 6 Example text 7 Akkadian literature 8 Notes 9 References 10 Further reading 10.1 General description and grammar 10.2 Textbooks 10.3 Dictionaries 10.4 Akkadian Cuneiform 10.5 Technical literature on specific subjects 11 External links

[edit] Classification

Akkadian belongs with the other Semitic languages in the Afro-Asiatic family of languages, a family native to Western Asia and Northern Africa.

Within the Semitic languages, Akkadian forms an East Semitic subgroup (with Eblaite). This group distinguishes itself from the Northwest and South Semitic languages by its SOV word order, while the other Semitic languages usually have either a VSO or SVO order. This novel word order is due to the influence of the Sumerian substratum, which has an SOV order.

Additionally Akkadian is the only Semitic language to use the prepositions ina and ana (locative, English in/on/with, and dative-locative, for/to, respectively). Other Semitic languages like Arabic 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 with 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. Up until the Old Babylonian period, the Akkadian sibilants were exclusively affricate.

[edit] History and writing

[edit] Writing

Old Akkadian is preserved on clay tablets dating back to 2600 BCE. It was written using cuneiform, a script adopted from the Sumerians using wedge-shaped signs 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. However, logograms for frequent words such as 'god' and 'temple' were still 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 the sign was used as a determinative for divine names.

Example 4 in the image on the right shows another peculiarity of Akkadian cuneiform. 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).

[edit] Development

Akkadian is divided into several varieties based on geography and historical period:^[5]

• Old Akkadian, 2500–1950 BCE
• Old Babylonian/Old Assyrian, 1950–1530 BCE
• Middle Babylonian/Middle Assyrian, 1530–1000 BCE
• Neo-Babylonian/Neo-Assyrian, 1000–600 BCE
• Late Babylonian, 600 BCE–100 CE

The Akkadian Empire, established by Sargon I, 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 BCE.

Old Akkadian, which was used until the end of the third century BCE, differs from both Babylonian and Assyrian, and was displaced by these dialects. By the 21st century BCE 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') are first encountered in Old Babylonian instead of the older la-prus (even though it was archaic compared to Akkadian). On the other hand, Assyrian developed certain innovations as well, such as the "Assyrian vowel harmony" (which is not comparable to that found in Turkish or Finnish). Eblaite is even more archaic, retaining a productive dual and a relative pronoun declined in case, number and gender. Both of these had already disappeared in Old Akkadian.

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 1500s BCE. The division is marked by the Kassite invasion of Babylonia around 1550 BCE. 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 Orient, including Egypt. During this period, a large number of loan words were included in the language from North West 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 text dated to 75 CE.^[6] The youngest texts written in Akkadian date from the 3rd century CE. A number of Akkadian words and many personal names survive to this day in the modern Assyrian (or Neo Aramaic) language spoken by ethnic Assyrians (aka Chaldo-Assyrians)in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.

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

During the first millennium BCE, Akkadian progressively lost its status as a lingua franca. In the beginning, from around 1000 BCE, 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 700s BCE when the Assyrian kingdom became a major power, but texts written exclusively in Neo-Assyrian disappear within 10 years of Nineveh's destruction in 612 BCE.

After the end of the Mesopotamian kingdoms, which fell due to the Persian conquest of the area, 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 BCE, Akkadian was still a contender as a written language, but spoken Akkadian was likely extinct by this time, or at least rarely used. The latest positively identified Akkadian text comes from the first century CE.^[7]

[edit] Decipherment

The Akkadian language was rediscovered when the Dane 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 Henry Rawlinson in the middle of the 19th century.

[edit] Dialects

The following table summarises the dialects of Akkadian certainly identified so far.

Known Akkadian dialects

Dialect	Location
Assyrian	Northern Mesopotamia
Babylonian	Central and Southern Mesopotamia
Mariotic	Central Eufrates (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 isn't 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.

