$35.00

It seems safe to say that, since its original publication in 2003, the Sumerian Grammar by Professor D. O. Edzard has become the standard reference in the field. It is an up-to-date, reliable guide to the language of the Sumerians, the inventors of cuneiform writing in the late fourth millennium B.C. and thus the essential contributors to the high cultural standard of the whole of Mesopotamia and beyond.

Following traditional lines, the Grammar describes general characteristics, origins, linguistic environment, phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, and phraseology. Due attention is given to the symbiosis with Semitic Akkadian, with which Sumerian was to form a veritable linguistic area, and to lucid explanations of all technical linguistic theory. In addition, each transliteration is accompanied by an English translation. Edzard’s Grammar is thus an indispensable resource for all students of ancient Near Eastern languages.

Dietz Otto Edzard, Ph.D. (1955) in Assyriology, University of Heidelberg, was Emeritus Professor of Assyriology at Munich university. He published extensively on ancient Mesopotamian (Sumerian and Akkadian) history, literature, religion, linguistics, and history of law, including Gilgamesh and Huwawa (1993) and Gudea and His Dynasty (1997).