How does ancient Assyrian language sound?

Read more about the Assyrians at: www.assyriatimes.com
Have you ever wondered how does the ancient Assyrian language sound? In this video you would hear two scripts read by Dr. Irving Finkel. Dr. Finkel is the curator in charge of cuneiform inscriptions on tablets of clay from ancient Mesopotamia, of which the Middle East Department has the largest collection- some 130,000 pieces -- of any modern museum. This work involves reading and translating all sorts of inscriptions, sometimes working on ancient archives to identify manuscripts that belong together, or even join to one another.
The first script is the words of Cyrus the Great (سخنان کوروش کبیر), the Persian King and the King of Babylon. The second script is a piece of poetry about the Story of the Flood.

[@justinshrake3852]

I want to be Dr. Finkel when I grow up.

[@bobaldo2339]

I want to be a beatnik when I grow up, but at 76 years of age, what are the chances I will ever grow up?

[@LionKing-ew9rm]

@@bobaldo2339 You are 76?

[@juliejames6322]

SO MUCH. He is uber cool.

[@TheApor1234]

appealing thing is - he never did

[@KAAL62]

Its seems very close to sanskrit if we hear very keenly.

[@papalevies]

I have no idea what Sumerian sound like, but I can clearly hear the English accent in them

[@Ebionarius]

This is Akkadian. Sumerian was an entirely different language. But Akkadian replaced Sumerian.

[@lookatmepleasesir]

he's so british he shits the queen

[@DrWhom]

Sumerian is not Akkadian.

[@gabrielalejandrodoldan4722]

Bruh

[@blaskowitz7000]

I have come to the conclusion that Irving Finkel is indeed a wizard with infinite ancient Assyrian powers

[@jesseh.5223]

Nice pfp

[@ritaa1359]

He’s not Assyrian he looks like a white person who studied the ancient language he doesn’t even sound middle eastern pronunciating the words wrong and it’s meant to be fluent not like this

[@Tflexxx02]

Assyrian with a received pronunciation accent.

[@DrWhom]

this is not RP a common misconception

[@Bellanzoz]

The meaning that there’s still Assyrian ppl on the world makes me happy it’s an 2000+ old language btw I’m Assyrian❤️

[@Bellanzoz]

Ye I know lol

[@riotraverv4518]

Yeah but he’s totally saying it American, it sounds more like he’s speaking tongues like Mormons do

[@BurnBird1]

@@riotraverv4518 I mean, we don't know how to say it in ancient Assyrian (even though this text would technically be in Babylonian), so there's no point in mimic a modern foreign accent. Plus, he's a British man with a very British accent, not American.

[@ICEBLUNTS]

I’m assyrian too yesirrr

[@MrAtor95]

Y ese nombre español??

[@nakulashok2057]

This sounds exactly like my grandfather's friend Ashurbanipal talking! :O

[@cursogilead3099]

kkkkkkkk

[@cursogilead3099]

@Um teosófico em formação Valeu, eu morei muitos anos nos Esatdos Unidos, deve ser por isso, Valeu

[@lulu-ng1du]

Assyrians we miss you in syria please come back ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@mesopotamiaashur3]

@Sarah Asaad assyrians is not iraqi,assyrians is assyrians from assyria , today some assyrians have iraqi citizen other have syrian citizen ,some have iranian citizen or turkey citizen etc... but all are ASSYRIANS FROM ASSYRIA.

[@alexcholagh8330]

@Sarah Asaad it's called B.C. and AD not BCE or ADE or some other timeline.

[@alexcholagh8330]

@Sarah Asaad many people are using BCE (before common era) and ACE/ADE(After Common era)/After Dimensional Era. It's always been BC (before Christ) and AD ( after anno domini). There are people that say Jesus and saint peter and dozens of saints dont exist and they claim the Catholic church and they claim Christianity started in the 300s. Jesus is real saint Peter and Paul is real and so are the pope's after. When a person claims that Christianity didn't exist till the 300s show them proof that Christianity existed from the time Jesus was born and show them the name of popes and saints after saint peter and don't let. These scam artists jack history and lie with BCE and ACE/ ADE

[@user-dr4qu9sv3m]

@Sarah Asaad Babylon is one United .🇮🇶🇸🇾🇯🇴🇵🇸🇱🇧...... those words you are saying against our ancient laws 😡

[@11Pretty]

@@mesopotamiaashur3 We are the Assyrians from Mesopotamia

[@barbatvs8959]

Assyrian Empire = Ancient Epicness

[@assyriancomedycentral1753]

Da best masters of war

[@ovilso8843]

The very best.

[@assyriancomedycentral1753]

Ovils O Amen to that!

[@PalashaGabarra]

@@RokoKaran Then you don't know what you're talking about. The fact that you think we're Indian speaks volumes about your ignorance on the subject.

[@assyrianbabylonians3120]

Assyrian ancient Babylonians they are the chosen people of God. When God use the Assyrian ancient Babylonians for second time you will be on your knees. God blesses the Assyrian ancient Babylonian.

[@timaa.4379]

Iraq has such a rich and beautiful history of cultures and languages

[@iskiersky87]

Yeah You are very right, is just shame it is destroyed by zionist state ... the problem is they did not do that for oil or gold or something else - minerals etc - they are still looking for something ... same happened to the Afghanistan ... i just hope Iran will stand tall and they will never go there ...

[@yet.4587]

@@iskiersky87 and isis

[@jamesr.g.2320]

Iskier Sky arabs destroyed it*

[@aliahsraf2826]

@@jamesr.g.2320 America destroyed it*

[@yousif2179]

Im assyrian and proud. The modern language of the Assyrians is way different than this.

