Akkadian language

Akkadian is an ancient language that no longer spoken. It belongs to the East Semitic language family and was used in places like Akkad, Assyria, Isin, Larsa, and Babylonia starting from around the middle of the third millennium BC. It slowly disappeared and was replaced by Old Aramaic by the 8th century BC.

The language is named after the city of Akkad, which was an important place during the Akkadian Empire, living from about 2334 to 2154 BC. People wrote Akkadian using a special writing style called cuneiform, which was first made for the Sumerian language. Because Akkad and Sumer were close to each other for a long time, the two languages influenced each other a lot in how they sounded, their words, and their grammar.

We know about Akkadian from hundreds of thousands of old writings. These writings talk about many things, like stories about gods and heroes, laws, science, letters between people, and events in the kingdoms. Even after the Akkadian Empire ended, Akkadian was still spoken in later empires like the Old Assyrian Empire and Babylonia. It was even used as a common language in many parts of the ancient Near East until around 1150 BC. But then, it started to be replaced by Old Aramaic. By the time of the Hellenistic period, only scholars and priests still used Akkadian. The last known writing in Akkadian cuneiform is from the 1st century AD. Some modern languages like Mandaic and Suret still keep a few words and grammar rules from Akkadian.

Classification

Akkadian is a type of East Semitic language, related to other languages like Eblaite. It is different from many other Semitic languages because of how its words are ordered in a sentence.

Akkadian also stands out because it uses special words to show location and direction, like ina and ana, which mean similar things to "in," "on," "with," "for," and "to" in English. Other Semitic languages, such as Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic, use different words for these ideas.

History and writing

Writing

Main article: Cuneiform

Old Akkadian is found on clay tablets from around 2500 BC. It was written using cuneiform, a way of writing using wedge-shaped marks pressed into wet clay. This writing style was borrowed from the Sumerians and could show Sumerian words, Sumerian sounds, Akkadian sounds, or help to show sounds in Akkadian words. In Akkadian, this writing became mostly about showing sounds, even though some pictures were still used for common words like "god" and "temple".

Cuneiform writing (Neo-Assyrian script)(1 = Logogram (LG) "mix"/syllabogram (SG) ḫi,2 = LG "moat",3 = SG aʾ,4 = SG aḫ, eḫ, iḫ, uḫ,5 = SG kam,6 = SG im,7 = SG bir)

One special thing about Akkadian writing is that many signs do not clearly show which sound they make. Some signs can show different vowel sounds without changing. Also, some sounds were shown by more than one sign, which made writing Akkadian tricky.

Development

Akkadian changed over time and had different forms based on where and when it was used:

Old Akkadian, 2500–1950 BC
Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian, 1950–1530 BC
Middle Babylonian and Middle Assyrian, 1530–1000 BC
Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian, 1000–600 BC
Late Babylonian, 600 BC–100 AD

A Neo-Babylonian inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II

One of the earliest Akkadian writings was on a bowl from Ur, made for a queen from Akkad. The Akkadian Empire, started by Sargon of Akkad, made Akkadian an important written language. During a time called the Middle Bronze Age, Akkadian mostly replaced Sumerian.

Old Akkadian was used until the end of the third millennium BC. By around 2100 BC, two main forms, Babylonian and Assyrian, became clear. Old Babylonian had some new ways of speaking that Old Assyrian did not. Assyrian also had its own special changes, like a way sounds changed based on other sounds nearby.

Old Babylonian was the language of Hammurabi and his famous set of laws. Old Assyrian was mainly a everyday language, so not many long writings from kings remain. But it was used in letters by traders in a place called Anatolia.

The Middle Babylonian time began around 1550 BC after invaders called the Kassites came to power. They spoke Akkadian but did not change the language much. Middle Babylonian became important for writing in many places.

Georg Friedrich Grotefend

From around 1000 BC, Akkadian started to share its place with another language called Aramaic. Over time, Aramaic became more common, especially in places ruled by strong empires. By the time of Greek rule, Akkadian was mostly only used for writing, while people spoke other languages.

Decipherment

The Akkadian language was rediscovered when a traveler named Carsten Niebuhr copied many writings in 1767. Scholars began to understand these writings, helped by texts that showed both Akkadian and Old Persian. Key figures like Edward Hincks and Sir Henry Rawlinson helped fully uncover the language in the 1800s.

The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian.