[edit] Phonetics and phonology

Because Akkadian as a spoken language is extinct and no contemporary descriptions of the pronunciation are known, little can be said 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.

[edit] Consonants

As far as can be told from the cuneiform orthography of Akkadian, several Proto-Semitic phonemes are lost in Akkadian. The Proto-Semitic glottal stop *ʼ, as well as the fricatives *ʻ, *h, *ḥ, *ġ 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 interdental and the voiceless lateral fricatives (*ś, *ṣ́) merged with the sibilants as in Canaanite, leaving 19 consonantal phonemes.

The following table gives the consonant sounds distinguished in the Akkadian use of cuneiform, and the IPA signs give the presumed pronunciation according to Streck 2005. The parenthesised sign following is the transcription used in the literature, in the cases where that sign is different from the phonetic sign. This transcription has been suggested for all Semitic languages by the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG), and is therefore known as DMG-umschrift.

Akkadian consonantal phonemes

		Labial	Interdental	Dental/Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
				plain	emphatic
Nasal		m		n
Plosive	voiceless	p		t	tʼ (ṭ)1		k	q		ʔ (ʼ)
	voiced	b		d			ɡ
Fricative	voiceless			s	sʼ (ṣ)1	ʃ (š)	x (ḫ)
	voiced			z
Trill				r
Approximant				l		j (y)	w

1. Akkadian emphatic consonants are reconstructed as ejectives.^[8]

The status of *š as postalveolar and of *z *s *ṣ as fricatives is contested,^{[by whom?]} due to attested assimilations of voiceless coronal affricates to *s. 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. What triggered the change from tš to ss is unclear, especially since a shift of š to s does not occur in other contexts.

According to Patrick R. Bennett's "Comparative Semitic Linguistics: a manual", the *š was a voiceless alveolo-palatal. In the pronunciation of a alveolo-palatal, the tongue approximates the teeth more closely.

An alternative approach to the phonology of these consonants is to treat *s *ṣ as voiceless coronal affricates [t͡s t͡sˁ], *š as a voiceless coronal fricative [s] and *z as a voiced coronal affricate or fricative [d͡z~z]. In this vein, an alternative transcription of *š is *s̠, with the macron below indicating a soft (lenis) articulation in Semitic transcription. The assimilation is then awat-su to [awat͡su], which is quite common across languages.

The following table shows Proto-Semitic phonemes and their correspondences among Akkadian, Arabic and Tiberian Hebrew:

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
*ʼ [ʔ]	(Ø)/ ʼ	ء	ʼ	א	ʼ
*ṭ	ṭ	ط	ṭ	ט	ṭ
*ḳ	q	ق	q	ק	q
*ḏ	z	ذ	ḏ	ז	z
*z		ز	z
*ṯ	š	ث	ṯ	שׁ	š
*š [ʃ]		س	s
*ś		ش	š	שׂ	ś
*s	s	س	s	ס	s
*ṱ	ṣ	ظ	ẓ	צ	ṣ
*ṣ		ص	ṣ
*ṣ́		ض	ḍ
*ġ	(Ø)	غ	ġ	ע	ʻ [ʕ]
*ʻ [ʕ]	(e) 1	ع	ʻ [ʕ]
*ḫ	ḫ	خ	ḫ [x]	ח	ḥ
*ḥ	(e) 1	ح	ḥ [ħ]
*h	(Ø)	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 י	w y
*y	y	ي	y [j]	י	y
Proto-Semitic	Akkadian	Arabic		Hebrew

1. These are only distinguished from the Ø (zero) reflexes of /ḥ/ and /ʻ/ by /e/-coloring the adjacent vowel *a, e.g. PS *ˈbaʻ(a)l-um ('owner, lord') → Akk. bēlu(m)^[9].

[edit] Vowels

Akkadian vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Open	i		u
Mid	e
Closed		a

Additionally, most researchers presume the existence of back mid vowel /o/, but the cuneiform writings give no good proof for this.^[10]

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').