[@omp199]

This is fascinating. Thank you for uploading it.

[@ritaa1359]

He’s not Assyrian he’s not pronouncing them properly and fluent

[@hcn6708]

Shar shar shar shar shar

[@MessiahComing]

+HCN Sounds like bar bar bar bar, which is how the Greeks came up with the term, "barbarian."

[@hcn6708]

+Red Judas it has a lot of 'shar's

[@hcn6708]

+Red Judas I think shar meant king He was saying it a lot and in the english translation he was saying the word king a lot.

[@MessiahComing]

HCN What I mean is that the Greeks came up with the term barbarian because when they listened to foreigners, it sounded like they were saying bar. Kind of like how we're hearing shar. Interesting point, though.

[@hcn6708]

+Red Judas I know,But shar had a meaning,greek "bar" doesn't have a meaning.

[@jean-pierredevent970]

I wonder how Imperial Aramaic sounded, I bet it was impressive.

[@PDeRop]

I heard "Napishta... which reminds me of Oetnapisjtim.. which in turn reminds me of a comic book I once read that said that Ut napishtim was another name for Noah.. Lots of fun.

[@2degucitas]

Which comic book? I've been wanting the original Sumerian King Ziusudra flood story to be made into a manga.

[@guyrt1]

As a native speaker of hebrew with knowledge of biblical hebrew i fully understood the first part and some of the second part

[@riotraverv4518]

Guy Brandes cause you guys came form us, Abraham came from Ur you guys are literally Assyrians

[@user-pq2mx8yq6c]

i speak aramaic. I also fully understood part one. the second part only partially. the pronunciation is likely to be accented.

[@nabatean180]

@@user-pq2mx8yq6c Don't you say Malakha for King? he said shar as king how did you understand that?

[@teachingenglishtoiraqis4227]

Is it really what you're saying?

[@WindTurbineSyndrome]

Dr. Finkel love your videos

[@DennyVlogs]

Make Syria Assyria again

[@DarkSlayer010]

Daniel Milliams You mean make Iraq Assyria again.

[@alchemist7525]

syria is not Assyria

[@siegejiren3125]

Syria is not assyrian ASSYRIANS ruled the whole Middle east

[@Pazuzu773]

Yes, that would include their heartland, SYRIA. Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, southeast Turkey, northwest Iran... @@siegejiren3125

[@Pazuzu773]

Assyria is modern day Syria. Babylon is modern day Iraq. They are one people, collectively known as Assyrians. But, he is right to say Syria, as the Assyrian heartland and empire was rooted in modern day Syria... hence the name of the country, for those that are not historically enriched. @@DarkSlayer010

[@eso_erica]

Finkel is a treasure.

[@topgears7775]

That was the world's greatest king's words I Assyrian ,as he knew all the ancient languages of his empire

[@Ebionarius]

Cyrus the great was Persian. But Akkadian (which both ancient Assyrian and Babylonian were later dialects of) was the official language of communication in the Empire. Hence why that was written in Akkadian.

[@francisfischer7620]

WONDERFUL!!!

[@claymore9032]

Awesome!

[@syriasyria2718]

iam assyrian ilke language assyrian

[@matrix1262]

syria syria not Assyrian Assyrian are persians

[@MohamedOmar-wc6mb]

Milan Sullivan fuck you they are not they are Semites not iranian

[@Angelotube5000]

@@matrix1262 Assyria is not Persian, the are different cultures.

[@Meme-pv7tn]

syria syria افهمو ياعالم همة اشورين والاشورين عراقين اصولهم اكدية عراقية بس احتلو سوريا صح ونشرو حضارتهم هناك واكو استوطنو

[@yet.4587]

@@Meme-pv7tn what are you trying to say? That modern day assyrians aren't ancient assyrians?

[@ANoBaka]

How is it possible to ascribe syllables to a language one has never heard be spoken?

[@riotraverv4518]

Miku Chan many people such as myself still speak ancient Aramaic, at Assyrian churches, the bishops, priests, deacons, and patriarchs all learn how to speak it as part of joining the church

[@ANoBaka]

@@riotraverv4518 I mean.. You're speaking the version of it that has been inherited without any recorded audio or text describing how it should be pronounced. If you know what "chinese whispers" is, imagine that being played across that many years, through that many people.

[@Ebionarius]

The language in this clip is Akkadian (the part with Cyrus can be called imperial Akkadian, which was the official language in the Persian Empire). Modern Assyrian is Aramaic. Assyrian, when referring to the language spoken in ancient Assyria, was a later form of Akkadian (as is the case with Babylonian; both were later dialects of Akkadian). Akkadian and Aramaic are entirely different languages, like English and German. Modern neo-Aramaic is even different in sounds and pronounciation compared to Biblical Aramaic or Syriac. Nobody speaks Akkadian anymore. Akkadian was written in cuneiform. So if you are interested in learning about how we know what that language sounded like, I would recommend that you look up how the cuneiform script was deciphered. At its roots, cuneiform was a script invented by the Sumerians. Maybe you can start from there. Reading cuneiform was like reading two different languages. For instance, you would read the sumerian symbol for god, which was "dingir" in Sumerian, but read it as "ilu" in Akkadian. The principle is similar to Japanese. Where they have Chinese kanji that are read as different Japanese words in different contexts. It was also syllabic. Somewhat like reading a rebus.

[@NorceCodine]

Right. Semitic languages are consonant-alphabetic, i.e. they record only the consonants and only native speakers know what vowels must be filled in, but Akkadian, Assyrian, Eblaite, etc. used the Sumerian syllabaric cuneiform signs to record their semitic tongue, and Sumerian syllables are "consonant-vowel" or "consonant-vowel-consonant", so they used cuneiforms which resembled the closest the semitic words spoken, thus approximating the sound of the word. This is why the scribes had to spend decades learning to write, because writing was an approximation of sounds by a totally alien writing system.