Dialects

Some experts think the oldest form of Akkadian was not the direct ancestor of later forms, but a separate way of speaking that disappeared early on.

Eblaite, once thought to be a type of Akkadian, is now seen as its own East Semitic language.

Known Akkadian dialects
Dialect	Location
Assyrian	Northern Mesopotamia
Babylonian	Central and Southern Mesopotamia
Mariotic	Central Euphrates (in and around the city of Mari)
Nuzi	Northern Tigris (in and around the city of Nuzi)
Tell Beydar	Northern Syria (in and around Tell Beydar)

Phonology

Because we cannot hear the Akkadian language anymore, we do not know exactly how it sounded. However, we can learn about its sounds by comparing it to other old languages and by looking at different ways Akkadian words were written.

The first known Sumerian-Akkadian bilingual tablet dates from the reign of Rimush. Louvre Museum AO 5477. The top column is in Sumerian, the bottom column is its translation in Akkadian.

Akkadian used special symbols to show its sounds, called consonants. Some of these sounds were strong and sharp, called emphatic consonants. For example, when adding a word ending to another word, some sounds changed to match better. This helps us understand how the sounds might have been made.

Akkadian also had vowels, which are sounds like "a" or "e". These vowels could be short or long, and this difference was important in the meaning of words. The way stress, or which part of a word is said louder, worked in Akkadian followed certain patterns based on the types of sounds in the word.

Akkadian consonants
		Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Dorsal	Glottal
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩
Stop/ Affricate	voiceless	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	t͡s ⟨s⟩		k ⟨k⟩	ʔ ⟨ʾ⟩
	emphatic		t’ ⟨ṭ⟩	t͡s’ ⟨ṣ⟩		k’ ⟨q⟩
	voiced	b ⟨b⟩	d ⟨d⟩	d͡z ⟨z⟩		ɡ ⟨g⟩
Fricative	voiceless		s ⟨š⟩		ʃ ⟨š⟩	x ⟨ḫ⟩
Fricative	voiced					ʁ ⟨r⟩
Approximant			r ⟨r⟩	l ⟨l⟩	j ⟨y⟩	w ⟨w⟩

Proto-Semitic	Akkadian	Arabic		Aramaic		Hebrew
*b	b	ب	b	𐡁	b/ḇ	ב	b/ḇ
*d	d	د	d	𐡃	d/ḏ	ד	d/ḏ
*g	g	ج	ǧ	𐡂	g/ḡ	ג	g/ḡ
*p	p	ف	f	𐡐	p/p̄	פ	p/p̄
*t	t	ت	t	𐡕	t/ṯ	ת	t/ṯ
*k	k	ك	k	𐡊	k/ḵ	כ	k/ḵ
*ʔ	(∅)/ ʾ	ء	ʾ	𐡀	ʾ	א	ʾ
*ṭ	ṭ	ط	ṭ	𐡈	ṭ	ט	ṭ
*ḳ	q	ق	q	𐡒	q	ק	q
*ḏ	z	ذ	ḏ	𐡆 ,𐡃	ḏ, d/ḏ	ז	z
*z	z	ز	z	𐡆	z	ז	z
*ṯ	š	ث	ṯ	𐡔 ,𐡕	ṯ, t/ṯ	שׁ	š
*š		س	s	𐡔	š	שׁ	š
*ś		ش	š	𐡔 ,𐡎	ś, s	שׂ	ś
*s	s	س	s	𐡎	s	ס	s
*ṱ	ṣ	ظ	ẓ	𐡑 ,𐡈	ṯ̣, ṭ	צ	ṣ
*ṣ		ص	ṣ	𐡑	ṣ
*ṣ́		ض	ḍ	𐡒 ,𐡏	ṣ́, ʿ
*ġ	ḫ	غ	ġ	𐡏	ġ, ʿ	ע	ʿ
*ʕ	ḫ / (e)	ع	ʿ	𐡏	ʿ	ע	ʿ
*ḫ	ḫ	خ	ḫ	𐡇	ḫ, ḥ	ח	ḥ
*ḥ	(e)	ح	ḥ	𐡇	ḥ	ח	ḥ
*h	(∅)	ه	h	𐡄	h	ה	h
*m	m	م	m	𐡌	m	מ	m
*n	n	ن	n	𐡍	n	נ	n
*r	r	ر	r	𐡓	r	ר	r
*l	l	ل	l	𐡋	l	ל	l
*w	w	و	w	𐡅	w	ו	w
*y	y	ي	y	𐡉	y	י	y
Proto-Semitic	Akkadian	Arabic		Aramaic		Hebrew

Akkadian vowels
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e
Open		a

Grammar

Most words in the Akkadian language are made from three main sounds, called radicals, but some words have four. These sounds can change with added parts to create new meanings. The middle sound can sometimes repeat, making the word stronger.