[edit] Stress

Nothing is known of Akkadian stress. There are however certain points of reference, such as the rule of vowel syncope (see the next paragraph), 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.

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.

[edit] Grammar

[edit] Morphology

[edit] Overview

Akkadian is an inflected language; and as a Semitic language, its grammatical features are highly similar to those found in Classical Arabic. And like all Semitic languages, Akkadian uses the system of consonantal roots. Most roots 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.

[edit] Case, number and gender

Akkadian has two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine, with many feminine forms generated from masculine words by adding an -at suffix.

Formally, Akkadian has three numbers (singular, dual and plural) and three cases (nominative, accusative and genitive). However, the dual declension has disappeared from all but the noun paradigm; and even then, it is only used for things that naturally occur in pairs (most commonly body parts like eyes and ears). And in the plural numbers (including the dual), the accusative and genitive exhibit a single oblique case declension. Adjectives are declined exactly like nouns.

Akkadian, unlike Arabic, has mainly regular plurals (i.e. no broken plurals), although some masculine words take feminine plurals. In that respect, it is similar to Hebrew.

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

Noun and adjective paradigms

	Noun (masc.)	Noun (fem.)	Adjective (masc.)	Adjective (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	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

^* 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) - along with nunation (dual final "-n") - that occurs at the end of most case endings has disappeared, except in the locative. Later, the nominative and accusative singular of masculine nouns collapse to -u and in Neo-Babylonian most word-final short vowels are 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, but not consequently and often incorrectly. Also, the most important contact language was Aramaic which also lacked case differentiation, so it's possible that the loss of cases differentiation in Akkadian was not only due to phonological phenomena.

[edit] Status

The Akkadian noun can appear in three different statuses, which express the noun's relation to other parts of the sentence. Status rectus (governed state) is the unmarked form. Nouns that are the predicative of a nominal sentence appear in status absolutus (absolute state), which is formed by dropping the case ending.

(1) Awīl-um šū šarrāq

Awīl-um	šū			šarrāq.
Man (Masculine, nominative)	he (3rd masc. personal pronoun)			thief (status absolutus)

Translation: This man is a thief

If a noun is followed by a possessive suffix or a noun in the genitive, it appears in status constructus (construct state), which is often formed in the same way as the absolute state by dropping the case ending.

(2) mār-šu

mār-šu

Son (status constructus) + his (3rd person singular possessive pronoun

Translation: His son, its (masculine) son

A genitive relation can also be expressed with the preposition ša, and the noun that the genitive phrase depends on appears in status rectus. The same preposition is also used to introduce relative sentences.

(3) mār šarr-im

mār	šarr-im
Son (Status constructus)	king (genitive singular)

Translation: The king's son

(4) awīl-um ša māt-am i-kšud-Ø-u

Awīl-um	ša			māt-am	i-kšud-Ø-u
Man (Masculine, nominative)	that (relative pronoun)			land (singular, accusative)	3rd person - conquer (preterite) - singular, masculine - Indicative

Translation: The man who conquered the land

[edit] Verbal morphology

[edit] Verb aspects

The Akkadian verb has six finite verb aspects (preterite, perfect, present, imperative, precative and vetitive) 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:

	Preterite	Perfect	Present	Imperative	stative	Infinitive	Participle (active)	Verbal adjective
1st Person singular	aprus	aptaras	aparras		parsāku	parāsum	pārisum (masc.) pāristum (fem.)	parsum (masc.) parsatum (fem.)
1st Person plural	niprus	niptaras	niparras		parsānu
2nd Person singular masc.	taprus	taptaras	taparras	purus	parsāta
2nd Person singular fem.	taprusī	taptarsī (< *taptarasī)	taparrasī	pursi	parsāti
2nd Person plural	taprusā	taptarsā	taparrasā	pursa	parsātunu (masc.) / parsātina(fem.)
3rd Person singular	iprus	iptaras	iparras		paris
3rd Person plural masc.	iprusū	iptarsū (< *iptarasū)	iparrasū		parsat
3rd Person plural fem.	iprusā	iptarsā(< *iptarasā)	iparrasā		parsū (masc.) /parsā (fem.)

