Akkadian vs. Old Aramaic - A Comparison of Semitic Languages Using the Tell Fekheriyeh Inscription

This video illustrates the similarities and some differences between Akkadian--the language of ancient Assyria and Babylonia--and Old Aramaic, the earliest dialect of Aramaic recorded. Both Akkadian and Aramaic are Semitic languages similar to Arabic and Hebrew.
Image:
Figure 2: Statue of Adad-yis'i. From Syrie. Mémoire et Civilisation. Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, Flammarion, 1993, p. 260, n o 225.
#aramaic #akkadian #polylglot

Пікірлер: 70

  • @ahmedsuliman6640
    @ahmedsuliman664028 күн бұрын

    aramaic is very similar to arabic, really enjoyed the video

  • @IOSPBITBRNO

    @IOSPBITBRNO

    20 сағат бұрын

    We are all speaking one language that has branched out into dialects known as Aramaic, Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, etc.. They were all in relation to Akkadian. They were the first empire, the first to influence. We then gave to others what Akkadians had given to us.

  • @dalestaley5637
    @dalestaley5637Ай бұрын

    It's very enjoyable to see the likenesses of these two languages. Thank you.

  • @royalcreations3970
    @royalcreations3970Ай бұрын

    Very cool comparison. Great hearing the two side by side.

  • @stubronstein9932
    @stubronstein9932Ай бұрын

    When you read the last sentence I thought you would translate the last word as merciful instead of compassionate. Fascinating how much of that I understood, particularly the Aramaic. Thanks for taking the time to post these insightful fvideos.

  • @user-gr7wd4kg3e
    @user-gr7wd4kg3eАй бұрын

    Fascinating comparison, thank you

  • @Amadeu.Macedo
    @Amadeu.MacedoАй бұрын

    Thanks for this upload. I wish I were younger so that I could formally consider learning Akkadian (the Assyrian version thereof).

  • @skipalidon
    @skipalidon28 күн бұрын

    I just subscribed! Today I consider this my lucky day to have come across your channel.

  • @makdayohannes
    @makdayohannesАй бұрын

    I like these videos, especially when i recognize alot of words. My mother tounge is Ge’ez and tigrinya .

  • @Maximiliano896
    @Maximiliano89629 күн бұрын

    This video is so fascinating!

  • @brianphillips1864
    @brianphillips1864Ай бұрын

    Very cool Prof. Many thanks.

  • @eronoera1857
    @eronoera1857Ай бұрын

    this is what I've been waiting for

  • @birdbill888

    @birdbill888

    Ай бұрын

    You and I both!!

  • @Sanharib

    @Sanharib

    Ай бұрын

    me too, so cool

  • @hereisdiana
    @hereisdiana29 күн бұрын

    Very interesting! Some words I could understand knowing a little standard arabic. Thank you

  • @user-kq4bg7hn4w
    @user-kq4bg7hn4w28 күн бұрын

    Excellent content.

  • @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    26 күн бұрын

    Much appreciated! Thank you.

  • @mordechaistein
    @mordechaistein27 күн бұрын

    I enjoyed this a lot and especially appreciated recognizing words in both languages similar to the Aramaic words I am familiar with from the Talmud, Targum and Aramaic prayers in the siddur, as well as the Hebrew which often shares word roots, such as the word for heaven. This really hits home to me how ancient my own traditions are even though they seem so contemporary and normal having been exposed to them since high school.

  • @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    27 күн бұрын

    That's awesome Mordechai! Thank you for sharing. I'd like to find a way to incorporate more traditional Jewish Aramaic prayers into the channel.

  • @HacolHavel
    @HacolHavel24 күн бұрын

    Thank you sir.

  • @emmanuelalbazi8560
    @emmanuelalbazi8560Ай бұрын

    Finally😃😁 thanks a lot. Quick note: although old aramaic only had 22 letters but it knew the whole inventory of proto-semitic consonants (29 sounds). For example the word earth although it is written with qoph "arq" but it is spelled like "artɬʼ". With this sound (tɬʼ) represent the letter qoph. Other example is the word for wool is "qmr" but it was probably pronounced "tɬʼamr". Later this sound (tɬʼ) changed and spelled like (ġ) and later became written and spelled like ain (ܥ). The summary is: (artɬʼ->arġ->ar'a)

  • @mznxbcv12345

    @mznxbcv12345

    28 күн бұрын

    Nonsense, they mumbled everything. Pidgin Arabic in essence.

