Re: Origin of the Sumerian language

--- In Nostratica@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:

> On Tue, 17 Jun 2003 21:42:27 +0000, Gerry <waluk@...> wrote:
>
> >??? Is it not a language or does it not have an alphabet.
> >
> >Please explain this:
> >
> >>>Bruce Lee rejected Christianity to embrace Zen Buddhism and

Taoism.

>
> I'm afraid Bruce Lee, Christianity, Zen Buddhism and Taoism are

beyond my

> sphere of competence...

They shouldn't be. The reason they were included in this blurb was
simply as a way to show that a person could change from one religious
faith and in turn embrace two others. In traditional linguistics
studies, it is usually assumed that one person speaks only one
language. That is totally illogical.

> > >It is generally supposed that the teachings of Jesus Christ

derive

> >from Judaism. Judaism was engendered by promises made to Abraham

by a

> >god. Biblical tradition indicates that the god of Abraham promised
> >kings and nations would come out of Abraham, and that the land
> >between the Nile and the Euphrates would be given to him and his
> >progeny. Revered writings of Judaism record that Abraham came from
> >the city of Ur in Sumer. The people of Sumer produced the first
> >written language. Sumerian literature influenced Akkadian,

Hittite,

> >Canaanite, and biblical literature. Under Sargon, the first

Semitic

> >empire builder (reigned circa 2334 BC - 2279 BC), the Akkadian
> >language became adapted to the Sumerian `alphabet'.
>
> Note `alphabet' in quotation marks. The writer of this piece was
> apparently aware of the fact that something is very wrong with

that, but

> didn't take the trouble to search for a more appropriate term.

Shame on

> him (her).

That's because cuneiform is composed of wedge-like markers and to
most unlearned eyes doesn't look like the traditional alphabets we
are used to seeing.

> >This clearly states that the people of Sumer produced the first
> >written Language. What are you trying to say?
>
> The Sumerians were, as far as we know, the first people to device a

writing

> system for their language. It was emphatically *not* an alphabet.
> Sumerian writing is logographic, as is well known.

Yes, the earliest writing in Mesopotamia was a picture writing
invented by the Sumerians who wrote on clay tablets using long reeds.
The script the Sumerians invented and handed down to the Semitic
peoples who conquered Mesopotamia in later centuries, is called
cuneiform, which is derived from two Latin words: cuneus , which
means "wedge," and forma , which means "shape." This picture
language, similar to but more abstract than Egyptian hieroglyphics,
eventually developed into a syllabic alphabet under the Semites
(Assyrians and Babylonians) who eventually came to dominate the
area.

If you are differentiating between a picture or logographic system
and a syllabic alphabet, then cuneiform is definitely not syllabic.
However, it is neither as intricate as Chinese logographic writing
nor as pictoral as is Egyptian hieroglyphics. In Sumer, the
original writing was pictographic ("picture writing"); individual
words were represented by crude pictorial symbols that resembled in
some way the object being represented.

Words and their meanings "ebb and flow" with time. What might have
been considered a preferred definition 300 years ago is not the same
as the definition employed today.

Gerry