الرَّحْمة root: ر-ح-م / noun / definition: mercy I can summarise my PhD progress today by saying that I eventually won the wrestle with page numbers on my running thesis draft. Of course the developers had to make that difficult, because God forbid someone would want the numbering to start on page 3 rather thanContinue reading “Dictionary Finds: رَحَموت”
Tag Archives: akkadian
Arabic Epiphanies in Akkadian Class: خلق, the Rule of 12, and 19 Verb Forms
خَلَقَ root: خ-ل-ق / form I verb / definition: to create I’ve taken on a few new projects recently which have made for an exciting–albeit very busy—week. My tranquil Monday mood helped me to take everything in my stride… and the giant pizza over a business dinner didn’t hurt mood-wise either. But in between reviewingContinue reading “Arabic Epiphanies in Akkadian Class: خلق, the Rule of 12, and 19 Verb Forms”
Reading Arabic Literature: Endings and Never-Endings
نِهائيّ root: ن-ه-ي / nisba adjective / definition: final, definitive It’s becoming a pattern in my life, I’ve noticed, that things end in winter. I can’t wait to bid farewell to this season of goodbyes, some of which have felt final. What feels endless, on the other hand, is having my head buried in literature.Continue reading “Reading Arabic Literature: Endings and Never-Endings”
Arabic Headline Analysis #10 and an Invitation to Akkadian Class
دَعْوة root: د-ع-و / noun / plural: دَعْوات / definition: invitation, call There’s not much that lifts my spirits like an email from my enthusiastic Akkadian teacher, who reached out a few days back about resuming our language classes in October. As I’m spending a semester here in Qatar (and drowning in the workload ofContinue reading “Arabic Headline Analysis #10 and an Invitation to Akkadian Class”
Reading Arabic Literature: Thinking Back
التَّمْر root: ت-م-ر / collective noun / definition: dates Akkadian class flew by this week as we ate dates and drank (only mê, water, not karān-am, wine) all in order to learn new vocabulary and begin talking about our daily routines. I noted how the Akkadian word for “star”, kakkab-um, mirrors the Arabic كَوكَبٌ, kawkab-un,Continue reading “Reading Arabic Literature: Thinking Back”
Post-Sleep Linguistic Observations and Finds
عَشْوائي root: ع-ش-و / adjective / definition: random I was introduced to the beauty of Babylonian names in a recent Akkadian class and have grown mildly obsessed with the idea of naming my future child (or pet… perhaps a terrapin) with something like May I See Your Light in Akkadian, which I might have toContinue reading “Post-Sleep Linguistic Observations and Finds”
Arabic Observations: Another Collection of Word Twins
مَجْموعة root: ج-م-ع / noun / plural: مَجموعات / definition: collection, group In Akkadian class last week, we learnt that mut (“husband”) plus the possessive pronoun suffix –ša (“her”) join to form mussa, in a phonological process triggered when the š finds itself snuggled up next to a dental or sibilant phoneme. Our teacher alsoContinue reading “Arabic Observations: Another Collection of Word Twins”
Arabic-Akkadian Observations: talmīd, تِلميذ, and a Lost Root
مَهرَقان root: ه-ر-ق / noun / definition: ocean, related to “spill” Yesterday, the two writing prompts my friend messaged me triggered a flood—okay, more like a small spill—of creativity. Inspiration at last! (“This could be a line in a novel,” she said, “Save the sentence”!) And something else, a certain Akkadian word, inspired me recentlyContinue reading “Arabic-Akkadian Observations: talmīd, تِلميذ, and a Lost Root”
Arabic and Akkadian Case Endings
إعْراب root: ع-ر-ب / form IV verbal noun / definition: inflection Thanks to an unexpected but very welcome email from one of my Akkadian teachers I met during my summer course, I’m happily resuming my Akkadian language studies this week! I wrote about some of the Arabic-Akkadian lexical similarities I noticed back in July, butContinue reading “Arabic and Akkadian Case Endings”
Dictionary Finds: ء-ل-ك and Angels
مَلَك root: م-ل-ك or ل-ء-ك or ء-ل-ك… / noun / plural: مَلائِكة / definition: angel I had a conversation with my teacher about the Akkadian root ʔ-l-k (the equivalent of ء-ل-ك) which carries the general meaning of “to go” and, discussing one of his theories, he mentioned that he wasn’t sure whether this ancient SemiticContinue reading “Dictionary Finds: ء-ل-ك and Angels”
Searching for Meaning in Language
بَحْث root: ب-ح-ث / form I verbal noun / definition: searching, looking It’s Thursday and we’ve been busy translating clauses from Hittite laws in class and for homework. And my mind, exhausted but enriched from a second intense week of ancient language learning, can’t stop running. As well as concreting my love for dictionaries (orderContinue reading “Searching for Meaning in Language”
Some Arabic-Akkadian Lexical Observations
أَكّادي root: ء-ك-د / nisba adjective, noun / definition: Akkadian For the past week, I’ve been intensively studying Akkadian as part of the three-week Ancient Languages of Anatolia program, run by the Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilisations (ANAMED). And when I say intensively, I mean it: I feel like I’ve studied the equivalentContinue reading “Some Arabic-Akkadian Lexical Observations”
The Arabic Pages 