Languages in Cuneiform Writing (Akkadian, Hittite) B

Teacher(s)

Tavernier Jan;

Language

French

Prerequisites

For the level I.1 none, but knowledge of Latin is useful for Hittite.
For the level I.2, the course LGLOR1611 (level I.1).

Main themes

An initiation into the Akkadian and Hittite languages.
Alternately with LGLOR1611, this course is given to two distinct groups of students according to their level. The first term is devoted to Akkadian and the second to Hittite.
For level I.1 (beginners), it deals with cuneiform writing, basic vocabulary, and an introduction to the grammar with exercises.
For level I.2, it deals with reading of longer cuneiform texts.
Exercises (15h, 3 credits) in addition to the lectures consist of the analysis and translation of short fragments of text.
Students attending this course during their preparatory year to the Master in Ancient Languages and Literatures (Oriental Languages) will receive specific guidelines enabling them to get in one year the necessary skills as required by the end of the two levels.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	At the end of this course, which implies following the course LGLOR1611 also, the student, with the aid of basic tools, will be capable to translate Akkadian and Hittite texts of average difficulty. In order to achieve this goal, he will have acquired the basic cuneiform signs, the basic vocabulary, as well as the necessary grammatical structures.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Content

Akkadian and Hittite belong to different linguistic families but both use the same cuneiform writing system.
A Semitic language, Akkadian is the principal language of Mesopotamia from the third millennium onwards and became the lingua franca of the Ancient Near East in the second half of the second Millennium B.C.
- Level I.1: cuneiform writing, basic vocabulary, introduction to the grammar with exercises.
- Level I.2:  detailed reading of the Code of Hammurabi and of Old Babylonian letters.
Hittite, an Indo-European language, is the language of the Hittite Empire which controlled Anatolia and the north of Syria from around 1650 B.C to 1190 B.C.
- Level I.1: cuneiform writing, basic vocabulary, introduction to the grammar with exercises.
- Level I.2: detailed reading of extracts of the Hittite law codes and historic texts.

Teaching methods

The lectures are based on manuals edited by the lecturer. The grammatical introduction is illustrated by exercises which the student prepares before each course.
At the level I.2 the students prepare texts distributed by the lecturer, and the course allows for a joint effort to arrive at a translation with commentary.

Evaluation methods

Written exam.
- Level I.1: grammatical exercises and small phrases in cuneiform writing and in translation.
- Level I.2: translation and analysis of texts in cuneiform and/or in transliteration.

Other information

- For level I.1, fixed by the faculty.
- For level I.2, fixed by the lecturer at a first lecture.

Online resources

The manual of Akkadian, the manual of Hittite, the lists of signs, a basic word base and the paradigms for the two languages are available on the server Moodle.
Useful sites:
- http://www.hethport.uni-wuerzburg.de/HPM/hethportlinks.html
- http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/cuneiform.languages/fr_index_grammaire.htm
- http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/cad/ (dictionary of Akkadian)
- http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/chd/ (dictionary of Hittite)

Bibliography

Akkadien :
- F. Malbran-Labat, Manuel de langue akkadienne (PIOL, 50), Louvain, 2001.
- R. Labat & F. Malbran-Labat Manuel d'épigraphie akkadienne (signes, syllabaire, idéogrammes), 6e éd., Paris, 1988.
- The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, 1956.
- F. Malbran-Labat, Manuel de langue akkadienne : Lexiques akkadien - français et français - akkadien (PIOL, 51), Louvain, 2001.
Hittite :
- H.A. Hoffner & H.C. Melchert, A Grammar of the Hittite Language (Languages of the Ancient Near East, 1), Winona Lake, 2008.
S. Vanséveren, Nisili. Manuel de langue hittite. Volume 1: le système verbal hittite (Lettres orientales et classiques 10), Leuven 2006
Volume 2: le système verbal hittite (Lettres orientales et classiques 19), Leuven 2014.
- E. Neu & Ch. Rüster, Hethitisches Zeichenlexikon (Studien zu den Bogazköy-Texten. Beiheft 2), Wiesbaden, 1989.
- J. Tischler, Hethitisches Handwörterbuch (Innsbrücker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 128), Innsbruck, 2008.

Faculty or entity

GLOR