Aramaic Loanwords in Neo-Assyrian 911–612 B.C.

To achieve this scholarly objective, a total of 9,057 Neo-Assyrian texts of different genres were utilized. The study discusses 166 proposed Aramaic loanwords in Neo-Assyrian, which are evaluated according to phonological, morphological, and semantic criteria. The findings demonstrate that only 69 words are confirmed loanwords, and 50 are possible loanwords. Additionally, 47 words are rejected as possible Aramaic loanwords in Neo-Assyrian. The majority of the confirmed loanwords are attested in letters and legal and administrative documents from the seventh century B.C., stemming from the major Assyrian cities of Nineveh, Assur, and Calah. Most of the confirmed loanwords are nouns.

Aramaic was the lingua franca of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the mid-eighth century B.C. onwards, and the loanwords analyzed provide evidence for the use of Aramaic in Assyria proper as well. The relatively small number of certain and possible loanwords, however, fails to support the impression that Aramaic was widespread as a vernacular language in Assyria proper, especially towards the end of the period studied. The evidence also corroborates the conclusion, based on the extant prosopographical data, that the predominantly Assyrian character was maintained in Assyria proper until the very end of the Assyrian Empire.

Zack Cherry is in the Department of Linguistics and Philology at Uppsala University.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

LIST OF FIGURES

ABBREVIATIONS

A. Bibliographical abbreviations

B. Other abbreviations and symbols

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 What is a loanword?

1.2 Definitions of other key terms

1.3 Previous research on Aramaic loanwords in Akkadian

1.4 The purpose and scope of the present study

1.5 Material of the study

1.6 The methods used in identifying Aramaic loanwords

1.6.1 Phonological criteria

1.6.2 Morphological criterion

1.6.3 Semantic criterion

1.6.4 Source words

1.6.5 Chronology

1.6.6 Distribution of the words

1.6.7 Criteria used in rejecting some previous proposals

1.6.8 Utilizing later forms of Aramaic in this study

1.7 A short account of the developmental phases of Akkadian

1.8 A short account of the developmental phases of Aramaic

1.9 Evidence of the use of Aramaic in Assyria proper

1.9.1 Textual evidence

1.9.2 Visual evidence

1.10 The scheme of presentation of data

2 ANALYSIS OF LOAN HYPOTHESES

2.1 Analysis of the proposed Aramaic loanwords in Neo-Assyrian

2.2 Rejected proposals of Aramaic loanwords in Neo-Assyrian

3 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

3.1 Summary

3.2 Conclusions

3.2.1 The proposed Aramaic loanwords in Neo-Assyrian

3.2.2 The provenance, origin, genre and date of Neo-Assyrian texts with confirmed Aramaic loanwords

3.2.3 Semantic distribution of the confirmed Aramaic loanwords in Neo-Assyrian

3.2.4 Distribution of the confirmed Aramaic loanwords in Neo-Assyrian according to part of speech

3.2.5 Phonological analysis of the certain Aramaic loanwords in Neo-Assyrian

3.2.6 Morphological analysis of the certain Aramaic loanwords in Neo-Assyrian

3.2.7 Frequency of the certain Aramaic loanwords in Neo-Assyrian texts

3.3 Avenues for further research

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDICES

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