  • @emmanuelalbazi8560

    @emmanuelalbazi8560

    28 күн бұрын

    ⁠@@mznxbcv12345 They did not meant to change and simplify the language directly. Languages evolve over time even arabic today will look quite deferent if you compare it with arabic in 1 AD. And finally aramaic and arabic languages although they look similar in many ways but they are still different in many aspects. it is a whole complicated topic and one can not just simply say " aramaic is a pidgin of arabic" this is the nonsense actually because there are words in aramaic goes back to proto-semitic but does not exist or left no trace in arabic which very strange. For example there are many words for the word "lion" in arabic (i guess more than 200 different words) and i will mention some اسد، الليث، الحيدر... Arabic has too many words for lion but it lacks the original word which is preserved in aramaic, akkadian,ugaratic, hebrew, and the ethiopian languages like ge'ez and the word is in aramaic "'aryeya" which is derived from the proto-semitic "araway" itself derived from proto-afroasiatic language "rvw" meaning wild beast.

  • @mznxbcv12345

    @mznxbcv12345

    28 күн бұрын

    As a matter of fact, all of the knowledge needed for deciphering ancient texts and their complexity was derived from the Qur'an. It was by analyzing the syntactic structure of the Qur'an that the Arabic root system was developed. This system was first attested to in Kitab Al-Ayin, the first intralanguage dictionary of its kind, which preceded the Oxford English dictionary by 800 years. It was through this development that the concept of Arabic roots was established and later co-opted into the term 'semitic root,' allowing the decipherment of ancient scripts. In essence, they quite literally copied and pasted the entirety of the Arabic root. Hebrew had been dead, as well as all the other dialects of Arabic, until being 'revived' in a Frankensteinian fashion in the 18th and 19th centuries. Languages degrade, they do not "evolve". It is a tool for thinking, not communication, it is what seperates other lifeforms from humans. The mere fact that translation is even possible underlies a common origin for all languages, orca whales seperated from their birth pod are unable to communicate with other whales if they get adopted, they are only able to track the others visually. The entire region spoke basically the same language, with mumbled dialect continuums spread about, and Arabic is the oldest form from which all these dialects branched off. As time passed, the language gradually became more degenerate; |Classical Arabic | 28 consonants, 29 with Hamza and 6 vowels; some consonants are emphatic or pharyngealized; some vowels are marked with diacritics | Complex system of word formation based on roots and patterns; roots are sequences of consonants that carry the basic meaning of a word; patterns are sequences of vowels and affixes that modify the meaning and function of a word | Flexible word order, but VSO is most common; SVO is also possible; subject and object are marked by case endings (-u for nominative, -a for accusative, -i for genitive); verb agrees with subject in person, number, and gender; verb has different forms for different moods and aspects | | Akkadian | 22 consonants and 3 vowels; some consonants are glottalized or palatalized; vowels are not marked | Similar system, but with different roots and patterns; some roots have more than three consonants; some patterns have infixes or reduplication | Fixed word order of SVO; subject and object are not marked by case endings, but by prepositions or word order; verb agrees with subject in person, number, and gender; verb has different forms for different tenses and aspects | | Aramaic | 22 consonants and 3 vowels (later variants have more); no emphatic or pharyngealized consonants (except in some dialects); vowels are not marked (except in later variants such as Syriac) | Simple system of word formation based on prefixes and suffixes; some roots or patterns exist, but are less productive than in Arabic or Akkadian | "Semitic" is just mumbled Arabic, really. Imagine English with a third of its letters removed and simplified grammar. That's Aramaic, Hebrew, etc. For example, combine T and D into just T; there's no need to have 2 letters. The same goes for i, e, y - they should all be just y from now on, etc., etc. Arabic is the only corollary to proto-Semitic. In fact, the whole classification of Semitic languages is nonsensical for anyone with a somewhat functioning brain. Hebrew, Aramaic, and the rest of these made-up dialect continua only have 22 letters out of the 29 proto-Semitic letters. Arabic has all 29. The difference between Arabic and the other creoles and Pidgin is the same as the difference between Latin and pig Latin or Italian. "Phoenician" is an Arabic dialect continuum, and not only that, it is pidgin. It is simplified to the point of stupidity. Anyone with a basic knowledge of Arabic would see this clearly. What happened was that Arabic handicapped "scholars" saw the equivalent of Scottish Twitter spelling, with added mumbling due to phonemic mergers (22 letters, not 29), and mistakenly thought they were seeing a different language." Let's start with a simple sentence: ## The house is big Arabic: البيتُ كبيرٌ al-bayt-u kabīr-un Proto-Semitic: *ʔal-bayt-u kabīr-u Hebrew: הבית גדול ha-bayit gadol Akkadian: bītum