A Grammar of Akkadian (Harvard Semitic Studies 45) 3rd Edition

by John Huehnergard (Author)

9 ratings

John Huehnergard
48
Paperback
4 offers from $58.98
John Huehnergard
23
Paperback
9 offers from $30.76

John Huehnergard
48
Paperback
4 offers from $58.98
John Huehnergard
23
Paperback
9 offers from $30.76

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Eisenbrauns; 3rd edition (December 1, 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 647 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1575069059
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1575069050
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.5 pounds

Best Sellers Rank: #4,257,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10,131 in Foreign Language Instruction (Books)

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Bryan Kerr

I'm learning Akkadian, and so can you!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 28, 2012

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This book is just fantastic. I've already taken several Akkadian courses at the university level and this book has been an enormous asset in my learning of it. I've read David Marcus' book, it's good but this book is better, much better. The book is arranged with short lessons, detailed but not overwhelming, with vocabulary to memorize, and passages to translate. The passages grow with the progression of the chapters, and around the eighth or ninth chapter you are introduced to the cuneiform script. Learning the script is perhaps the number one reason you should buy this grammar over many others. There is also an electronic update available for free if you, like me, already purchased this book and do not want to purchase the most recent edition; what a stud! Free updates! It's got a great dictionary in the back, grammar paradigms, and much more.

This book requires diligence but that is to be expected. This is not one of those "Speak German in Only 10 minutes a Day" books. It is a book for the serious student but it is not full of unintelligible jargon. Don't be afraid to get this book. It's worth your time. The binding is excellent, really first-rate. Highly recommended.

13 people found this helpful

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Ishtar 61

Review of Akkadian Grammar

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 10, 2011

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This grammar is quite complete, but for a novice self learner, its a little daunting and requires some effort on the part of the student. There are no answers to the exercises, which would help immensely if they existed. Also, the dictionaries in the back could be more extensive. The root of a word is difficult to find at times. This might be because of my inexperience with the language but that should be anticipated in a basic grammar by the authors. All in all, a good but somewhat difficult book.

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The language of the ancients...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 16, 2004

John Huehnergard's 'Grammar of Akkadian' is an excellent book for learning a difficult ancient language. Akkadian is not a language most schools (even most seminaries) offer as part of the curriculum; hence, many people who learn this language do so via self-study -- a key to the exercises is crucial in this event, and this is available as a separate volume. Huehnergard's Grammar is divided into 38 lessons (with sub-parts), with exercises for translation.
Akkadian is a major language of the ancient world, the earliest attested language among the Semitic languages. However, all of the Semitic languages present in the modern world (Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, etc.) derive from the Western Semitic branch; only Akkadian and Eblaite were major Eastern Semitic branches, both now extinct. The demise of Akkadian is somewhat surprising, given that it was the language of Empire for a very long time -- Akkadian most likely originated in Akkad, capital of Sargon's empire in 2300 BCE in the Fertile Crescent; it remained a primary language for over a thousand years in the region, and was continued as a literary language until the first century CE. As is natural with any long-standing and wide-spread language, there are dialects of Akkadian (think of the progress of English from Beowulf through Chaucer and Shakespeare to the present). Huehnergard's text addressses this issues, concentrating on the Old Babylonian dialect, but giving information of the Assyrian dialect. Huehnergard's introduction discusses the different dialects, as well as Akkadian's relationship to the older but linguistically unrelated language of Sumerian, with which it coexisted for many centuries.
Huehnergard recognises that self-study is a distinct possibility, so the 38 lessons are prepared in such as way that an instructor's assistance is beneficial and preferable, but not strictly necessary. In each of the lessons, there are sub-topics such that two or three grammar points are covered. Beginning at chapter 9, actual cuneiform script is introduced alongside the transliterations; ten or so cuneiform signs are presented with each subsequent lesson. Each lesson also presents new vocabulary and vocabulary drills to reinforce earlier words.
Huehnergard's method asks students to learn to compose in Akkadian in addition to reading -- while most of those using this text to learn will be doing so for reading purposes only, Huehnergard feels that actually writing in the language helps reinforce the language skills. About a third of the way through the text, Huehnergard introduces actual Akkadian texts for translation, which eventually include portions of Hammurabi's code, religious texts and royal inscriptions. Huehnergard acknowledges that he has provided an 'overabundance' of exercises, which is useful for instructors to select among different texts, and for self-learners to get extra practice.
After lesson 38, there are additional readings,taken from portions of Gilgamesh; a glossary of Akkadian words, logograms, determinatives; an English-Akkadian word list; cuneiform signs lists; and several appendices. Huehnergard's introduction provides bibliographic listings of dictionaries, alternative grammars, and journal articles that is quite extensive.
This is a great text for learning this ancient and complex language. Whether your interest is history, religion, literature, or languages, this book is a good guide for elementary mastery of this important language.

69 people found this helpful

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Kisch

An excellent introduction to a difficult subject

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 3, 2010

Let's be clear, nothing will make Akkadian an easy language to learn - a verbal morphology of a complexity typical of Semitic languages, combined with a script of several hundred characters, each with several variant forms, adds up to an arduous and often frustrating challenge than only a highly-motivated autodidact will want to attempt.

All that can be asked for is a text that is succinct, unambiguous and well-structured, and on this Huehnergard cannot be faulted. There is not a word wasted here, nor there is there a single unclear sentence. Grammatical concepts are introduced rapidly with plenty of exercises (which other reviewers have rightly praised).

The one thing I felt could have been done better is the introduction to the cuneiform script - on its introduction in chapter nine, the reading exercises are brief to the point of desultory (in contrast to the latin-script grammar exercises), whilst the reader is expected to learn ten new signs per lesson more or less in a vacuum - including the lapidary, cursive and Neo-Assyrian forms (effectively 10 new signs translates to 30+ forms to memorise). When a genuine Babylonian text is finally introduced in chapter 16, it just seems way too hard, and quite demoralising (I had been looking forward to it for a while..).

Much better, I think, would have been to get the reader comfortable with the straightforward lapidary inscriptions of Hammurabi and then introduce the messy contracts later, and also to have many more cuneiform reading exercises early on.

However, I've spent too many words on a negative point that shouldn't detract from the overall outstanding quality of this work.

7 people found this helpful

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