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1 - Babylonian Theories of Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2023

Jacobo Myerston
Jacobo Myerston
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
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Summary

This chapter surveys cuneiform texts that reflect various degrees of linguistic awareness, providing the reader with a general perspective on Babylonian semiotics and linguistics. The chapter begins with a discussion of the scholarly settings in which cuneiform developed and goes on to explore how this writing system, together with practices of divination and magic, influenced the linguistic consciousness of scribes. It examines a variety of texts, including the basic elementary school exercise SA A, which Assyro-Babylonian scholars often interpreted as an esoteric text describing the very first human words. It also investigates the conceptions of language in epic narratives such Adapa and the South Wind and Gilgamesh.

Keywords

Mesopotamiascribescuneiformsemanticsspeech act theoryancient semioticsAkkadianSumerianmagicdivinationesotericism
Type
Chapter
Information
Language and Cosmos in Greece and Mesopotamia , pp. 15 - 42
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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