LTR Ancient Akkadian: Caplice, Lesson One
Introduction
As part of our “Learn to Read Ancient Akkadian” series, this blog reviews the contents of Lesson One in Caplice’s Introduction to Akkadian. Previously we explored some prolegomena to the study of the Akkadian language (here). In that post, we surveyed issues of geography, language, and materiality. Here, we look at nominal inflection (nominative, genitive, and accusative), gender (masculine and feminine), number (singular, dual, and plural), and adjectives. We proceed first with grammatical highlights followed by a review of the vocabulary and cuneiform signs.
Grammatical Highlights
§5 – Introduction
Nouns are inflected as nominative, genitive, and accusative.
The oblique case has a single form but contains both genitive and accusative function.
The ‘status rectus’ refers to the normal nominal formations when not followed by a genitive.
- Other states to be discussed in Lesson 2 are the absolute (status absolutus) and construct (status constructus) states.
§6 – Forms
The following paradigm shows the status rectus form endings.
For example, the status rectus endings appended to the stem šarr- (‘king, queen’) produces the following paradigm. (Note that the geminate stem šarr- necessitates the additional /a/ connecting vowel in the feminine singular and dual.)
The status rectus endings appended to the stem il- (‘god, goddess’) would produce the following paradigm. (Note that the stem il- does not necessitate the additional /a/ in the feminine singular and dual.)
Adjectives have a slightly different form in the masc. plur. nom. and obl. cases: –ūtum (nom.) and -ūtim (obl.), though everything else is the same.
The adj. has no dual in OB. An adj. modifying a dual noun stands in the plur.
The adjective ‘strong’ from the stem *dann- would produce the following paradigm.
Thus, ‘a strong king’ (nom.) would be šarrum dannum, but ‘strong kings’ (nom.) would be šarrū dannūtum.
Furthermore, ‘a strong god’ (acc.) and ‘strong gods’ (obl. form) would be ilam dannam and ilī dannūtim, respectively.
§7 – Gender
There are two genders, masculine and feminine, with feminine (usually) marked by -(a)t.
§8 – Number
Nouns are formed in one of three numbers: singular, dual, and plural. By the OB period, the dual is limited to body parts (e.g. īnān ‘eyes’) or in an extended sense (e.g. emūqān ‘strength’, originally referring to ‘strength of arms’).
§9 – Case Functions
The nom. case is used as the subject of the verb or predicate in nominal sentences.
The gen. case is used after prepositions or in genitive relation (“of”) to another noun.
The acc. case is used as object of a verb or in an adverbial use.
§10 – Further Annotations
- The masc. plur. endings with –ān appear in a small number of words in late OB.
- In the fem., –et and -ēt are conditioned variants of -at and -āt.
- (There are historical reasons for why e < a which Caplice doesn’t go into.)
- Mimation is characteristic of masc. sing. nouns, all fem. nouns except duals, and all adj’s. Nunation is characteristic of the dual. Both mimation and nunation fall out after the OB period.
- There is no definite or indefinite article.
- After the OB period, the case system simplified.
- Some feminine nouns lack the -(a)t ending.
- Besides the three cases listed above, there are two further adverbial cases which occur with relative rarity, namely the locative and terminative.
§11 – Nouns with Vocalic Stems
Some nouns end with a final ’ (from ’1-7, historically different Proto-Semitic consonants). Based on the quality of the underlying vowel, these can result in different types of contractions when case endings are appended.
- E.g. rabûm < *rabi’um
§12 – Typical Variations
Such factors as vowel loss, vowel insertion, and consonant assimilation can cause variations in forms.
§13 – aḫum ‘brother’ and abum ‘father’
The singular forms aḫum ‘brother’ and abum ‘father’ evince a plural with consonantal reduplication, i.e. aḫḫū and abbū, respectively.
- {{MJS note: As recently argued by Wilson-Wright and others, these forms go back to an original III-w consonant. In the bound state, this w either compensatorily lengthened the following vowel (Wilson-Wright 2016) or assimilated to it resulting in a long bimoraic vowel (Suchard and Groen 2021: 6 fn. 10; Suchard 2021: 73 fn. 19). I suggest, further, that the form of the plural in Akk. is also the result of regressive assimilation of the original III-w, i.e. abbū < *abwū.}}
§14 – Syntax of the Adjective
The adj. normally follows the noun it modifies.
The adj. can serve as a substantive.
§15 – On Learning Cuneiform Signs
Final consonants in a sign-value are indeterminate and can represent the voiced, voiceless, or emphatic member of the consonantal triad.
Initial consonants in a sign-value are more clearly distinguished in writing.
The sing-value for Ci can usually also mean Ce, but there are some exceptions (e.g. bi and be are different signs).
