Sumerian
The world's first written language β a language isolate of ancient Mesopotamia, preserved in hundreds of thousands of cuneiform tablets.
Overview
Sumerian is the earliest known written language, attested from around 3400 BCE in southern Mesopotamia. It is a language isolate with no known relatives. Even after it ceased to be a spoken vernacular (by roughly 2000 BCE), Sumerian continued as a scholarly, literary, and liturgical language for another two millennia β comparable to the role of Latin in medieval Europe.[1]
Key Features
- Agglutinative β Words are built by chaining morphemes together (unlike the fusional structure of Semitic or Indo-European languages)
- Ergative-absolutive β The subject of a transitive verb is marked differently from the subject of an intransitive verb
- Verb chain β The Sumerian verbal chain can encode subject, object, indirect object, and various other elements in a single complex form
- Emesal β A special dialect used in literature by female characters and in certain liturgical contexts[1]
Sample Text
Opening of The Exaltation of Inanna by Enheduanna (ETCSL 4.07.2):[4]
π©π π¨ πΉπ ππ²ππnin me Ε‘Γ‘r-ra ΓΉ-di-e-a me αΈ«uΕ‘ a nu-tuku nin-Δuββ d-inanna-keβ
βLady of all the divine powers, resplendent light, righteous woman clothed in radiance, beloved of Heaven and Earth, hierodule of Anβ
Enheduanna (c. 2285β2250 BCE), daughter of Sargon of Akkad and high priestess of the moon god Nanna at Ur, is the earliest named author in world history.
Learning Resources
Textbooks
- Marie-Louise Thomsen, The Sumerian Language β Traditional grammar reference
- Dietz Otto Edzard, Sumerian Grammar β Modern concise grammar
- Bram Jagersma, A Descriptive Grammar of Sumerian (PhD thesis, Leiden) β Freely available online, very thorough
Online Resources
- ETCSL β Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
- ePSD2 β Electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary
- CDLI β Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative
- ORACC β Annotated cuneiform corpus
References
- β *Marie-Louise Thomsen, The Sumerian Language*** β Traditional grammar reference
- β *Dietz Otto Edzard, Sumerian Grammar*** β Modern concise grammar
- β *Bram Jagersma, A Descriptive Grammar of Sumerian*** (PhD thesis, Leiden) β Freely available online, very thorough
- β ETCSL β Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/
- β ePSD2 β Electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/epsd2/
- β CDLI β Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative https://cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/
- β ORACC β Annotated cuneiform corpus https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/