rabûm Amharic: ቤቱ ገደሉ betu gedelu As can be seen, Arabic and Proto-Semitic have the same word order (noun-adjective), the same definite article (al-), and the same case endings (-u for nominative). Hebrew and Akkadian have lost the case endings and changed the definite article (ha- and -um respectively). Amharic has changed the word order (adjective-noun) and the definite article (u-). But Arabic is not only similar to Proto-Semitic, it is also pre-Semitic, meaning that it is the original form of Semitic before it split into different branches. This is because Arabic preserves many features that are not found in any other Semitic language, but are found in other Afro-Asiatic languages, such as Egyptian and Berber. These features include: - The definite article al-, which is derived from the demonstrative pronoun *ʔal- 'that'. This article is unique to Arabic among Semitic languages, but it is similar to the article n- in Berber and the article p-, t-, n- in Egyptian. - The dual number for nouns and verbs, which is marked by the suffix -ān or -ayn. This number is rare in other Semitic languages, but it is common in other Afro-Asiatic languages, such as Egyptian and Berber. - The imperfective prefix t- for verbs, which indicates the second person singular feminine or third person plural feminine. This prefix is unique to Arabic among Semitic languages, but it is similar to the prefix t- in Berber and Egyptian. - The passive voice for verbs, which is marked by the infix t between the first and second root consonants. This voice is unique to Arabic among Semitic languages, but it is similar to the passive voice in Egyptian and Berber. Finally, a more complex sentence: The letter was written with a pen. Arabic: كُتِبَتِ الرِّسَالَةُ بِالقَلَمِ kutiba-t al-risāla-t-u bi-l-qalam-i Proto-Semitic: *kutiba-t ʔal-risāla-t-u bi-l-qalam-i Hebrew: המכתב נכתב בעט ha-michtav niktav ba-et Akkadian: šipram šapāru bēlum Egyptian: sḏm.n.f p-ẖry m rnp.t Berber: tturra-t tibratin s uccen Here, Arabic and Proto-Semitic have the same word order (verb-subject-object), the same passive voice marker (-t-), the same definite article (al-), and the same preposition (bi-). Hebrew has changed the word order (subject-verb-object), lost the passive voice marker, changed the definite article (ha-) and the preposition (ba-). Akkadian has changed the word order (object-subject-verb), lost the passive voice marker, changed the definite article (-um) and the preposition (bēlum). Classical Arabic has largest phonemic inventories among semitic languages. It has 28 consonants (29 with Hamza) and 6 vowels (3 short and 3 long). Some of these sounds are rare or absent in other semitic languages. For example, - Classical Arabic has two pharyngeal consonants /ʕ/ (ع) and /ħ/ (ح). These sounds are found only in some semitic languages (Hebrew and Amharic), but not in others (Akkadian and Aramaic). - Classical Arabic has two emphatic consonants /sˤ/ (ص) and /dˤ/ (ض) These sounds are found only in some semitic languages (Hebrew and Amharic), but not in others (Akkadian and Aramaic). - Classical Arabic has two glottal consonants /ʔ/ (ء) and /h/ (ه), which are produced by opening and closing the glottis ). Akkadian has lost the glottal stop /ʔ/, while Aramaic has lost both the glottal stop and the glottal fricative /h/. - Classical Arabic has six vowel phonemes /a/, /i/, /u/, /æ /, /e/, /o/, which can be short or long. Akkadian has only three vowel phonemes /a/, /i/, /u/, which can be short or long, while Aramaic has only two vowel phonemes /a/ and /i/, which can be short or long. Arabic has three cases for nouns: nominative, accusative, and genitive. Other Semitic languages have lost or reduced these case endings; Akkadian has only two cases: nominative and genitive-accusative. Hebrew has no case endings at all. Arabic a complex verbal system that includes 19 main forms (awzān) that indicate different meanings and functions. These forms are derived from the root-and-pattern morphology, where the consonants of the root fill the slots of the pattern. For example, the root k-t-b means "write" and can form different verbs such as kataba "he wrote", kattaba "he made (someone) write", kātaba "he corresponded", aktaba "he dictated", etc. Other Semitic languages have simpler verbal systems that include fewer forms and meanings. For example, Hebrew has only seven main forms (binyanim) This means that Classical Arabic can encode more information in a given unit of speech than other languages, and that it is not only closer to the original sound system of protosemitic, it predates it. We can see that Arabic has more grammatical features than the other languages, such as case endings, mood endings, and root and pattern system, sounds that were lost or changed, more verb and noun forms to emphasize different aspects of the sentence. These features make Arabic more expressive and precise than the other languages, as it can convey more information and nuances in a single word or phrase. Arabic is therefore older and more original than the other languages. Now how is it that the Qur'an came thousands of years in a language that is lexically, syntactically, phonemically, and semantically older than the oldest recorded writing? God did bring down the Qur’an, Mohamed is his Messenger. God did bring down the Qur’an, Mohamed is his Messenger. God did bring down the Qur’an, Mohamed is his Messenger.