Vocabulary
ana (prep.): to
arnum: sin, crime; punishment
ašrum: place
aššum (prep.): because of, concerning; (conj.) because
awīlum: man
bītum (m.), pl. bītātum (f.): house
dannum, f. dannatum: strong, powerful
erretum, pl. errētum: curse, malediction
ezzum, f. ezzetum: angry
gitmālum: perfect, noble
ilu, pl. ilū or ilānū: god
ina (prep.): in, among, from within, with (instrumental)
išātum (f.), pl. išātātum: fire
ištu (prep.): from
kabtum, f. kabittum: heavy, honored, important (person)
kadrum: wild, fierce
kīma (prep.) as, like; (conj.) as, that, when
maḫrum: front
marṣum, f. maruštum (<*maruṣtum): sick, difficult, painful
nišū (f. pl.): people
pušqum: difficulty
rabûm (<*rabium), f. rabītum: great
rīmum: wild bull
sapḫum, f. sapiḫtum: scattered
šanûm (<*šanium), f. šanītum: second, other
šarrum: king
tamḫārum: battle
ummum (f.): mother
wardum: slave, servant
wašṭum: difficult, hard, fierce
zikarum or zikrum: male, man
Select Vocabulary in Cuneiform (not in Caplice)
Whereas Caplice does not provide any vocabulary directly in cuneiform, I believe that studying entire words in cuneiform script reinforces ones knowledge of both the vocabulary, cuneiform, and ultimately aids in rapid reading. (Neuropsychological studies on reading support this conclusion, as we “read” the pattern of entire words rather than letter-by-letter, or in the case of cuneiform sign-by-sign.) Note, however, not all signs in the list below have already been presented in Caplice Lesson One, and usually only one of the combinations of various phonetic spellings is provided below. Finally, these are earlier writings, as the shorter writings without mimation appear as early as the end of the OB period.
𒀀𒈾 – a-na ‘to’
𒅈𒉡𒌝 – ar-nu-um ‘crime’
𒀸𒋳 – aš-šum ‘because’
𒀀𒉿𒈝 – a-wi-lum ‘man’
𒁕𒀭𒉡𒌝 – da-an-nu-um ‘strong’
𒄑𒍪𒌝 – ez-zu-um ‘angry’
𒄿𒈾 – i-na ‘in’
𒄿𒊭𒌈 (or plene 𒄿𒊭𒀀𒌈) – i-ša-(a-)tum ‘fire’
𒅖𒌅 – iš-tu ‘from’
𒅗𒀊𒌈 ka-ab-tum ‘heavy, important’
𒆠𒈠 ki-ma ‘like, as’
𒊑𒈬𒌝 ri-mu-um ‘wild bull’
𒊬𒊒𒌝 šar-ru-um ‘king’ (more commonly just 𒈗 LUGAL)
𒌝𒈬𒌝 um-mu-um ‘mother’ (or just 𒂼 AMA)
𒉿𒅈𒁺𒌝 wa-ar-du-um ‘servant’ (or just 𒀴 ARAD/ÌR or 𒀵 ÁRAD/IR11)
𒍣𒅗𒊒𒌝 zi-ka-ru-um ‘male’
Cuneiform Signs
I’ve added two additions to Caplice’s original chart. (1) In the first column, I provide the conventional sign “name” (usually the primary phonetic or logographic value; see here), which is helpful for remembering signs as well as talking about them in an abstract sense, e.g., “the AN sign”; (2) Caplice gives only the Neo-Assyrian sign forms, but I include both the Old Babylonian (OB) and Neo-Assyrian (NA) ones below. Knowing the diagnostic features of sign forms (as well as more unique variants) is important for properly identifying the time (and sometimes place) of the composition of a tablet. Finally, note that not all signs have logographic readings, and not all phonetic/logographic readings are always provided by Caplice.
Comparing the OB and NA signs highlights several signs from this list that have changed to a significant extent and thus should be considered most relevant for paleographic dating of Akkadian: na, é, bu, and to a lesser extent, ra and um.
Conclusion
We have now covered §§1-15 of Caplice’s Introduction to Akkadian. The first blog post—Prolegomena—covered introductory matters of geography, language, and materiality. This second blog post surveyed the basics of nominal inflection. Next time we’ll take a look at the Lesson One exercises. Until then, happy researching!
Postscript
If you notice any errors, please let me know so that I can fix them. I’m sure future readers will greatly appreciate your efforts!
About The Author
Learn to Read Ancient Aramaic: E. Cook (2022), Chapter Two, “Orthography” 
Learn to Read Ancient Akkadian: R. Caplice (2002), Prolegomena