Akkadian has three ways to show if something is close or far away, and three ways to show if something is singular, dual, or plural. Adjectives usually match the number of the nouns they describe. In later times, some endings were lost, making it harder to tell these differences.

Akkadian nouns can change form depending on their role in a sentence. There are different forms for when a noun is the main subject, when it is describing something, and when it is part of a larger phrase. Verbs in Akkadian can change to show mood, like whether they are certain or wished-for actions. There are also many ways to form new verbs from root words, such as making the action stronger or showing it is done to someone else.

The language also has special forms for nouns and adjectives that show qualities or actions. Pronouns can stand alone or attach to the end of words. Prepositions show relationships like location or direction. Numbers often change form based on the gender of the thing being counted, and sentences are usually structured with the subject first, followed by the object, and then the verb.

Morphology

Consonantal root

Most roots of the Akkadian language consist of three consonants, called the radicals, but some roots are composed of four consonants, so-called quadriradicals. The radicals are occasionally represented in transcription in upper-case letters, for example PRS (to decide). Between and around these radicals various infixes, suffixes and prefixes, having word generating or grammatical functions, are inserted. The resulting consonant-vowel pattern differentiates the original meaning of the root. The middle radical can be geminated, which is represented by a doubled consonant in transcription, and sometimes in the cuneiform writing itself.

The consonants ʔ, w, j and n are termed "weak radicals" and roots containing these radicals give rise to irregular forms.

Case, number and gender

Formally, Akkadian has three numbers (singular, dual and plural) and three cases (nominative, accusative and genitive). However, even in the earlier stages of the language, the dual number is vestigial, and its use is largely confined to natural pairs (eyes, ears, etc.). Adjectives are never found in the dual. In the dual and plural, the accusative and genitive are merged into a single oblique case.

Akkadian, unlike Arabic, has only "sound" plurals formed by means of a plural ending. Broken plurals are not formed by changing the word stem. As in all Semitic languages, some masculine nouns take the prototypically feminine plural ending -āt.

The nouns šarrum (king) and šarratum (queen) and the adjective dannum (strong) will serve to illustrate the case system of Akkadian.

As is clear from the above table, the adjective and noun endings differ only in the masculine plural. Certain nouns, primarily those referring to geography, can also form a locative ending in -um in the singular and the resulting forms serve as adverbials. These forms are generally not productive, but in the Neo-Babylonian the um-locative replaces several constructions with the preposition ina.

In the later stages of Akkadian, the mimation (word-final -m) and nunation (dual final -n) that occurred at the end of most case endings disappeared, except in the locative. Later, the nominative and accusative singular of masculine nouns collapsed to -u and in Neo-Babylonian most word-final short vowels were dropped. As a result, case differentiation disappeared from all forms except masculine plural nouns. However, many texts continued the practice of writing the case endings, although often sporadically and incorrectly. As the most important contact language throughout this period was Aramaic, which itself lacks case distinctions, it is possible that Akkadian's loss of cases was an areal as well as phonological phenomenon.

Noun states and nominal sentences

Cylinder of Antiochus I

The Antiochus cylinder, written by Antiochus I Soter, as great king of kings of Babylon, restorer of gods E-sagila and E-zida, c. 250 BCE. Written in traditional Akkadian.

Antiochus I Soter with titles in Akkadian on the cylinder of Antiochus:
"Antiochus, King, Great King, King of multitudes, King of Babylon, King of countries"

As is also the case in other Semitic languages, Akkadian nouns may appear in a variety of "states" depending on their grammatical function in a sentence. The basic form of the noun is the status rectus (the governed state), which is the form as described above, complete with case endings. In addition to this, Akkadian has the status absolutus (the absolute state) and the status constructus (construct state). The latter is found in all other Semitic languages, while the former appears only in Akkadian and some dialects of Aramaic.

The status absolutus is characterised by the loss of a noun's case ending (e.g. awīl [specify]. The participle, which can be active or passive, is another verbal adjective and its meaning is similar to the English gerund.^[specify]

The following table shows the conjugation of the G-stem verbs derived from the root PRS ("to decide") in the various verb aspects of Akkadian:

The table below shows the different affixes attached to the preterite aspect of the verb root PRS "to decide"; and as can be seen, the grammatical genders differ only in the second person singular and third person plural.

Verb moods

Akkadian verbs have three moods:

Indicative, used in independent clauses, is unmarked.
Subjunctive, used in dependent clauses, is marked in forms which do not end in a vowel by the suffix -u (compare Arabic and Ugaritic subjunctives) but is otherwise unmarked. In the later stages of most dialects, the subjunctive is indistinct, as short final vowels were mostly lost.
Venitive or allative, not a mood in the strictest sense, being a development of the first-person dative pronominal suffix -am/-m/-nim. With verbs of motion, it often indicates motion toward an object or person (e.g., illik, "he went" vs. illikam, "he came"). However, this pattern is not consistent, even in earlier stages of the language, and its use often appears to serve a stylistic rather than morphological or lexical function.

The following table demonstrates the verb moods of verbs derived from the root PRS ("to decide", "to separate"):

Verb patterns

Akkadian verbs have thirteen separate derived stems formed on each root. The basic, underived, stem is the G-stem (from the German Grundstamm, meaning "basic stem"). Causative or intensive forms are formed with the doubled D-stem, and it gets its name from the doubled-middle radical that is characteristic of this form. The doubled middle radical is also characteristic of the present. The forms of the D-stem use the secondary conjugational affixes, so a D-form will never be identical to a form in a different stem. The Š-stem is formed by adding a prefix š-, and these forms are mostly causatives. The passive forms of the verb are in the N-stem, formed by adding a n- prefix. The n- element is assimilated to a following consonant, so the original /n/ is only visible in a few forms.

Reflexive and iterative verbal stems can be derived from each of the basic stems. The reflexive stem is formed with an infix -ta, and the derived stems are therefore called Gt, Dt, Št and Nt, and the preterite forms of the Xt-stem are identical to the perfects of the X-stem. Iteratives are formed with the infix -tan-, giving the Gtn, Dtn, Štn and Ntn. Because of the assimilation of n, the /n/ is only seen in the present forms, and the Xtn preterite is identical to the Xt durative.

The final stem is the ŠD-stem, a form mostly attested only in poetic texts, and whose meaning is usually identical to either the Š-stem or the D-stem of the same verb. It is formed with the Š prefix (like the Š-stem) in addition to a doubled-middle radical (like the D-stem).

An alternative to this naming system is a numerical system. The basic stems are numbered using Roman numerals so that G, D, Š and N become I, II, III and IV, respectively. The infixes are numbered using Arabic numerals; 1 for the forms without an infix, 2 for the Xt, and 3 for the Xtn. The two numbers are separated using a solidus. As an example, the Štn-stem is called III/3. The most important user of this system is the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary.

There is mandatory congruence between the subject of the sentence and the verb. This is expressed by prefixes and suffixes. There are two different sets of affixes, a primary set used for the forms of the G and N-stems, and a secondary set for the D and Š-stems.

The stems, their nomenclature and examples of the third-person masculine singular stative of the verb parāsum (root PRS: 'to decide, distinguish, separate') is shown below:

Stative

Neo-Babylonian inscription of king Nebuchadnezzar II, 7th century BC

A very often appearing form which can be formed by nouns, adjectives as well as by verbal adjectives is the stative. Nominal predicatives occur in the status absolutus and correspond to the verb "to be" in English. The stative in Akkadian corresponds to the Egyptian pseudo-participle. The following table contains an example of using the noun šarrum (king), the adjective rapšum (wide) and the verbal adjective parsum (decided).

Thus, the stative in Akkadian is used to convert simple stems into effective sentences, so that the form šarr-āta is equivalent to: "you were king", "you are king" and "you will be king". Hence, the stative is independent of time forms.

Derivation

Beside the already explained possibility of derivation of different verb stems, Akkadian has numerous nominal formations derived from verb roots. A very frequently encountered form is the maPRaS form. It can express the location of an event, the person performing the act and many other meanings. If one of the root consonants is labial (p, b, m), the prefix becomes na- (maPRaS > naPRaS). Examples for this are: maškanum (place, location) from ŠKN (set, place, put), mašraḫum (splendour) from ŠRḪ (be splendid), maṣṣarum (guards) from NṢR (guard), napḫarum (sum) from PḪR (summarize).

A very similar formation is the maPRaSt form. The noun derived from this nominal formation is grammatically feminine. The same rules as for the maPRaS form apply, for example maškattum (deposit) from ŠKN (set, place, put), narkabtum (carriage) from RKB (ride, drive, mount).

The suffix – ūt is used to derive abstract nouns. The nouns which are formed with this suffix are grammatically feminine. The suffix can be attached to nouns, adjectives and verbs, e.g. abūtum (paternity) from abum (father), rabûtum (size) from rabûm (large), waṣûtum (leaving) from WṢY (leave).

Also derivatives of verbs from nouns, adjectives and numerals are numerous. For the most part, a D-stem is derived from the root of the noun or adjective. The derived verb then has the meaning of "make X do something" or "becoming X", for example: duššûm (let sprout) from dīšum (grass), šullušum (to do something for the third time ) from šalāš (three).

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Independent personal pronouns

Independent personal pronouns in Akkadian are as follows:

Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns

Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns (mainly denoting the genitive, accusative and dative) are as follows:

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns in Akkadian differ from the Western Semitic variety. The following tables show the Akkadian demonstrative pronouns according to near and far deixis:

Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns in Akkadian are shown in the following table:

Unlike plural relative pronouns, singular relative pronouns in Akkadian exhibit full declension for case. Only the form ša (originally accusative masculine singular) survived, while the other forms disappeared in time.

Interrogative pronouns

The following table shows the interrogative pronouns used in Akkadian:

Prepositions

Akkadian has prepositions which consist mainly of only one word. For example: ina (in, on, out, through, under), ana (to, for, after, approximately), adi (to), aššum (because of), eli (up, over), ištu/ultu (of, since), mala (in accordance with), itti (also, with). There are some compound prepositions which are combined with ina and ana (e.g. ina maḫar (forwards), ina balu (without), ana ṣēr (up to), ana maḫar (forwards). Regardless of the complexity of the preposition, the following noun is always in the genitive case.

Examples: ina bītim (in the house, from the house), ana dummuqim (to do good), itti šarrim (with the king), ana ṣēr mārīšu (up to his son).

Numerals

Since numerals are written mostly as a number sign in the cuneiform script, the transliteration of many numerals is not well ascertained yet. Along with the counted noun, the cardinal numerals are in the status absolutus. Because other cases are very rare, the forms of the status rectus are known only by isolated numerals. The numerals 1 and 2 as well as 21–29, 31–39, 41–49 correspond with the counted in the grammatical gender. The numerals 3–20, 30, 40 and 50 are characterized by polarity of gender, i.e. if the counted noun is masculine, the numeral would be feminine and vice versa.

This polarity is typical of the Semitic languages and appears, for example, in classical Arabic. The numerals 60, 100, and 1,000 do not change according to the gender of the counted noun. Counted nouns more than two appear in the plural form. Body parts that occur in pairs appear in the dual form in Akkadian; e.g., šēpum (foot) becomes šēpān (two feet).

The ordinals are formed (with few exceptions) by adding a case ending to the nominal form PaRuS. The P, R and S must be substituted with the suitable consonants of the numeral. It is noted, that in the case of the numeral "one", the ordinal (masculine) and the cardinal number are the same. A metathesis occurs in the numeral "four".

Examples: erbē aššātum (four wives) (masculine numeral), meat ālānū (100 towns).

Syntax

Nominal phrases

Adjectives, relative clauses and appositions follow the noun. Numerals precede the counted noun. In the following table the nominal phrase erbēt šarrū dannūtum ša ālam īpušū abūya 'the four strong kings who built the city are my fathers' is analyzed:

Sentence syntax

Akkadian sentence order was Subject+Object+Verb (SOV), which sets it apart from most other ancient Semitic languages such as Arabic and Biblical Hebrew, which typically have a verb–subject–object (VSO) word order. Modern South Semitic languages in Ethiopia also have SOV order, but these developed within historical times from the classical verb–subject–object (VSO) language Ge'ez. It has been hypothesized that this word order was a result of influence from the Sumerian language, which was also SOV. There is evidence that native speakers of both languages were in intimate language contact, forming a single society for at least 500 years, so it is entirely likely that a sprachbund could have formed. Further evidence of an original VSO or SVO ordering can be found in the fact that direct and indirect object pronouns are suffixed to the verb. Word order seems to have shifted to SVO/VSO late in the 1st millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD, possibly under the influence of Aramaic.