[@user-wp8yx]

you are awesome!

What is book of genesis?

[@isaachunter1444]

sounds a little like Egyptian, Iraqi and Italian. All mixed together.

[@NedBoukharine]

Doesn't sound very Assyrian to my ear. Sounds like some Scottish or Gaelic dialect.

[@arsethr.g3787]

Hhahaha true

[@Bimfirestarter]

@@arsethr.g3787 It's ancient Assyrian, not modern

[@ashurbanipal2924]

Its ancient Assyrian, Modern assyrians speak Syriac-Aramaic.

[@Ebionarius]

Bear in mind that the language that is called Assyrian today is distinct from the language of the Assyrian Empire. Modern Assyrian (as well as Chaldean, Turoyo/Surayt/Suryoyo etc., are neo-Aramaic vernaculars, from the Eastern Aramaic branch of Aramaic languages, to be precise). Hence it is a northwest Semitic language (like Hebrew). In a broader sense, Northwest Semitic languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician etc.) are a sub-branch of Central Semitic languages, which Arabic belongs to as well. The Assyrian spoken in the Assyrian Empire was a later form of Akkadian (or to be more precise, both Assyrian and Babylonian were two later dialects of Akkadian). Akkadian belonged to the East Semitic branch of the Semitic languages, and is therefore as different from modern neo-Aramaic or Syriac as for instance Amharic spoken in Ethiopia is (which belongs to the South Semitic branch). We are talking about two entirely different, albeit related, languages here (like English and German). A peculiarity of Akkadian is that it dropped the "stereotypical" guttural or throaty sounds that are generally associated with Semitic languages (like ayin, "raspy H", or the "heth"- sound, the throaty "kh"-sound, and so on). So we can say, in order to illustrate the similarities and differences: Akkadian: Medieval Swedish Aramaic: Dutch Hebrew: English Arabic: old German

[@reyramdane5768]

Merveilleux

[@laithslewa1260]

Bless my Assyria

[@Tsumami__]

All of the people in the comments pretending like they have any idea what ancient assyrian sounds like 👀 can any of you read cuneiform like Dr. Finkel? Come on now.

[@BurnBird1]

I mean, yeah. Although, being able to read cuneiform wouldn't necessarily tell us exactly what Akkadian sounded like.

[@Ebionarius]

Especially considering that pretty much everybody that claim that they understand it or speak it are actually thinking about modern Assyrian. Assyrian today is neo-Aramaic (not even classical Aramaic, but modern regional vernaculars). Ancient Assyrian was a later dialect of Akkadian, an entirely different language. It is like knowing English and claiming that you can understand Icelandic or Norse. Maybe a few words. But definitely not the language.

[@django7783]

Spoken by an ancient Hebrew man, who is Inmortal!

[@2degucitas]

Irving Finkel is really Melchizedek?

[@sishrac]

Irving Finkel cannot be Hebrew let alone ancient. He's most certainly an Ashkenazi 'Jew', descended from Japheth, not Shem.

[@katiegriffin9354]

@@sishrac Ashkenazi are Jews

[@M4th3u54ndr4d3]

@@sishrac with the genetic tests we know now that ashk. Jews are indeed levantine plus south italic

[@erhtm3030]

​@@sishracwignat

[@avzarathustra6164]

Cool

[@mrMoose-un9pt]

I'm convinced he was already living there around when Assur was at it's mighty.

[@texaspearl8957]

It sounds really pretty to me. I’d like to learn it. I’m studying Assyrians in the Old Test. So I wanted to see how they spoke. Thanks

[@ritaa1359]

Why ur not middle eastern that’s just weird

[@AlenOfAshur]

As an Assyrian who's been studying the CAD ( Chicago Assyrian Dictionary ) for years, which is a 21-22 volume compilation of translated cunieform texts which took linguists 90 years to finish, I can appreciate this gentlemen's contribution. For those whom are confused about the Assyrian language, including some of our own Assyrians, our language predates biblical/judaic shem by thousands of years, making it an obvious impossibility for it to be "semitic", as Shem's date was circa 2400 bc, and Nineveh was already established by 6000 bc, and no this is not Aramaic either. Simple research accompanied with basic math will pull you out of the sandpit of ignorance. Assyrian needs to be classified by its own name, Ashuric, not one suggested by jewish scholars who themselves are ill-informed about all things Assyrian. Blessings of Ashur to all good of heart.

[@martinjackson3419]

Enkinasir Ignorant and a troll

[@sagibarch4805]

Khayet khoni ator bet khaya

[@BurnBird1]

The ancient Assyrian language has nothing to do with the modern Aramaic dialect. They are distantly related, with Akkadian (and thus ancient Assyrian which is an Akkadian dialect) being East-Semitic, while Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic are all West-Semitic.

[@ertanfahrenheit4359]

@@BurnBird1 was it you who blocked my comments

[@BurnBird1]

@@ertanfahrenheit4359 How would I even be able to do that?

[@jamesdelk8926]

Love the language

[@avtaras]

Is it a coincidence that the video was uploaded on Nowruz?

[@dr.spectre9697]

God bless the Assyrians, one of the oldest christians! Love you guys- from an Armenian!

[@Ooooiops]

Learn From Us 1 Egyptian Christians are the oldest

[@balenshex4258]

Ancient Assyrian was a Persian but Assyrian’s today it’s Jewish Nestorian

[@bennathanya4379]

Ancient Assyrians were Akkadians (Semites mixed with Sumerians).

