An Assyrian Grammar
For Comparative Purposes

This 1872 grammar, using transliteration rather than cuneiform, covers the phonology, morphology, syntax and prosody of this ancient Semitic language.

Archibald Henry Sayce (Author)

9781108077927, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 October 2014

210 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.2 cm, 0.27 kg

Archibald Henry Sayce (1845–1933) became interested in Middle Eastern languages and scripts while still a teenager. Old Persian and Akkadian cuneiform had recently been deciphered, and at the same time Indo-European studies had emerged as a lively field, with publications by scholars including Grimm, Bopp and Schleicher. Assyrian offered opportunities to historians of the Semitic languages similar to those provided by Avestan to Indo-Europeanists, and Sayce's grammar, published in 1872, was aimed at such an audience. Only transliteration was used, as cuneiform would be both expensive and redundant for philological purposes. In his preface, Sayce acknowledges the recent work of Oppert, Hincks, and Smith (whose translation of part of the epic tale of Gilgamesh attracted considerable publicity later that year). Sayce considers the place of Assyrian in the Semitic language family and its development over time, and reviews the archaeological evidence and scholarly literature, before presenting its phonology, morphology, syntax and prosody.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. Literature of the Assyrian language
3. Phonology
4. The pronouns
5. The verb
6. The defective verb
7. The nouns
8. The numerals
9. The prepositions
10. The interjections
11. The adverbs
12. The conjunctions
13. The syntax
14. Prosody
15. Corrections and additions.

Subject Areas: Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF]