Re: Dennis on Glen (was Hebrew and Arabic)

Marc Verhaegen wrote:

> I'm reading T.Krispijn etc.1999 "De talen van het oude Nabije

Oosten" Ex

> Oriente Lux, Leiden. They say the central area of Sumerian

(3200-2000 BC as

> spoken language) was South Mesopotamia (South Sumerian: Uruk, Urn

Umma...,

> North Sumerian: Nippur, Isin...), but Sumerian texts are found in
> Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestina, Egypt, Anatolia, Elam...

Yes, I think that the recognition of Sumerian as a literary language
and as a spoken language needs to be recognised. It is analogous to
Latin. Swedish scholars were writing in Latin in the 17th Century,
spoken Latin disappeared as a first language with the collapse of the
Western Roman Empire.

Hurrian

> (2350-1000 BC) is found in North Mesopatamia (Urkesh...), later

also
Nineve,

> Alalach=NW-Syria, Mari=Mid-Euphrate.

Roux reports the presence of Hurrian personal names in the lowest
strata in the Lagash records.

>
>
> >>Akkadian was spoken in Kish, so that the first Dynasty of Kish

all
have

> Akkadian (not sumerian) names, Akkadian was also spoken therefore

in

> Southern Mesopotamia,
>
> >Of course. Akkadian, coming from the north and west, held its grip

and

> became popular. EncBritt mentions that Sumerian was either

endangered or

> practically moribund by 2000 BCE.

It was the collapse of the Third Dynasty at Ur, under Ishbi Erra and
Shulgi that saw a reaction against Sumerian. The Amorite invasions
had created a new West Semetic influx during the Isin/Larsa period,
and Elamite invasions established Rim Sin with an Elamite
superstructure quickly absorbed into Akkadian Semitic.

> Krispijn etc. say first Akkadian names in Sumerian texts were found

in South

> Mesopotamia after 2400 BC Akkadian texts are known from Ebla=Syria

&
whole

> Mesopotamia.

Ebla in fact had Akkadian as a literary language. They used
Cuneiform
for the earliest extant West Semitic texts. The first Akkadian names
are significantly before 2400 BCE. Sargon came to power then to
establish the Akkadian Empire about that time, and Akkadian
then achieved comeasurable status with Sumerian. Sumerian continued
in importance, indeed his daughter, Enheduanna, is the first named
author of any text and wrote in Sumerian, establishing almost
singlehandedly the genre of Sumerian literary texts.

Hope this helps

John