Read more
A COMPANION TO
ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN LANGUAGES Covers the major languages, language families, and writing systems attested in the Ancient Near East Filled with enlightening chapters by noted experts in the field, this book introduces Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) languages and language families used during the time period of roughly 3200 BCE to the second century CE in the areas of Egypt, the Levant, eastern Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Iran. In addition to providing grammatical sketches of the respective languages, the book focuses on socio-linguistic questions such as language contact, diglossia, and the development of literary standard languages and diplomatic languages or "linguae francae." It also addresses the interaction of ANE languages with each other and their roles within the political and cultural systems of ANE societies. Presented in five parts,
The Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Languages provides readers with in-depth chapter coverage of the writing systems of ANE, starting with their decipherment. It looks at the emergence of cuneiform writing; the development of Egyptian writing in the fourth and early third millennium BCE and the emergence of alphabetic scripts. The book also covers many of the individual languages themselves, including Sumerian, Egyptian, Akkadian, Hittite, Pre- and Post-Exilic Hebrew, Phoenician, Ancient South Arabian, and more.
- Provides an overview of all major language families and writing systems used in the Ancient Near East from the beginning of writing to the end of cuneiform writing
- Addresses how the individual languages interacted with each other and how they functioned in the societies that used them
- Written by leading experts on the languages and topics
The Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Languages is an ideal book for undergraduate students and scholars interested in Ancient Near Eastern cultures and languages or certain aspects of these languages.
List of contents
List of Illustrations ix
List of Tables xi
Notes on Contributors xv
Preface xix
Part I Writing Systems 1 1 The Decipherment of Ancient Near Eastern Languages 3
Peter T. Daniels 2 The Emergence of Cuneiform Writing 27
Christopher Woods 3 The Development of Egyptian Writing in the Fourth and Early Third Millennium bce 47
Ludwig Morenz 4 The Emergence of Alphabetic Scripts 65
Christopher Rollston Part II Ancient Near Eastern Languages 83 5 Sumerian 85
Piotr Michalowski 6 Egyptian 107
Matthias Muller 7 Akkadian 129
Rebecca Hasselbach¿Andee 8 Eblaite 149
Amalia Catagnoti 9 Elamite 163
Jan Tavernier 10 Amorite 185
Viktor Golinets 11 Hurrian 203
Dennis R.M. Campbell 12 Hittite 221
Ilya Yakubovich 13 Luwian 239
Craig Melchert 14 Ugaritic 257
Robert Hawley 15 Ancient Hebrew 279
Seth Sanders 16 Phoenician and Punic 297
Francoise Briquel Chatonnet and Robert Hawley 17 Old and Imperial Aramaic 319
Christian Stadel 18 Ancient South Arabian 337
Peter Stein Part III Ancient Near Eastern Languages Used as Administrative Languages or Linguae Francae 355 19 Akkadian as a
Lingua Franca 357
Juan Pablo Vita 20 Aramaic as
Lingua Franca 373
Margaretha Folmer Part IV Language Contact in the Ancient Near East 401 21 Sumerian and Akkadian Language Contact 403
C. Jay Crisostomo 22 Language Contact of Ancient Egyptian with Semitic and Other Near Eastern Languages 421
Thomas Schneider 23 Hebrew and Aramaic in Contact 439
Aaron Koller 24 Multilingualism and Diglossia in the Ancient Near East 457
Rebecca Hasselbach¿Andee Part V The Development of Literary Languages and Literary Contact 471 25 Standard Babylonian 473
Christian W. Hess 26 Standardization in Egyptian 489
Antonio Loprieno 27 The "Influence" of Sumerian on Hittite Literature 505
Mark Weeden 28 Ancient Near Eastern Literary Influences on Hebrew Literature and the Hebrew Bible 521
Michael Wingert Index 537
About the author
Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee, PhD, received her PhD in Semitic Philology from Harvard University in 2004. After working as a preceptor for Semitic languages at Harvard, she was hired as Professor for Comparative Semitics at the University of Chicago. Hasselbach-Andee's research interests lie in the comparative study of Semitic languages. The main methodologies she applies are those of Historical Linguistics, Typology, and Sociolinguistics. Some of her publications include
Sargonic Akkadian: A Historical and Comparative Study of the Syllabic Texts and
Case in Semitic: Roles, Relations, and Reconstruction.