  • @aphremdanha5158
    @aphremdanha5158Ай бұрын

    I find akkadian fascinating. Seeing them side by side also highlights the similarities. Maybe a video on Babylonian vs Assyrian Akkadian someday. Tawdi Sagi for the video.

  • @hglundahl
    @hglundahlАй бұрын

    Google is well named, then. Controls how much information flows.

  • @katathoombz
    @katathoombzАй бұрын

    Nice! But am I missing something in the first word of Aram. row 4 - is there a _lamed_ missing from the text or am I just hearing wrong? -- My first presentation in my current degree had this piece of material culture in it as a first example of four on the ANE _Lingua Franca_ changing from Akkadian to Aramaic. Not to toot my own horn or anything, I just grew quite fond of this statue back then :D

  • @bl8757
    @bl8757Ай бұрын

    Really cool! Im a second language learner of modern hebrew and MSA (my hebrew is much better thsn my arabic) I wasnt surprised that the aramaic was mosty easier to follow but i WAS shocked the few times i found the akkadian easier

  • @husambotros3958
    @husambotros395828 күн бұрын

    Great video Sir we don't see many like this one on the internet unfortunately.. i have a question if you could kindly answer it.. why did Assyrians decide to use Aramaic as a second language or it appears it was the case arround 600 BC? Was because it was Alphabetical and easier to write with.

  • @adamyitzhak9907
    @adamyitzhak9907Ай бұрын

    Lovely! As a Hebrew speaker with some family who speaks Aramaic, i recognized most of the words

  • @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    Ай бұрын

    Awesome! Last year I did a video on Hebrew and Akkadian the you may enjoy. Toda raba!

  • @stellank450
    @stellank450Ай бұрын

    Thank you. Interesting. rhn is almost the same as the Arabic rahman rahim in the first Surah.

  • @jsphfalcon
    @jsphfalconАй бұрын

    being a pictogram, cuneiform still holds some meaning in itself. for example, the word ghost has part of Ishtar's name. this means that a ghost was seen as holding part of the goddess

  • @FragmentsOfTheServices
    @FragmentsOfTheServices28 күн бұрын

    Hello many love Brasil I loev Akkadian brothers 💪

  • @tonyb6485
    @tonyb648512 күн бұрын

    El and jehova are different in some aspect. Nahar is a river. Nehara is light. Nar/ noor in arabic is light/fire

  • @zebublack6300
    @zebublack6300Ай бұрын

    Great and informative! But I am curious, what is your Old Aramaic vocalization based off of? Or can you recommend any sources for studying this subject? Thanks.

  • @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    Ай бұрын

    I'm basically approximating it from vocalization traditions of Eastern Aramaic and historical linguistics. Occasionally, we learn the pronunciation of the oldest Aramaic when it is written in cuneiform script (which bears all the necessary vowels), so that let's us approximate it to a certain degree (but is of course, incomplete).

  • @braudhadoch3432
    @braudhadoch343219 күн бұрын

    Yes, this is the kind of stuff that goes Viral on Tik Toc.

  • @babylonia7811
    @babylonia781124 күн бұрын

    We are Akkadians Assyrians not Arameans, but United, we are all Assyrians ❤🤍💛💙

  • @BornInUSSR12
    @BornInUSSR1228 күн бұрын

    Can you comment how close are Hebrew and Phoenician

  • @dalestaley5637
    @dalestaley5637Ай бұрын

    Akkadian is written in cuneiform. I own cuneiform tablets.

  • @RegioVlogsMty

    @RegioVlogsMty

    28 күн бұрын

    Interesting. How did you acquire these artifacts?

  • @IOSPBITBRNO

    @IOSPBITBRNO

    20 сағат бұрын

    Replica or original??

  • @tonyb6485
    @tonyb648512 күн бұрын

    Water manager or distributer

  • @user-cq8tp6df7o
    @user-cq8tp6df7o23 күн бұрын

    Actually, qdm in Arabic can mean "in front of". Could qdm hddskn in Aramaic mean something like "in front of Haddad of Sikan"

  • @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    23 күн бұрын

    Yes, absolutely. There is actually a full phrase in the Aramaic version that reads: dmwt' zy I hdys3y : zy: šm : qdm : hddskn.... the likeness of Hadad-Yis3i, which he placed before Haddad of Sikan.

