West Semitic Lexicon in Sumerian

Auteurs

  • Letizia Cerqueglini

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.14428/babelao.vol12.2023.78313

Mots-clés :

Sumerian, Language Contact, Lexical Loans, West Semitic-Sumerian Contact, West Semitic

Résumé

Sumer’s conquest by Semitic-speaking peoples from the west is symbolized by the history of Sargon of Akkad. Assyrian sources report that he was the son of an unknown father, associated with hilly regions, born in the west on the banks of the Euphrates, and defeated Lugalzagesi of Uruk (Liverani, 2013). This narrative has influenced both historical reconstructions and the perception of cultural and linguistic contact between the Semitic and Sumerian worlds. Indeed, while the absorption of syntactic, morphological, and lexical features from Sumerian into Akkadian and West Semitic languages has been studied extensively (Zólyomi, 2012), little has been said about Semitic influences in Sumerian, especially West Semitic. Certainly, until the early second millennium BC, Sumerian remained an evolving linguistic system rather than a frozen substrate, acquiring Semitic features (Streck, 1998). Yet before the Akkadian empire’s foundation, West Semitic lexicon seems to have penetrated Sumerian, already in its formative period.

BABELAO

Publiée

29-05-2023

Comment citer

[1]
L. Cerqueglini, « West Semitic Lexicon in Sumerian », BABELAO, vol. 12, p. 1–10, mai 2023.

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