MSKT à Karatepe, Orientalia 69, 2000, pp. 72-80

2022

This 4th version is better than the 3 previous versions, mostly because I have changed the etymology of Zesas back to what I originally conceived back in 2020, but back then I could not find a PIE root-word in support of that idea---now I have found the PIE root and the excellent cognates. This etymology of Zesas fits too well to be wrong. I have removed a large amount of extraneous material from the Zesas portion to make way for the new etymology; the previous material on Tralis and PIE *treyes et al. will appear in a new paper. I have also greatly improved the Aigekoa portion and significantly improved the Asn portion, though I have to detail the Asn portion more next time. The rest of the paper is the same except for a few new sentences in the Concluding portion. The Zesas portion is 98% all-new. The Aigekoa portion is like 50% new. This new version is more readable as well, because i have removed a number of nearly off-topic digressions from the Aigekoa portion, as well as making my new Zesas portion all on-topic and tight. Those nearly off-topic digressions were interesting, but I prefer this way.

Humanities Commons, 2021

The Phaistos Disk is the missing link connecting Mesopotamian cuneiform Akkadian with its Mediterranean alphabetic forms. As such it is a hybrid phonetic and alphabetic text dating to about 1800 BCE. It is a philosophical/religious debate about the cause of a recent drought, the first written debate in history. The key to its translation was its many letter sign similarities with the Alphabetic Akkadian texts found at Serabit el Khadim. This allowed the identification of an initial set of signs. The rest of the sign assignments were worked out by considering text sign image similarities to Akkadian source words and testing within the text. The debate pits two priests who support newly important agricultural powers against one magic crafter who supports the traditional hunter-gatherer emphasis on ancestral and animal motion powers. As such, this debate correlates with archaeology of Crete which shows this transition taking place. This sort of debate will continue over the next 1300 years. This is also an update of the earlier translation (Olmsted, June 2020) which was one of the first publications of an Alphabetic Akkadian text. The changes from the newest lexicon are small indicating that the language and grammar of Alphabetic Akkadian are achieving stability. The big change was changing the phonetic sign Ta to Si which results in a slightly different translation.

Babelao 1, 2012

This is a review article on Alwin Kloekhorst, Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 5. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2008. $199. ISBN 978 90 04 16092 7). The article addresses issues arising from Kloekhorst's depiction of Hittite cuneiform spelling conventions in the context of the wider cuneiform world (Mesopotamia and Northern Syria). In particular the representation of a glottal stop in Hittite and relevant cuneiform writing is addressed. The second part of the article addresses further individual graphic and lexical issues arising throughout the etymological dictionary.

2000

Igor Sviatopolk-Czetvertynski. 'Krieg und Frieden'. 52e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale — International Congress of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology, Münster, 17.-21. Juli 2006. This Version is without Cuneiform. The paper was read at RAI 52 on Wednesday 19. July 2006. The analysis of the lexeme predominantly deals with the data from Sumerian, Akkadian, Hebrew (Biblical & Aggadic Midrashim) Languages. The material was drawn especially from literary & religious texts with special interest to Poetics.