[@bennathanya4379]

I agree with you that the Aramaic speaking Nestorians are not related to Ancient Assyrians.

[@babylonm1963]

Love back bro

[@fknSpesh0]

...i want to hear it with an authentic accent. -_-

[@RoyalKnightVIII]

get a time machine. I hear they're producing DeLorean's again.

[@catherinea.b.7426]

Listen to Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and you'll get a great idea of what it should sound like. This guy lays on that thiiiick anglo accent.

[@stefanijaharris7566]

What makes you an expert? I bet you that your Assyrian Neo-Aramaic has has changed quite a bit in the last two thousand years. So their accent is not like anything spoken before.

[@PDeRop]

I just wonder, even with the tick accent, if people recognise parts of the words. I'm studying Swedish and I'm having a blast recognising my own language in it.. are there languages that relate to this one in some way.

[@pisse3000]

Matthew What makes you think that a present day Assyrian would be able to pronounce a language dead for thousands of years? Would you also call an American reading a 10th century Gothic text authentic? Language changes in pronunciation between two generations, let alone over thousand and thousands of years.

[@doublea6586]

Robin Williams spoke Assyrian?

[@missymoonwillow6545]

sounds like a magical language to me. So some dude spoke his divinity over the 4 corners of the world, and then the rest of the world as a result had to build boats to survive a flood. Sounds like bad sorcery to me. Mickey Mouse's Fantasia comes straight to mind. I LOVE FINKLE! You are the best elder scribe of modern times.

[@ImperfectlyhappytobemeMichelle]

It is Babylon

[@EvilpichuBoy]

Shouldn't the letter "R" be trilled?

[@catherinea.b.7426]

Yes. (Source: Native Assyrian speaker)

[@benavraham4397]

Many people in Iraq pronounce the "R" in the throat like German and French. So who knows exactly how it was pronounced 2,500 years ago?

[@BaranLordofLight]

@@benavraham4397 no they don't, the German R is its own letter. Semitic languages have always used the rolled R, but let me guess, you are a jew right? You feel like R should be like a German R because it's the same in Hebrew.

[@benavraham4397]

@@BaranLordofLight "Ancient Semite" has a reading of Akkadian with very careful pronunciation and he intentionally pronounces R like in German and has a whole explanation in the comments. In Wikipedia "Judeo-Arabic of Baghdad" they say that the Jews of Baghdad have pronounce R in the throat for centuries. I lived in Jerusalem 40 years ago and I occasionally heard people spaeking Hebrew with the Middle Eastern pronunciation, but with an Ashkenazi R in the throat, which seemed very strange to me at the time. Now it makes sense! In Yiddish they pronounced the R in the throat like in German, dispite the fact that everyone else in eastern Europe trilled the R. So in eastern Europe, German R became a sign of Jewishness. So now the Israelis pronounce Hebrew R as in Yiddish, in the throat. However, the correct Hebrew R should be trilled like in Arabic, since ancient rabbis mention that R, N, and L are all pronunced in the same place in the mouth. I've been told, that there are speakers of Flemmish in Belgium who pronounce R exactly like in English.

[@BaranLordofLight]

@@benavraham4397 don't speak of "ancient semite" as of he was the most credible source, he is just a German student who shows us what he learnt, if you want to know just ask a professor.

[@zekimadhloom2019]

Very nice . Seems to be same voice of Accadian .

[@Linguiphile]

To those of you who keep claiming that Hebrew is stolen from Assyrian, or some such nonsense, please pick up a damn non-fiction book for the first time in your life and start replacing stupidity with reality. Akkadian was a semitic language spoken by the Assyrians and Babylonians, but not for the most part by the Sumerians, who spoke an unrelated language, Sumerian. Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, and Akkadian are all semitic languages, but not one of these is derived from any other. They all evolved independently from a now-dead language called proto-Semitic.

[@eshy.y8221]

Thank You! Finally someone!

[@gibbyjilu]

You're taking this from a biblical account. One, the Assyrians are not semetic. They have no business speaking a Semetic language. Biblically, Ashur is the son of Shem supposedly making Ashur "Semetic". A more likely account of Ashur is of him being a deity. Under the now-decimated tomb of Jonah is Sennacherib's palace. The archaeology of Assyria was a success. Layers of ancient relics carbon-dated and radioactively-dated thousands of years before the proposed time frame of Shem. How about you pick up a non-biased book? How about you go ahead and visit the Oriental Institute in Chicago, Illinois and get yourself started on some research.

[@yoshevhaaretz7094]

gibbyjilu Learn a Semitic language or two. I know biblical Hebrew and the basics of Arabic and Aramaic. I can Hear the connection between Assyrian and the rest of the semitic languages, because it is one of them.

[@gibbyjilu]

*Obama voice* Not true

[@yoshevhaaretz7094]

gibbyjilu למה דברת את זה? Why do you say that? If it wasn't one of them, I wouldn't understand it.

[@peejay66able]

my hart is Assyrian 100%

[@PalashaGabarra]

Lol you have a Spanish name, what do you mean by that?

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

Javier Torres - my doe is Chaldean...

[@ktiemz]

Never before has any voice uttered the words of that tongue here in Imladris...

[@NimrodAssyrian99]

I'm Nimrod from Nineveh the capital of Assyria empire I'm living in Iraq till today, I'm speaking Assyrian because it's my mother language side by side with a second local language that it's Arabic

[@sashaclarkson]

"Ash nasg durbatuluk ..." Do you think Tolkien, as a Professor of Anglo-s-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, deliberately made the Black Speech of Mordor sound like Assyrian so he could get one over rival specialists on another language group? Or are academic philologists incapable of such sneaky malice? ;)

[@2degucitas]

I thought he was a scholar of the Levantine cultures? Guess I heard wrong.

[@BurnBird1]

@@2degucitas Elves and dwarves are well known Middle Eastern creatures, right?

[@Ebionarius]

Elvish (Quenya/Sindarin) was modeled after some mix of Celtic and old Finnish, more of the later. Probably because Tolkien liked the sounds of those languages (for instance the "L" sound in Elvish is pretty much the same as in Finnish). Dwarwish/khuzdul was modelled after Hebrew (during a battle Gimli shouts "Barukh khazad, khazad aimenu", which is supposed to mean "the axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!". But it sounds like random Hebrew gibberish. Maybe he modelled it after the Hebrew prayer "Barukh atta YHWH elohēnu..": Blessed are you, Yahweh our god.."). We do not get to hear the black speech of Mordor that much, so it is difficult to say what he modelled it after. But it seems to be agglutinative (i.e. grammatical meaning is dependent upon suffixes added to stem verbs or words: durba-tulūk, gimba-tūl, trakha-tulūk, burz-um? etc.). It therefore seems to be something like Hungarian or Turkish in its structure. More the latter, considering the morphology. I.e. the "sh" and "z" sounds, and the "-luk" suffix/ending. Or maybe Sumerian, which also was agglutinative. I think that he just wanted it to sound ugly. Hence all the "ach-", "sh", and "z"- sounds, and the agglutinative structure, all being features foreign to the average speaker of a Western European language.

[@whiskyfake]

>300 years B.C. I need to go deeper. How about Shumerian?

[@haykthegreat223]

Sumerians are Ancient Armenians!

[@PalashaGabarra]

@@haykthegreat223 Nope.

[@worldwidemapping9314]

@@haykthegreat223 the modern Assyrians (Syriacs)/ Chaldeans originated from the Sumerians and Akkadians.

[@wardnissan5988]

how is that possible? to understand a written language by deciphering it based on discovering same text in a know language is something and to know the pronunciation is something totally different!

[@yejiii9204]

@@Bassylon modern assyrians are not assyrians you speak a neo aramaic language

[@Bassylon]

@@yejiii9204 First of all the language we speak doesn't really prove we aren't Assyrian, it's even the opposite. Like you probably know, in the Neo-Assyrian Empire both Aramaic and Akkadian were used, linguists have traced back our 2 modern dialects, East-Assyrian (=Surit) and West-Assyrian (=Surayt/Turoyo) to the semi-autonomous Assyrian states after the fall of Nineveh, Adiabene and Oesroene. Surit/Surayt (=language of the Assyrians), has always meant the language of the Assyrians, even the Akkadians called our language aššurittu. The Assyrians decide what Assyrian is, at the end of the day "the Assyrian language" is what the Assyrians speak. What we can do to prevent confusion is categorise the fases of the evolutions Surit has made and use these terms to refer to them. (i.e Classical Syriac)

[@yejiii9204]

@@Bassylon That sounds interesting I'll definitely look into it. You're actually the first person in this comment section to actually reply without an insult and I really appreciate that. It seems kinda odd to me cause Iraq Assyrians have a pretty similar genetic makeup to other Iraqi groups so wouldn't that make other Iraqis also Assyrians? Because genetics play a big role even bigger than language when it comes to such things. I mean I'm half aramaic half arab and I don't really think that I have ever said that I'm descended from any Ancient Mesopotamian group and haven't heard any other non Assyrian Iraqis say that other than some South Iraqis who claim to be Sumerian which also seems highly unlikely. People have been always migrating to Mesopotamia so the Chance of having even a little percentage of Assyrian or any DNA from any other Ancient group seems unlikely. Like Germans as an example only 6% of the german men are germanic and almost every second german woman is germanic. And that's Germany which doesn't have as much ethnic immigrations as Iraq or Syria.

[@chaldeankurdistani2322]

Im Chaldean so i can speak Assyrian fairly good and I didn’t understand a word

[@andri1iea]

This is ancient Assyrian, I’m Assyrian and we don’t speak like this nowadays. 😂

[@Ebionarius]

Ancient Assyrian, as well as Babylonian, are dialects of a language called Akkadian. The language in this clip is thus Akkadian. Modern "Assyrian" (and Chaldean, Suryoyo, Turoyo, and so on) is neo-Aramaic. That is, a modern vernacular descended from classical Aramaic, or Syriac. Aramaic and Akkadian are entirely different, but related, languages. Like English vs. German. So naturally, you are not going to understand it. But there will be some similar words and such.

[@bintjazeera2394]

This is how i understood what he said lol - ana kukuresh- i am Cyrus - shah ??? Akadi - king of the Akkadians - i swear it sounds like some Persian Dialect except with an Englishman's accent.

[@bintjazeera2394]

+Bassylon no it predates Assyrian and Aramaic dialects

[@bintjazeera2394]

i disagree Arabic derived from Aramaic although there are numerous loan words - they both developed simultaneously from a mother semitic language and were spoken by different groups from within the middle east.

[@bintjazeera2394]

again i disagree with your statement because Aramaic was spoken in the North around the Levant where as Arabic was spoken in the south mainly south of the Arabian peninsula. Both speakers are as ancient as each other and i reject the idea that one would derive from the other. They both developed from a more ancient semitic mother tongue.

[@Bassylon]

Brother, I think you are talking about the neo-Aramaic language but it is well known that Arabic and neo-Aramaic derives from old Aramaic. Edit: With Neo-Aramaic I mean Syriac(Assyrian)

[@Bassylon]

Oh sorry, I don't speak Arabic.

