An Assyrian manual, for the use of beginners in the study of the Assyrian language

Robarts - University Of Toronto, David Gordon Lyon

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• Publié par: onsoi
• Nombre de lectures: 6
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 17 Mo

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AN ASSYRIAN MANUAL FOR THE USE OF IN THEBEGINNERS STUDY OF THE ASSYRIAN LANGUAGE BY D. G. LYON PROFESSOR IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY CHICAGO HEBREWTHE AMERICAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF 1886to Act of in theEntered, according Congress, year 1886, by D. G. LYON, in the Office of the Librarian of atCongress, Washington. 3. S. CUSHING & BOSTON.Co., PRINTERS,PREFACE. THIS book is to meet the needs of those whodesigned desire to become with the butacquainted Assyrian language who cannot have access to oral instruction. It is be-easily that thislieved class is not a small one and that it will rapidly The remains are so rich in the most valuablegrow. Assyrian that thematerials is no a to belanguage longer luxury enjo3'ed the but has abecome to the inby few, necessity specialist Semitic and The of con-history, religion linguistics. points tact with the Hebrew and literature in arelanguage particular so numerous and of such character that no Oldinteresting Testament can the results ofexegete ignore Assyrian study. Two obstacles have stood in the of those who desire great way to become with the the lack of suitableacquainted language, for and the onbooks demand made the mem-beginners large for the of the cuneiform It is the taskory acquisition signs. of the which constitutes the chieflearning signs difficulty. from the is not difficult.Indeed, apart this, language very But for one who is well withthis, Hebrew,fairly acquainted read with lessmuch labor thanprose Assyrianmight ordinary it costs to learn Hebrew. That written in Hebrew is, Assyrian isor in Latin one of the easiest of the Semitic lan-letters, No of can ever be anstudent, course, independentguages. worker unless he also the cuneiform and thatacquires signs, for the reason that the values of of the are vari-signsmany able. But the to be transliterated,supposing signs correctly it is to have a with thegood acquaintance languagepossible without of the It is true of thelearning any signs. Assyrian as of all that it lies not in the characters which languages,PREFACE.iv but in the sounds themselves. Thethe rec-sounds,represent of this fact constitutes the chief of thepeculiarityognition Manual. The author has learned severalAssyrian by years' that the best is madein thebeginning b}-experience teaching, of transliterated texts. Tims the time the student hasuse by learned the most cuneiform he hasnecessary signs, already and toa small thebegins appreciategathered vocabulary structure of the Each in thisgrammatical language. step direction increases his interest in the and thestudy lightens the to Sometask of willcommitting signs memory. persons content themselves without the Those who have moresigns. or who wish to be of transliterations madetime, independent the howeverwill not fail to irksomeothers, acquireby signs, the task be.may The central feature of the Manual is the collec-Assyrian 1-52.tion of transliterated The totexts, pages originals these texts are all found in volumes I and V of "Thenearly Cuneiform of Western and theAsia,"Inscriptions suspended in each case the so that theline,figures represent original be consulted. There is no morecan satisfac-perhapsreadily method of the cuneiform thantory learning signs by reading ofwith the aid transliterations. It is to be ob-inscriptions in the transliterated texts in this book wordsserved that in smaller words divided intodeterminatives,represent syl-type lables such as are written and those" notrepresent syllabically, as are written anso divided such cf.;represent by ideogram xxv-xxvi. about whose I am inpp. readingIdeograms doubt have been indicated bold-face ofby type. Groups signs some ofhave also been sometimes thus indicated, which up- turn to and others In the case ofout be syllables.ideograms words written and also in the I haveideographic-ally glossary, of Iundertaken to indicate the the havevowels,length though not in all cases done so. This task is a difficult and theone, decision must in cases be based Themany upon analogy. texts those of Nabonidus and allselected, Cyrus,excepting fall within what be called the classicmight Assyrian period.