Noun and adjective paradigms
		Noun		Adjective
Number / Case		masc.	fem.	masc.	fem.
Singular	Nominative	šarr-um	šarr-at-um	dann-um	dann-at-um
	Genitive	šarr-im	šarr-at-im	dann-im	dann-at-im
	Accusative	šarr-am	šarr-at-am	dann-am	dann-at-am
Dual	Nominative	šarr-ān	šarr-at-ān
Dual	Oblique	šarr-īn	šarr-at-īn
Plural	Nominative	šarr-ū	šarr-āt-um	dann-ūt-um	dann-āt-um
Plural	Oblique	šarr-ī	šarr-āt-im	dann-ūt-im	dann-āt-im

			Preterite	Perfect	Present	Imperative	Stative	Infinitive	Participle (active)	Verbal adjective
1st person	singular		aprus	aptaras	aparras		parsāku	parāsum	pārisum (masc.) / pāristum (fem.)	parsum (masc.) / paristum (fem.)
1st person	plural		niprus	niptaras	niparras		parsānu
2nd person	singular	masc.	taprus	taptaras	taparras	purus	parsāta
	singular	fem.	taprusī	taptarsī (taptarasī)	taparrasī	pursi	parsāti
	plural		taprusā	taptarsā	taparrasā	pursa	parsātunu (masc.) / parsātina (fem.)
3rd person	singular		iprus	iptaras	iparras		paris (masc.) / parsat (fem.)
	plural	masc.	iprusū	iptarsū (iptarasū)	iparrasū		parsū
	plural	fem.	iprusā	iptarsā (*iptarasā)	iparrasā		parsā

			G-Stem	D-Stem	Š-Stem	N-Stem
1st person	singular		a-prus-Ø	u-parris-Ø	u-šapris-Ø	a-pparis-Ø
1st person	plural		ni-prus-Ø	nu-parris-Ø	nu-šapris-Ø	ni-pparis-Ø
2nd person	singular	masc.	ta-prus-Ø	tu-parris-Ø	tu-šapris-Ø	ta-pparis-Ø
	singular	fem.	ta-prus-ī	tu-parris-ī	tu-šapris-ī	ta-ppars-ī
	plural		ta-prus-ā	tu-parris-ā	tu-šapris-ā	ta-ppars-ā
3rd person	singular		i-prus-Ø	u-parris-Ø	u-šapris-Ø	i-pparis-Ø
	plural	masc.	i-prus-ū	u-parris-ū	u-šapris-ū	i-ppars-ū
	plural	fem.	i-prus-ā	u-parris-ā	u-šapris-ā	i-ppars-ā

	Preterite.	Stative.
Indicative	iprus	paris
Subjunctive	iprusu	parsu
Venitive	iprusam	parsam

#	Stem	Verb	Description	Correspondence
I.1	G	PaRiS	the simple stem, used for transitive and intransitive verbs	Arabic stem I (fa'ala) and Hebrew pa'al
II.1	D	PuRRuS	gemination of the second radical, indicating the intensive	Arabic stem II (faʿʿala) and Hebrew pi'el
III.1	Š	šuPRuS	š-preformative, indicating the causative	Arabic stem IV ('af'ala) and Hebrew hiph'il
IV.1	N	naPRuS	n-preformative, indicating the reflexive/passive	Arabic stem VII (infa'ala) and Hebrew niph'al
I.2	Gt	PitRuS	simple stem with t-infix after first radical, indicating reciprocal or reflexive	Arabic stem VIII (ifta'ala) and Aramaic 'ithpe'al (tG)
II.2	Dt	PutaRRuS	doubled second radical preceded by infixed t, indicating intensive reflexive	Arabic stem V (tafaʿʿala) and Hebrew hithpa'el (tD)
III.2	Št	šutaPRuS	š-preformative with t-infix, indicating reflexive causative	Arabic stem X (istaf'ala) and Aramaic 'ittaph'al (tC)
IV.2	Nt	itaPRuS	n-preformative with a t-infix preceding the first radical, indicating reflexive passive
I.3	Gtn	PitaRRuS
II.3	Dtn	PutaRRuS	doubled second radical preceded by tan-infix
III.3	Štn	šutaPRuS	š-preformative with tan-infix
IV.3	Ntn	itaPRuS	n-preformative with tan-infix
	ŠD	šuPuRRuS	š-preformative with doubled second radical