[@iazygsarmatian4638]

Put the 'A' back into Syrian!

[@riotraverv4518]

Iazyg Sarmatian you mean the AS

[@syby1112]

the older gent in the video looks just like the statues of assyrian antiquities

[@MonkeyDLuffy-cm4fm]

I am Assyrian and i understood nothing but it sounds like the new Assyrian we speak but i understood nothing. So this is how we sound to the people who don't speak our language lol

[@BurnBird1]

This is Ancient Assyrian, as in the Assyrian dialect of Akkadian, a completely different language from a different branch of the semitic language family. Modern Assyrian is a dialect of Neo-Aramaic, more closely related to Hebrew and Arabic than to Ancient Assyrian Akkadian.

[@MonkeyDLuffy-cm4fm]

@@BurnBird1 I know my dear friend

[@brunoximenes4745]

Shanta Claush... :P

[@Ooooiops]

Bruno Ximenes Santa 🎅🏼

[@albar2989]

lol, as a hebrew speaker i didn't even need the translation. i understood it all when he said it in assyrian and correctly:)))

[@taeblends]

Is it very similar to hebrew?

[@greatarabia8091]

You're lying. It's not that similar. You can't understand Akkadian.

[@Confucius_76]

@@greatarabia8091 Cyrus and the previous Assyrian Empire spoke Aramaic though didn't they?

[@carolynrothrock1894]

Is this the voice of Noah? I would like to think so.

[@chakir348]

You can still hear the sh in even modern day iraqi arabic

[@mikejones-ve5kr]

LONG LIVE THE ASSYRIAN CHRISTIANS

[@zinarose861]

Gilbert Warda actually with all due respect I come from an Assyrian family & we are Christian some of us go to a Protestant Christian Church & others in my family belong to a non denominational Christian Church. :)

[@zinarose861]

Gilbert Warda what does that have to do with anything? I don't recall disagreeing with you I simply was pointing out that my Assyrian family are Christians yes but not part of the Catholic Church is all. when anyone starts off with "do you know who I am?" that usually sounds like a person with an ego. yet again I don't recall disagreeing with you only bringing up the fact that we are not Catholic so if that upset you for some unknown reason I certainly didn't mean to upset you but isn't the comment section meant to be able to make "comments"?

[@zinarose861]

Gilbert Warda yes I agree with you as I was raised as saying we are Assyrian not Iraqi Christians I totally agree with you. :)

[@zinarose861]

Gilbert Warda I am not fluent in Assyrian like my grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins are. I know only a few words & phrases. My grandma told me to learn Spanish instead....so years later I actually did. lol. but every Christmas I listen to the family conversating in Assyrian & wish I knew all they were saying. thanks for replying. :)

[@BaranLordofLight]

Turtle Philosopher no I am assyrian and you are absolutely wrong you are just a pagan who thinks Christianity destroyed his culture no it's like 100%assyrian =100% Christian.

[@imm0rtalguard]

Cyrus the great is Persian king! You forgot to say !

[@fionapetersson6540]

Kma taza ati sawathe

[@nerumsargon3573]

Sarum means spicy is akadian saroopa also means spicy in assyrian aramaic hebrew akadian sumertain is the same different words to different meanings. The ah e aww ohh aow is just used to add or take in the language

[@nawardarweesh7687]

My friend I speak assyrian and what ur speaking it now its wrong

[@scottmantooth8785]

love the accent... never knew that a Assyrian sounded so nearly identical to Celtic

[@irishcreamkb1]

Where do I go to learn Akkadian?

[@PalashaGabarra]

Probably school.

[@irishcreamkb1]

Lol. Thank you.

[@PalashaGabarra]

Karen You're welcome. I hope that helped. :D

[@irishcreamkb1]

It was. It is good to be reminded of the basic resources. :-)

[@kmotc]

Babylonian and Assyrian both are considered Akkadian. AkkadianStudy (student run studygroup) on Yahoogroups has an Akkadian study section, using A Grammar of Akkadian by John Huehnergard. Only thing is, that they are well into the textbook now. You might get on the list and wait for the next one. We offer serious study lists--buy a grammar send work to be collated and discuss language and grammar only--no cultural chit chat ( : Not sure when the next section will be offered, they may decide to do a reading after they finish up the textbook. Our sister list, GlyphStudy, offers Ancient Egyptian (glyphs) and we have two new sections beginning in June 2017. Also Coptic Egyptian, or the last phase of the Egyptian language in the Greek script (with a few extra non-Greek) characters has a section beginning May 2017. Hope that helps. For self study, I think this book might be good, but I have not tackled this language yet. Complete Babylonian: Teach Yourself (Paperback) by Martin Worthington

[@gaffartarraf2260]

It's great to know about my country's ancient history Actually they don't teach such things in our education system Instead we study about the Islamic history I am so interesting to know more about the Assyrian history the oldest civilization in the world

[@Ali_Mener]

Which country are you talking about?

[@gr8ful2god4life]

This is the Anunaki Sumerian version of the deluge; it predates the Hebrew so-called old testament version by thousands of years. It's the lord Enki warning his half Anunaki son Ziusudra of the impending deluge and instructing him to build a submarine. It also talks about preserving the DNA of all living creatures, including humans. The Zionists have been working very hard to block any attempts to give this a major publicity.

[@ChrisGoldenmouth]

Agreed with all but the submarine part. We don't have evidence for that. For all we know, the guy might have just built a boat covered in bitumen so it's water-proof

[@LDT7Y]

Sounds German.

[@IapetusStag]

Is it just me, or is his Westerner's accent still heavily permeating through the Cuneiform-ic speech?

