Need to translate that tablet from Assyrian? Now you can.

What a monumental undertaking.  From the link article

...By 1935, scholars already had 1 million index cards. It would take more than 30 years before the first of the 21 volumes was published. Most cover a single letter. ...

I would not have guessed there are so many known Assyrian words.

It’s actually Akkadian (I’m not sure why the dictionary has “Assyrian” in the title), and since it was the lingua franca of the entire Middle East for over 2,000 years, it’s not surprising there’s a lot of documentation.

I think it was a strange coincidence that the day I saw this news I had also begun reading History Begins At Sumer by Samuel Noah Kramer.

It’s actually Akkadian
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ah

It’s actually Akkadian (I’m not sure why the dictionary has “Assyrian” in the title)

I have always been a little confused by why different versions of the language (Akkadian) are sometimes called Assyrian or Babylonian.

That one’s easy: there were two different dialects, a northern (Assyrian) and a southern (Babylonian).

I love this discussion board.

Dave Wilton - 14 June 2011 01:44 PM

I love this discussion board.

Me, too.  Thanks, Dave…