Life and Thought in the Ancient Near East

A Brief Note on Languages

LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE A Brief Note on Languages T he ancient Near East was never uni‹ed under a single political rule until the conquest of Alexander the Great (late fourth century ) and subsequently the Romans. It existed as territorial blocks, each dominated by peoples of different origins, traditions, and modes of life. Quite apart from the geographical unity of the entire area, its inhabitants were especially de‹ned by differences in the languages they spoke and in which they wrote. At least four major linguistic families can be identi‹ed. These are the Hamito-Semitic or Afro-Asiatic; the Semitic; the Indo-European; and the Iranian, a sub-branch of the Indo-European . A family of languages is a group whose members are related as connected to an earlier language in matters of features such as grammar, vocabulary, and formative processes; pre‹xes, suf‹xes, and voiced and unvoiced consonants; and a number of other technical comparisons. Looking just at the Hamito-Semitic, ancient Egyptian is but one division of this category, which also includes many languages of present-day West Africa and Berber of North Africa. Ancient Egyptian was written in hieroglyphics from about 3000 and in cursive writing on papyrus from about 1900. The Semitic family was by far the most widespread in Near Eastern antiquity. Scholars recognize three branches: East Semitic, Northwest Semitic, and Southwest Semitic. East Semitic includes Akkadian, spoken by the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians. The northern dialect of Akkadian was employed by the Assyrians; the southern, by the Babylonians. The language in both areas was written in cuneiform, or wedge-shaped writing on clay tablets and 183 í·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿ í·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿí·ží·Ÿ monuments. This writing system was invented by the Sumerians, the earliest historical inhabitants of Mesopotamia, and adopted by subsequent Semitic invaders. The cuneiform system of writing endured for more than two thousand years and was even adapted to express nonSemitic languages, such as Indo-European Hittite. North Semitic is the Semitic spoken by Amorites, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, and others in the Palestinian corridor. The term Canaanite proves dif‹cult because it is imprecise. It has been used to describe many Palestinian dialects, excluding Aramaic. The outstanding members of the Northwest Semitic family , along with the already mentioned Aramaic, are Hebrew, Phoenician , and Ugaritic. Southwest Semitic includes in its family ancient South Arabic, Ethiopic, and North Arabic. The third great linguistic division of the ancient Near East is the Indo-European. Hittite was the dominant language of the Old Hittite kingdom and New Empire between 1750 and 1200. It was written in cuneiform as borrowed from Mesopotamia. Finally, the Iranian, or Indo-Iranian, family is represented by Old Persian, sixth to fourth centuries BC, written in cuneiform. Five additional languages employed in the ancient Near East, having left larger or smaller numbers of texts in the cuneiform script, have not been shown to belong to any known language family. These are Sumerian (lower Mesopotamia), Elamite (early southwest Iran, also an of‹cial language of the Persian Empire), Kassite (mid-second millennium in Mesopotamia), Hurrian (northern Mesopotamia and Asia Minor), and Urartaean (northern Mesopotamia and Asia Minor). 184 LIFE AND THOUGHT IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST [To view this WH[W, refer to the print version of this title.] [To view this WH[W, refer to the print version of this title.] [To view this WH[W, refer to the print version of this title.] [To view this WH[W, refer to the print version of this title.] ...