			šarrum	rapšum	parsum
1st person	singular		šarr-āku	rapš-āku	pars-āku
1st person	plural		šarr-ānu	rapš-ānu	pars-ānu
2nd person	singular	masc.	šarr-āta	rapš-āta	pars-āta
	singular	fem.	šarr-āti	rapš-āti	pars-āti
	plural	masc.	šarr-ātunu	rapš-ātunu	pars-ātunu
	plural	fem.	šarr-ātina	rapš-ātina	pars-ātina
3rd person	singular	masc.	šar-Ø	rapaš-Ø	paris-Ø
	singular	fem.	šarr-at	rapš-at	pars-at
	plural	masc.	šarr-ū	rapš-ū	pars-ū
	plural	fem.	šarr-ā	rapš-ā	pars-ā

		Nominative		Oblique		Dative
Person		singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
1st		anāku "I"	nīnu "we"	yâti	niāti	yâšim	niāšim
2nd	masculine	atta "you"	attunu "you"	kâti (kâta)	kunūti	kâšim	kunūšim
2nd	feminine	atti "you"	attina "you"	kâti	kināti	kâšim	kināšim
3rd	masculine	šū "he"	šunu "they"	šātilu (šātilu)	šunūti	šuāšim (šāšim)	šunūšim
3rd	feminine	šī "she"	šina "they"	šiāti (šuāti, šâti)	šināti	šiāšim (šâšim)	šināšim

		Genitive		Accusative		Dative
Person		singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
1st		-i, -ya	-ni	-ni	-niāti	-am/-nim	-niāšim
2nd	masculine	-ka	-kunu	-ka	-kunūti	-kum	-kunūšim
2nd	feminine	-ki	-kina	-ki	-kināti	-kim	-kināšim
3rd	masculine	-šu	-šunu	-šu	-šunūti	-šum	-šunūšim
3rd	feminine	-ša	-šina	-ši	-šināti	-šim	-šināšim

Proximal Demonstrative ("this", "these")
		Masculine	Feminine
Singular	Nom.	annûm	annītum
	Acc.	anniam	annītam
	Gen.	annîm	annītim
Plural	Nom.	annûtum	anniātum
Plural	Acc./Gen.	annûtim	anniātim

Distal Demonstrative ("that", "those")
		Masculine	Feminine
Singular	Nom.	ullûm	ullītum
	Acc.	ulliam	ullītam
	Gen.	ullîm	ullītim
Plural	Nom.	ullûtum	ulliātum
Plural	Acc./Gen.	ullûtim	ulliātim

		Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
Singular	masc.	šu	ša	ši
Singular	fem.	šāt	šāti
Dual		šā
Plural	masc.	šūt
Plural	fem.	šāt

Akkadian	English
mannum	who?
mīnum, minûm	what?
ayyum	which?