  • @christopherellis2663
    @christopherellis266328 күн бұрын

    The Ancient World was wonderful

  • @franciscotabarus5742
    @franciscotabarus574228 күн бұрын

    Is akkadian more cllse to sumerian?

  • @ramisamman1095
    @ramisamman109528 күн бұрын

    " Imt Kln"you could say it in syrian عامة كلن؟

  • @tonyb6485
    @tonyb648512 күн бұрын

    Reiya, sheperding. Raaya means wife. Reiya ראייה is close means to see. ע replaces א.

  • @kkKey-py7lk
    @kkKey-py7lk25 күн бұрын

    I am Akkidin ASSYRIAN we are 5 million people

  • @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    25 күн бұрын

    Alaha mazed Atur.

  • @HardCore_Islamist
    @HardCore_Islamist28 күн бұрын

    People think that Aramaic and Hebrew are Older than Arabic but thats undoubtedly false. The oldest evidence for Arabic as a central Semitic language dates back to *3 thousand* BCE found in Egyptian hieroglyphs. Here's what Alexander Militarev, a scholar on Semitic languages says about this topic: *46 Ancient Egyptian-Arabic lexical parallels most of which are unattested in other Semitic and Afrasian languages, collected by the Hungarian specialist in Egyptian and Aftrasian languages G. Takacs and his predecessors. The author was the first to notice that some of 46 lexical parallels for semantic or phonetic reasons can hardly be considered to be randomly surviving cognates; neither can they be descarded as lookalikes. He suggests that they are direct lexical borrowings. This suggestion implies undiscovered contacts between Egypt and proto-Arabic speakers. According to the author’s glottochronological dating, proto-Arabic separated from Central Semitic in early 3rd mill. BCE. These contacts started as early as the Old Kingdom and lasted through Middle to New Kingdoms. He concludes that the striking feature in this discovery is not only presumed Egyptian loans in Arabic but a small minority of very likely Arabisms in Egyptian language of all these periods.*

  • @emmanuelalbazi8560

    @emmanuelalbazi8560

    28 күн бұрын

    First you need to Read the abstract carefully! it is saying "contact between egypt and PROTO-ARABIC speakers which separated from Central semitics in 3 mill.BCE " and NOT with Classical arabic speaking community which appeared during 1 century BCE. Second, you are comparing a proto-language with non proto-languages. You need to compare proto-aramaic with proto-arabic and not old aramaic or hebrew with proto-arabic.

  • @1sanitat1

    @1sanitat1

    22 күн бұрын

    ​@@emmanuelalbazi8560Bro, you are wasting your time trying to act rational with these loons...

  • @user-RedPirateTerrorist
    @user-RedPirateTerrorist19 күн бұрын

    Do Aramaics originate from Shem?

  • @lazarushernandez5827

    @lazarushernandez5827

    19 күн бұрын

    The sons of Shem: Elam, Arpachshad, Asshur, Aram and Lud.

  • @user-RedPirateTerrorist
    @user-RedPirateTerrorist19 күн бұрын

    I see Cyrilic alphabet it's just backwards

  • @user-RedPirateTerrorist
    @user-RedPirateTerrorist19 күн бұрын

    So they are not the same .

  • @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    @ProfessorMichaelWingert

    19 күн бұрын

    Akkadian and Aramaic are different languages, but very similar to one another. This utility of the language is probably one of the major reasons why the Assyrian Empire eventually adopted Aramaic administratively.

  • @user-RedPirateTerrorist

    @user-RedPirateTerrorist

    19 күн бұрын

    @@ProfessorMichaelWingert so ,assyrian Empire absorbed the identity of Aramaics?

  • @ClemensAugustSoutoSchrage
    @ClemensAugustSoutoSchrage27 күн бұрын

    thats all the youth think about these days

  • @ramibakkar
    @ramibakkar26 күн бұрын

    They are called Syrian Languages Not semitic

  • @ps.2

    @ps.2

    22 күн бұрын

    Call them whatever you like - they are definitely in the same family as other Semitic languages.

  • @elkingoh4543
    @elkingoh454329 күн бұрын

    Protestant and Islam : Aramaic is heretic language

  • @pcgamerwolf515

    @pcgamerwolf515

    23 күн бұрын

    bullshit,, muslims believe that Aramaic a holy language,, language of jesus (isa) & gospels (injil),, Arabic language of Islam & Aramaic are siblings.. educate yourself Asian

  • @cumar9875
    @cumar987527 күн бұрын

    😭