[@A_i2]

Greetings to yo from the civilization of Babylon

[@truthcriesout7507]

Sounds a lot like Modern Standard Arabic.

[@John-je1if]

Because it's a semitic language

[@ioannispolemarkhos7364]

Arabic, Hebrew, and Assyrian are all from the same language family.

[@Pimpinpark777]

This guy doesn’t know how to pronounce his words 😂😂. I speak the language.

[@inspire734]

Do one for us then. Better than I could do.

[@julianhernandez9646]

No fucking way you speak a dead language. Good try, buddy

[@riotraverv4518]

Julian Hernandez it’s not a dead language if people speak it, there are over 1 million Assyrians in the world, I speak Assyrian because I am Assyrian

[@jakejohnson7714]

@@julianhernandez9646 fook you go back to Europe B!

[@GarnetsWeb]

@@riotraverv4518 do a video on it. We want to hear the language.

[@allencampbell1058]

We need a tutorial on how to actually speak it

[@meeeka]

Why would Shah Kuroush have to announce himself in Assyrian to Babylonians when he could tell them in his own old Persian language?!

[@BurnBird1]

Because Babylonian and Assyrian are both dialects of the same language (with this text technically being Babylonian). He was marely adopting the titles of the region and writing about some of his accomplishments.

[@sieracki001]

"Shar" must mean King. It's good to know they had egomaniacs back then too.....

[@kawahafeed5699]

And now it means war in kurdish which evolved from this language

[@timothynoonan8591]

The Kurdish languages aren't even from the same family as Assyrian, much less evolved from it. They're Indo-European while Assyrian was Semitic.

[@roylandmaines299]

kurdish is indo european like Persian, Europe, and much of India. assyrian is semetic like hebrew arabic and aramaic

[@assyriancomedycentral1753]

Timothy Noonan Kurds are not even a thing

[@tonton1626]

kawa hafeed , don't lie... kurdish evolved from iranian, which is an indoeuropean language.....it has NOTHING to do with semitic languages like assyrian or akkadian.

[@rodrigougarte5597]

Sounds like a drunk Irishman saying jibberish.

[@Xylospring]

No u

[@Downspeed28]

Well, as close as you can get while reading off a script. Assyrian does not sound like this, its soo choppy.

[@vondahe]

Come, Robin Williams. I know it’s you!

[@maryshlita8236]

hahahahah soo white !!!!! its sooooooo cute I love it! :) Wanna hear a authentic accent ? Go to North Chicago, go to Mather high school

[@karrarkazuya8898]

i won't marry shlita, shez uuuugly

[@Gumardee_coins_and_banknotes]

I will marry you, we can go to gay bars together.

[@youngcitybandit]

This thread is easily the most confusing thing ive ever read on this site

[@OhThatsWhoYouRepliedTo]

Young City Bandit My brain hurts...

[@youngcitybandit]

¿IchDenkeAlsoBinIch? Im even more confused then before lol

[@Babillonia]

Cyrus the Persian is Neither Mesopotamian nor Babylonian. He occupied Babylon and we kicked him out. Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) pre existed Persia by thousands of years. We r semites and u r not. Stop dreaming about being part of us, period, lol.

[@martinjackson3419]

abyoxtan Lol, Persians were kicked out of Mesopotamia and no one knows the origin of the word Baghdad, it is debatable.

[@martinjackson3419]

abyoxtan Dumbfuck lol, Iraq most likely came from the Sumerian word Uruk or Erech. And medes are not Mesopotamians. Assyrians and Persians are not the same people. Assyrians are Semites. Lol, keep trying to be Mesopotamian.

[@martinjackson3419]

abyoxtan Also, this person is probably Iraqi. Stop talking to them like they are responsible for what the Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula did.

[@martinjackson3419]

abyoxtan What the fuck is Assuritan? Lol saying Mesopotamians and persians are related because Mesopotamia used to be under persian rule is like saying arabs and persians are related because iran used to be part of the umayyad and abbasid caliphates. You fuckers have nothing to do with Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia reaches the iran-iraq borders. Bitch stop trying to be Mesopotamian.

[@martinjackson3419]

abyoxtan You fuckers are merely invaders.

[@XepicpiggehX]

sounds like charmander whenever he says his name he says Char 6 times in that sentence

[@csybherz]

As an assyrin, we are a very big empire we have many tribes that’s why not every assyrin will understand I am old Jewish assyrin from the Benjamin tribe (old Jewish assyrin) it really dependss

[@mikejones-ve5kr]

HE IS SPEAKING ANCIENT ARAMAIC THE LANGUAGE JESUS SPOKE TO JEWS BEFORE HE WAS CRUSSIFIED

[@Shadowfan1337]

mike jones This is late Akkadian, it only consisted a small portion of aramaic, this is the language that the syriac aramaic dialect is built up on and only exclusive for assyrians or native mesopotamians :)

[@Aries1389]

^ yeah also this pre-dates "Jesus" by about 600 years

[@Shadowfan1337]

NightAries18 To be exactly , 550 years

[@Aries1389]

ok you're being a tad over pedantic now

[@Shadowfan1337]

NightAries18 Waw chill I just gave a precise date, I thought you wanted to know...

[@zbynekdrab8077]

ATROCIOUS anglophone accent.

[@perstyr]

+Zbynek Drab For all we know, they could have sounded exactly like modern posh English academics :D

[@Drigger95]

except he actually knows Akkadian unlike you

[@declinatiohonesta7695]

+Drigger95 But he could have at least attempted an accent.

[@xxxfirehuunterxxx]

I'd rather not, it comes across as pretentious and a little bit stupid. I respect him enough to learn that ancient lanaguage.

[@Z3NZ31]

It's how the Assyrian elite bad guys talked.