Akkadian numbers
#	Cardinal				Congruence	Ordinal
	(masculine)		(feminine)		(Gender agreement of the cardinal numeral)	(masculine)	(feminine)
	(absolute)	(free)	(absolute)	(free)	(Gender agreement of the cardinal numeral)	(masculine)	(feminine)
1	ištēn	(ištēnum)	išteat, ištēt	(ištētum)	Congruent (no gender polarity)	pānûm maḫrûm (ištīʾum) ištēn	pānītum maḫrītum (ištītum) išteat
2	šinā	—	šittā	—	Congruent	šanûm	šanītum
3	šalāšat	šalāštum	šalāš	šalāšum	Gender polarity	šalšum	šaluštum
4	erbet(ti)	erbettum	erbe, erba	erbûm	Gender polarity	rebûm	rebūtum
5	ḫamšat	ḫamištum	ḫamiš	ḫamšum	Gender polarity	ḫamšum	ḫamuštum
6	šeššet	šedištum	šediš?	šeššum	Gender polarity	šeššum	šeduštum
7	sebet(ti)	sebettum	sebe	sebûm	Gender polarity	sebûm	sebūtum
8	samānat	samāntum	samāne	samānûm	Gender polarity	samnum	samuntum
9	tišīt	tišītum	tiše	tišûm	Gender polarity	tešûm	tešūtum
10	eš(e)ret	ešertum	ešer	eš(e)rum	Gender polarity	ešrum	ešurtum
11	ištēššeret		ištēššer		Gender polarity	ištēššerûm	ištēššerītum
12	šinšeret		šinšer		Gender polarity	šinšerûm	šinšerītum
13	šalāššeret		šalāššer		Gender polarity	šalāššerûm	šalāššerītum
14	erbēšeret		erbēšer		Gender polarity	erbēšerûm	erbēšerītum
15	ḫamiššeret		ḫamiššer		Gender polarity	ḫamiššerûm	ḫamiššerītum
16	šeššeret?		šeššer?		Gender polarity	šeššerûm?	šeššerītum?
17	sebēšeret		sebēšer		Gender polarity	sebēšerûm	sebēšerītum
18	samāššeret		samāššer		Gender polarity	samāššerûm	samāššerītum
19	tišēšeret		tišēšer		Gender polarity	tišēšerûm	tišēšerītum
20	ešrā				No gender distinction	ešrûm	ešrītum?
30	šalāšā				No gender distinction	(as with 20?)
40	erbeā, erbâ				No gender distinction	(as with 20?)
50	ḫamšā				No gender distinction	(as with 20?)
60	absolute šūš(i), free šūšum				No gender distinction	(as with 20?)
100	absolute sg. meat, pl. meât (free meatum)				No gender distinction	(as with 20?)
600	absolute nēr, free nērum				No gender distinction	(as with 20?)
1000	absolute līm(i), free līmum				No gender distinction	(as with 20?)
3600	absolute šār, free šārum				No gender distinction	(as with 20?)

Word	Meaning	Analysis	Part of the nominal phrase
erbēt	four	masculine (gender polarity)	Numeral
šarr-ū	king	nominative plural	Noun (Subject)
dann-ūtum	strong	nominative masculine plural	Adjective
ša	which	relative pronoun	Relative clause
āl-am	city	accusative singular
īpuš-ū	built	3rd person masculine plural
ab-ū-ya	my fathers	masculine plural + possessive pronoun	Apposition

Vocabulary

The Akkadian vocabulary mostly came from the Semitic language family. However, many of its basic words do not match well with other Semitic languages. For example, the word for "son" in Akkadian is mārum, while in other Semitic languages it is related to the word for "build".

Akkadian picked up many words from other languages it came into contact with, especially Sumerian and Aramaic. Sumerian words spread across all of Akkadian-speaking areas, while Aramaic words were mostly found in the northern and central parts of Mesopotamia during the early first millennium BC. Akkadian also borrowed words from Hurrian, Kassite, and Ugaritic.

The Akkadian language also influenced other Semitic languages. For example, the word biṣru meaning "onion" in Akkadian became the word for onion in Arabic and Hebrew.

In 2011, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago finished a huge dictionary of the Akkadian language called the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary. It took 90 years to complete, with the first volume published in 1956.

Akkadian	Meaning	Source	Word in the language of origin
dûm	hill	Sumerian	du
erēqum	flee	Aramaic	ʿRQ (root)
gadalûm	dressed in linen	Sumerian	gada lá
isinnum	firmly	Sumerian	ezen
kasulatḫum	a device of copper	Hurrian	kasulatḫ-
kisallum	court	Sumerian	kisal
laqāḫum	take	Ugaritic	LQḤ (root)
paraššannum	part of horse riding gear	Hurrian	paraššann-
purkullum	stone cutter	Sumerian	bur-gul
qaṭālum	kill	Aramaic	QṬL (root)
uriḫullum	conventional penalty	Hurrian	uriḫull-

Sample text

The following is the 7th section of the Hammurabi law code, written in the mid-18th century BC:

If a man has bought silver or gold, a male or a female slave, an ox, a sheep, or a donkey—or anything for that matter—from another man or from another man's slave without witnesses or a contract, or if he accepted something for safekeeping without the same, then this man is a thief and will face serious consequences.

Akkadian literature

Main article: Akkadian literature

Akkadian literature includes famous stories and letters from ancient times. Some important works are the Atrahasis Epic from the early 2nd millennium BC, the Enûma Elish from around the 18th century BC, and the Amarna letters from the 14th century BC. Another well-known story is the Epic of Gilgamesh in its Standard Babylonian version by Sin-liqe-unninni from the 13th to 11th century BC. There is also the Ludlul Bel Nemeqi.