Welcome to the Assyrian language; Past and Present

7th century AD magic bowel from Seluecia, located 40 miles north of the ancient Babyon with Syriac writing

Ancient Assyrian scribes

Common Vocabelary In both ancient and today's Assyrian Languges

The ancient Assyrian langauge have been classified as Akkadian because it was origianally spoken by the Addadians who together with the Sumerians can be considered the ancestors of the ancient Assyrians and Babyoninans. Even before the fall of the Assyrian empire the Aramaic language had taken hold in ancient Assyria because exapnsion of empire into the Aramaic speaking region west of Euprates made it necessary for the Assyrians to communicate withtheir their subjects. Because of its much simplified alphabet and its similarity to the Akkadian language Aramaic slowly became the new Assyrian language. . To facilitate administrative tasks of the Empire long before the fall of Nineveh the use of the Aramaic was sanctioned by the government because in distant part of the empire the Aramaic language was far better known than the Akkadian. The empire chancelleries adopted a simple standard form of the Aramaic for correspondence with such area" In the hearth of the Empire "Aramaic "dockets" were attached to the cuneiform tablets. Such dockets gave brief indication of names and dates and a summary of the contents which were useful to merchants. This is classified as "Official Aramaic". Many Assyrian tablets have been found with Aramaic incised on them. Assyrian scribes are often depicted in pairs. One writing in Akkadian on the cuneiform tablet, the other writing in Aramaic on the parchment or papyrus. Among several bronze lion-weights found at Nineveh some had both the Akkadian and Aramaic text scribed on them they bore the names of the Assyrian kings Shalmansser, Sargon or Sennacherib depending on the era they belonged to .The Official Aramaic later became accepted as the standard form of literary communication by the Aramaic speaking people in various part of the Empire. According to the Old Testament, "in 701 B.C. when official of Sennacherib appeared before the walls of Jerusalem, and the Rab-Shakeh spoke in Hebrew to the officers of King Hezekiah, these latter begged him to speak rather in Aramaic, for they understood this official tongue and did not want the populace to hear the humiliating demand for submission made in Hebrew." In later centuries Aramaic replaced Hebrew even in Israel. During their exile years in Babylon the Jews adopted the Square Assyrian script which was commonly known to them as Ketav Ashuri or the Assyrian test. The law demands that a Torah scroll be written with the " ketav Ashuri" so called after its place of origin. Because the Akkadian and the Aramaic languages shared a high percentage of common vocabulary transition from the Akkadian to the Aramaic would have been fairly easy. For writing purposes the 22 letters Aramaic alphabet was much easier to master than the 600 signs of the cuneiform. Even today , contemporary Assyrian use thousands of word in thier conversation which are clearly Akkadian . In Babylon The Akkadian writing had completely disappeared by 140 B.C.except amongst a few priests who employed it for religious purposes. However it continued to be used for astronomical texts down to the time of christ. The Syriac which is the Eastern dialect of Aramaic was perhaps in use as a literary language even before the Christian era but only a few examples of it have survived from the first century A.D. It developed as a literary language of some importance in Eddessa after a christian school succeeded a pagan learning center. Gradually it was accepted as the the ecclesiastical and cultural language of the Aramaic speaking Christians of the region. Some differences in pronunciation between the ancient and the present day Assyrian languages may be due to mispronunciation of the Cuneiform signs by the translators. Some of the signs can be pronounced variedly. This list consist mainly of single words without their usual derivatives and inflected forms such as verb tense, adjectives, adverbs , plural and gender forms and others . With the additon of these varriations and additional new words this list could grow into thousands of entires. This concordance was compiled by Peter Bet Basso and Wm Warda from the glossaries contained in the following books. "State Archives of Assyria, Volume III: Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea", by Alasdair Livingstone, Helsinki University Press. Samuel A.B. Mercer, "Assyrian Grammar with Chrestomathy and Glossary" Frederick Ungar Publishing, New York, 1961 Samuel A.B. Mercer, "Assyrian Grammar" London 1921   The Eastern Assyrian Dictionary used to verify the pronunciation and the meaning of the contemporary Assyrian words is : Orhaham's Dictionary of the stabalized and enriched Assyrian Language and English, Chicago Ill. 1943

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Akkadian/Assryian	Contemporary Assryian Eastern Dialect	Contemporary Assryian Western Dialect	Meaning
Abalu	Labuli		to carry, to take
Abatu	Evada		To do
Abi	Abi or Babi		My father
Abu	Aba or Baba		Father
Abu-Kku-Nu	Babokhun or Abokun		Your father (plural)
Adannu	dana		appointed time, deadline
Addu	addeya		now
agappu	gulpa		wing
agrabu	agriba		scorpion
Aharru	Kharraya		To be the last
Akalu	Kalla		To eat
Akhu	Akhuna		Brother
Akhatu	Khatta		Sister
Ammtu	amtta		handmaid, female servant
Anutee	Annee		these
Arba'u	Arba		Four
Ardikhalu	Ardikhla		Builder, Architect
Arkhu	Yarkha		Month
Asu	Asya		Physician
Assuritu	Assuraita , Atturaita, Suraita		Assyrian female
Atta	Att		you
Attunu	Ahtune		you plural
Bakhu	Bakha		to weep
Banu	Bnaya or Bnna		to build
Baraqu	Braqa		flash
Bararu	Barra		glimer, to shine
Battibatti	Batvatti		neighbourhood, households
Beldababi	Baldvavi		adverseries, enemies
Bibbu	Bibva		drainage
Birinni	billan		between us
Birgu	birqa		lightning
Birku	birka		knee
Bishu	Bisha		evil
Bi itu	Baita		house
Buru	beera		water well
Buhur	Buhra (h =kh)		first born
Daianu	daiana		judge
Daianutu	daianuta		judgeship
Dammu	demma		blood
Daqqu	daqiqa		tiny
Darasu	Doosh		push away
Dimtu	Dimeta		tear
Dinu	Dyana		to judge
Dishpu	Doosha		honey
Ebbubu	Abbueba or Shabeba		flute
Eberu	Ebara		to cross
Egirtu	Egarta		Letter
Eglu	Khagla		field
Ekallu	Hakla		palace
Ekaku	khaka		to scratch
Elippu	Elppa		Ship
Elle	All		on upon
Elu	Elul		High
Elulu	Ellul		to be high
Emeru	Khemara		Ass
Enu	eina		eye
Enzu	ezza		goat
Epiru	Epra		dust
Esru	Esra		ten
Etteru	Attera		One who has in abundance, rich
Ettiru	Nettara		to protect

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