[@hattusilli2225]

The words that Utrahassis received were revelations from the past

[@goldenzed1356]

if i was there in front the king im dead cuz im laughing on his message pronounce in my language meaning lol

[@gl4505]

There are many dialects of the Assyrian (Akkadian) language. Example: “Dog” today means in the West Assyrian (Akkadian) dialect. "Qalbo", in the East Assyrian (Akkadian) dialect “Qalba” and in Old Akkadian. “Qalbu” and is called in the Urmia region in northeastern Assyria “Dzhalba.” “Home” means in the West Assyrian (Akkadian) dialect. “Motho” in the East Assyrian (Akkadian) dialect “Mata” and in Old Akkadian “Matu.”

[@BurnBird1]

That's incorrect. in Old Akkadian, you would have mimation, meaning all nouns end in an m. This m would fall off in later stages of the language, It would thus be Qalbum in old Assyrian and Babylonian and Qalbu in late Assyrian and Babylonian. Qalba would be the accusative form (Old Assyrian Qalbam). Old Akkadian is an even older form of the language with a lot of its own quirk, but it's not as commonly studied as Assyrian and Babylonian, due to far less material. The same thing I said about Qalbum also applies to "home". Well, other than the fact that the word "matum/matu" actually means "land" in general, not just home.

[@arameansyriac3535]

there is never been a Assyrian language?! The so called 'assyrians' now speak ARAMAIC!

[@MrXLR8Clan]

Ur the dumbest person ever seriously

[@arameansyriac3535]

ImSystem Im dumb? u Serious? Go read the history

[@arameansyriac3535]

Anti Zalfer ܐܬܘܪܝܐ Hahah lmao, almost everything what u said is bullshit! Akkadian Is NOT assyrian, Aramaic is NOT assyrian. Like Brasilian people call their language PORTUGESE not Brasilian because they are Brasilian themself

[@kungensfru826]

Stfu

[@grayburst]

Very informative. Thank you for the bit of history.

[@sagesarabia5053]

I’m Assyrian. We speak the old language in my church. This is not Assyrian at all.

[@TheObserversTV]

Assyrians spoke 2 official languages in bilingual Assyria, there was Akkadian-Assyrians, who was more high class/monarch, urban folk, and then there was Aramaic-Assyrians, who were living in the rural / mountainous parts of Assyria, eventually Aramaic-Assyrian eclipsed Akkadian-Assyrian during the 8th century BC, even so that Aramaic was commonly spoken in major cities, many Akkadian-named parents would give Aramaic names to their children, and in the Assyrian court/government Aramaic was mainly used alongside Akkadian. The language this individual is speaking in this video is Akkadian-Babylonian, which Shar/Sharu, meaning king in Akkadian, was the title both Assyrian and Babylonian kings used, whereas Malka/Malek would be used in Aramaic.

[@Msoldier94]

Sounds like Dothraki. Damnn

[@hashimbokhamseen7877]

interesting

[@Confucius_76]

Ancient history is so much more interesting than GRRM's made up medieval world. sorry

[@STARSxKING]

you have the best beard in the world

[@hereLiesThisTroper]

You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shar-kabobs, shar creole, shar gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shar, lemon shar, coconut shar, pepper shar, shar soup, shar stew, shar salad, shar and potatoes, shrimp burger, shar sandwich.

[@AudioEsoterixxx]

Is this Sigmund Froids alternate universe cousin

[@N3bu14Gr4y]

Waaait, how would Santa Claus know ancient Assyrian before Christmas was a thing?!

[@verywrecked_mind]

My dad is Iraqi but he married an Iranian woman and i was born in Iran and raised here so I'm fluent in both Arabic and Persian. in modern Persian shah means king, when we wanna say: "I'm the king of Babylon" we say: "Man Shahe Babelam". "I'm the king of the universe" Me: king of the universe my a*s can't believe how Iranians love him without knowing what an A hole he was pretty much like any other king in the world.

[@fanofhistory4701]

Why did Cyrus speak assyrian(akkadian) to the babylonians and not sumeric or arameic?

[@Shadowfan1337]

Fan of History Because this is pre imperial aramaic, it was still more akkadian before Aramaic became the leading langauge of the assyrians, today Assyrians speak Neo aramaic , syriac dialect which consist of a stronger akkadian than the neo aramaic :D

[@fanofhistory4701]

Shadowfan1337 Ah, thanks.

[@Shadowfan1337]

Fan of History for some reason I found you randomly on thid video lmao

[@fanofhistory4701]

Shadowfan1337 I have probably watched Everything on KZbin that has to do with ancient assyrians :)

[@TheSouthshark]

Fan of History because, he adapted Assyrian writing as a international witting and an official witting for the Persian empire. he allowed people to keep their own languages and religions but he kept Assyrian language as an official language for the entire persian empire!

[@davedave81atall48]

last one ... epic of Gilgamesh?

[@montisino]

خيا امتا اشور

[@izabelaszlachta7769]

👍

[@ICEBLUNTS]

i’m assyrian and there is such a big difference with the language 5000 years ago

[@BurnBird1]

It's because they're two different languages.

[@ICEBLUNTS]

@@BurnBird1 how?

[@BurnBird1]

@@ICEBLUNTS ancient Assyrian was a dialect of Akkadian, a now extinct, East Semitic language. Modern Assyrian, on the other hand, is a dialect of Aramaic, a west Semitic language.

[@ICEBLUNTS]

@@BurnBird1 oh ight thanks

[@ICEBLUNTS]

@@BurnBird1 Yo what’s up after studying my language and Akkadian there so many Sonia ikr words it’s insane. For example House, pomegranate and so many other things!