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 Person singular	a-prus-Ø	u-parris-Ø	u-šapris-Ø	a-pparis-Ø
1st Person plural	ni-prus-Ø	nu-parris-Ø	nu-šapris-Ø	ni-pparis-Ø
2nd Person singular masc.	ta-prus-Ø	tu-parris-Ø	tu-šapris-Ø	ta-pparis-Ø
2nd Person singular fem.	ta-prus-ī	tu-parris-ī	tu-šapris-ī	ta-ppars-ī
2nd Person plural	ta-prus-ā	tu-parris-ā	tu-šapris-ā	ta-ppars-ā
3rd Person singular	i-prus-Ø	u-parris-Ø	u-šapris-Ø	i-pparis-Ø
3rd Person plural masc.	i-prus-ū	u-parris-ū	u-šapris-ū	i-ppars-ū
3rd Person plural fem.	i-prus-ā	u-parris-ā	u-šapris-ā	i-ppars-ā

[edit] Verb moods

Akkadian verbs have 3 moods:

1. Indicative, used in independent clauses.
2. Subjunctive, used in dependent clauses. The suffix /-a/ is attached to the ending of the subjunctive in Akkadian, which is identical to the Arabic and Ugaritic subjunctive ending. This represents an older stage of the language.
3. Ventive or allative.

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

	Preterite 1	Stative 1
Indicative	iprus	paris
Subjunctive	iprusu	parsu
Ventive	iprusam	parsam

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

[edit] Verb patterns

Akkadian verbs have thirteen separate root stems. 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 characteristi 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.

An alternative to this naming system is a numerical system. The basic stems are numbered using Roman numerals so thet 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
I.1	G	PaRiS	the simple stem, used for transitive and intransitive verbs	Arabic stem I (fa‘ala) and Hebrew qal
II.1	D	PuRRuS	gemination of the second radical, indicating the intensive	Arabic stem II (fa‘‘ala) and Hebrew pi‘el
III.1	Š	šuPRuS	š-preformative, indicating the causative	Arabic stem IV (’af‘ala) and Hebrew hiph‘il
IV.1	N	naPRuS	n-preformative, indicating the reflexive/passive	Arabic stem VII (infa‘ala) and Hebrew niph‘al
I.2	Gt	PitRuS	simple stem with t-infix after first radical, indicating reciprocal or reflexive	Arabic stem VIII (ifta‘ala) and Aramaic ’ithpe‘al (tG)
II.2	Dt	PutaRRuS	doubled second radical preceded by infixed t, indicating intensive reflexive	Arabic stem V (tafa‘‘ala) and Hebrew hithpa‘el (tD)
III.2	Št	šutaPRuS	š-preformative with t-infix, indicating reflexive causative	Arabic stem X (istaf‘ala) and Aramaic ’ittaph‘al (tC)
IV.2	Nt	itaPRuS	n-performative with a t-infix preceding the first radical, indicating reflexive passive
I.3	Gtn	PitaRRuS	simple stem with tan-infix after first radical
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

[edit] Stative

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 Person singular	šarr-āku	rapš-āku	pars-āku
1st Person plural	šarr-ānu	rapš-ānu	pars-ānu
2nd Person singular masc.	šarr-āta	rapš-āta	pars-āta
2nd Person singular fem.	šarr-āti	rapš-āti	pars-āti
2nd Person plural masc.	šarr-ātunu	rapš-ātunu	pars-ātunu
2nd Person plural fem.	šarr-ātina	rapš-ātina	pars-ātina
3rd Person singular masc.	šar-Ø	rapaš-Ø	paris-Ø
3rd Person singular fem.	šarr-at	rapš-at	pars-at
3rd Person plural masc.	šarr-ū	rapš-ū	pars-ū
3rd Person 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.

