Eblaite language
| Eblaite | |
|---|---|
| Region | Ebla |
| Era | 3rd millennium BC[1] |
|
Afro-Asiatic
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xeb |
Linguist list | xeb |
Eblaite /ˈɛblə.aɪt/ (also known as Eblan ISO 639-3) is an extinct Semitic language which was used in the 23rd century BC in the ancient city of Ebla, at Tell Mardikh (Arabic: تل مرديخ), between Aleppo and Hama, in western modern Syria.
Eblaite has been described as an East Semitic language which may be very close to pre-Sargonic Akkadian. For example, Manfred Krebernik says that Eblaite "is so closely related to Akkadian that it may be classified as an early Akkadian dialect", although some of the names that appear in the tablets are Northwest Semitic.[2] According to Cyrus H. Gordon,[3] although scribes might have spoken it sometimes, Eblaite was probably not spoken much, being rather a written lingua franca with East and West Semitic features.
The language is known from about 15,000 tablets[3] written with cuneiform script which were found since the 1970s mostly in the ruins of the city of Ebla.
References
Bibliography
- A. Archi. 1987. "Ebla and Eblaite," Eblaitica 1. Ed. C.H. Gordon. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. Pages 7–17.
- Cyrus H. Gordon. 1997. "Amorite and Eblaite," The Semitic Languages. Ed. Robert Hetzron. New York: Routledge. Pages 100-113.
- Manfred Krebernik. 1996. "The Linguistic Classification of Eblaite: Methods, Problems, and Results." In The Study of the Ancient Near East in the Twenty-First Century: The William Foxwell Albright Centennial Conference (eds. J.S. Cooper – G.M. Schwartz), pp. 233–249.
- G. Rubio 2006. "Eblaite, Akkadian, and East Semitic." In The Akkadian Language in its Semitic Context (ed. N.J.C. Kouwenberg and G. Deutscher. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten), pp. 110–139.
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