[edit] Derivation

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).

[edit] Pronouns

[edit] Personal pronouns

[edit] Independent personal pronouns

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
2nd	masculine	atta "you"	attunu "you"	kāti (kāta)	kunūti	kāšim	kunūšim
	feminine	atti "you"	attina "you"	kāti	kināti	kāšim	kināšim
3rd	masculine	šū "he"	šunu "they"	šātilu (šātilu)	šunūti	šuāšim (šāšim)	šunūšim
	feminine	šī "she"	šina "they"	šiāti (šuāti;šāti)	šināti	šiāšim (šāšim, šāšim)	šināšim

[edit] Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns

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 *	-ni	-ni	-niāti	-am/-nim	-niāšim
2nd	masculine	-ka	-kunu	-ka	-kunūti	-kum	-kunūšim
	feminine	-ki	-kina	-ki	-kināti	-kim	-kināšim
3rd	masculine	-šū	-šunu	-šū	-šunūti	-šum	-šunūšim
	feminine	-ša	-šina	-ši	-šināti	-šim	-šināšim

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

[edit] Demonstrative pronouns

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
	Near	Far
Masc. singular	annū "this"	ullū "that"
Fem. Singular	annītu "this"	ullītu "that"
Masc. plural	annūtu "these"	ullūtu "those"
Fem. plural	annātu "these"	ullātu "those"

[edit] Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns in Akkadian are shown in the following table:

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
Masc. singular	šu	ša	ši
Fem. Singular	šāt	šāti
Dual	šā
Masc. plural	šūt
Fem. plural	šāt

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

[edit] Interrogative pronouns

The following table shows the Interrogative pronouns used in Akkadian:

Akkadian	English
mannu	who?
mīnū	what?
ayyu	which?

[edit] Prepositions

Akkadian has prepositions which consist mainly of only one word. For example: ina (in, on, out, through, under), ana (too, 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).

[edit] Numerals

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 numeral 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 show gender polarity, 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 don't 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". The following table contains the masculine and feminine forms of the status absolutus of some of the Akkadian cardinal numbers, as well as the corresponding ordinals.

#	Cardinal numeral (masc.)	Cardinal numeral (fem.)	Congruence (Gender agreement of the cardinal numeral)	Ordinal (masc.)	Ordinal (fem.)
1	ištēn	išteʾat, ištāt	Congruent (no gender polarity)	ištēn	išteʾat
2	šinā	šittā	Congruent	šanûm	šanītum
3	šalāš	šalāšat	Gender polarity	šalšum	šaluštum
4	erbē	erbēt	Gender polarity	rebûm	rebūtum
5	ḫamiš	ḫamšat	Gender polarity	ḫamšum	ḫamuštum
6	šediš	šiššet	Gender polarity	šeššum	šeduštum
7	sebē	šebēt	Gender polarity	sebûm	sebūtum
8	samānē	samānat	Gender polarity	samnum, samnûm	samuntum
9	tešē	tišīt	Gender polarity	tišûm, tešûm	tišūtum, tešūtum
10	ešer	ešeret	Gender polarity	ešrum	ešurtum
60	šūš		No gender distinction
100	meʾat, māt		No gender distinction
1000	līm		No gender distinction

Examples: erbē aššātum (four wives) (male numeral), meʾat ālānū (100 towns).

[edit] Syntax

[edit] Nominal phrases

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	Relative clause
āl-am	city	accusative singular
īpuš-ū	built	3rd person masculine plural
ab-ū-ya	my fathers	masculine plural + possessive pronoun	Apposition

[edit] Sentence syntax

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. 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 BCE to the 1st millennium CE, possibly under the influence of Aramaic.

[edit] 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 first 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, Cassite, 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	LQH( 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).

[edit] Example text

The following text is the 7th section of the Hammurabi code , possibly written in the 18th century BC.

Akkadian	šumma	awīl-um	lū	kasp-am	lū	ḫurāṣ-am	lū	ward-am	lū	amt-am
English	if	Man (nominative)	or	silver (accusative)	or	gold (accusative)	or	slave (masculine, accusative)	or	Slave (feminine, accusative)
Akkadian	lū	alp-am	lū	immer-am	lū	imēr-am	ū lū	mimma šumšu		ina
English	or	Cattle,oxen (accusative)	or	sheep (accusative)	or	donkey (accusative)	and or	something		from
Akkadian	qāt	mār	awīl-im	ū lū	warad	awīl-im	balum	šīb-ī		u
English	hand (status constructus)	son (status constructus)	man (genitive)	and or	slave (status constructus)	man (genitive)	without	witnesses (genitive)		and
Akkadian	riks-ātim		i-štām-Ø		ū lū	ana	maṣṣārūt-im		i-mḫur-Ø
English	contracts (genitive)		bought (3rd person singular, perfect tense)		and or	from	pledge (genitive)		received (3rd person singular, preterite tense)
Akkadian	awīl-um		šū		šarrāq		i-ddāk
English	man (nominative)		(3rd person masculine singular independent pronoun)		stealer (status absolutus)		is killed (3rd person singular in passive present tense)

Translation: If a man takes silver, gold, a slave (masculine), a slave (feminine), an ox, a sheep, a donkey or something other from the hand of another man or a slave of a man without witnesses or contract or received pledge, then this man is a thief, he will be killed.

[edit] Akkadian literature

• Atrahasis Epic (early 2nd millennium BCE)
• Enûma Elish (ca. 18th century BCE)
• Amarna letters (14th century BCE)
• Epic of Gilgamesh (Sin-liqe-unninni' "standard" version, 13th to 11th century BCE)
• Ludlul Bel Nemeqi

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• 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.)
• Dolgopolsky, Aron (1999). From Proto-Semitic to Hebrew. Milan: Centro Studi Camito-Semitici di Milano. 
• 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 3-447-00689-7. 
• Soden, Wolfram von (1952). Grundriss der akkadischen Grammatik. Analecta Orientalia 33. Roma: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum. (3rd ed.: ISBN 88-7653-258-7)
• Woodard, Roger D. The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum. Cambridge University Press 2008. ISBN 9780521684972

[edit] Further reading

[edit] General description and grammar

• Gelb, I. J. (1961). Old Akkadian writing and grammar. Materials for the Assyrian dictionary, no. 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226623041
• Huehnergard, J. A Grammar of Akkadian. Harvard Semitic Museum Studies 45. ISBN 978-1575069227
• Huehnergard, J. (2005). A Key to A Grammar of Akkadian . Harvard Semitic Studies. Eisenbrauns.
• 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 9780521684972

[edit] Textbooks

• Rykle Borger: Babylonisch-assyrische Lesestücke. Rom 1963.
  • 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. Enzyklopädie, Leipzig 1969, Langenscheidt Verl. Enzyklopädie, Leipzig 1992 (6. Aufl.). ISBN 3-324-00364-4

[edit] Dictionaries

• 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

[edit] Akkadian Cuneiform

• 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

[edit] Technical literature on specific subjects

• 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
• 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

[edit] External links

• Akkadian cuneiform on Omniglot (Writing Systems and Languages of the World)
• Akkadian Language Samples
• A detailed introduction to Akkadian
• Sample pages of Introductory Assyrian Grammar by Samuel A B Mercer
• Akkadian-English-French Online Dictionary
• Old Babylonian Text Corpus (includes dictionary)
• The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD)
• Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar, by I. J. Gelb (1952)
• Glossary of Old Akkadian, by I. J. Gelb (1957)

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