Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee | Language and Cultural Contact: The Case of Ebla

Presented by Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee, Professor of Comparative Semitics, OI
Language and Cultural Contact in the Third Millennium BCE: The Case of Ebla
From almost the earliest attestations of writing, there is evidence for languages in contact. In Mesopotamia, for example, we have evidence for Sumerian and Akkadian contact from the early third millennium BCE. It is very difficult, however, to determine the extent and duration of such contact in languages that are no longer spoken. In the case of the Ancient Near East sources do not commonly tell us what language(s) individuals spoke or if the language they wrote represents the language also used for oral communication. This lecture draws attention to the difficulties involved in determining the linguistic situation “on the ground” by using the example of Eblaite, an idiom attested in the 24th century BCE in the ancient northern Syrian site of Ebla (Tell Mardikh).
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2021, OI
Music credit: bensound.com

[@JustSpectre]

Very interesting. Ancient Ebla is fascinating site and I'm glad we can learn more about it. I was not aware of the issue of Eblaite language and thought it was simply some form of Akkadian, but this lecture put things much more into perspective.

[@ladyflimflam]

It’s back!

[@stephenmichalski2643]

What can I say but.........UTTERLY FASCINATING.

[@claudioshivatabasso8078]

Very interesting and well done presentation. Thank you very much for the opportunity to learn more about Ebla.

[@wedelman]

Just excellent!

[@braxtonmay391]

Thank you for this learning opportunity🙏

[@yvonnesmith6152]

I was astonished to find an Ebla tribe (calling themselves Eblani and their main city was Eblana) in Ireland as described by Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd century BCE. They were located in the Boyne Valley area. I found that extremely curious as Ebla is certainly not a word readily used in any Irish Gaelic or other dialects

[@DemandAlphabetBeBrokenUp]

So awesome!!!!!!!!

[@stevenv6463]

Can anyone suggest any reading or lecture about the Canaanizing character of the Akkadian in the Amarna letters?

[@IdanEretz]

This reminds me a lot of Pidgin, a form of English adopted by West African traders, which they used in trading with the west and between themselves, as a Lingua Franca. If Pidgin (and only Pidgin) was widely written, we would think thousands of years later that Pidgin English was the local language in West Africa.

[@a.a.ismael4255]

How much impact did Sumerian have on eblaite ?

[@aaronweiss5587]

Did the city correspond with Iram?

[@Ugaritic]

The oldest library on earth was discovered in Ebla, it contained the oldest dictionaries, encyclopedias, the oldest medical text and oldest code of law in history. Ebla is also the oldest recorded democracy in the world.

[@ronaldloui]

Uh oh, around 10:52 she mentions "Northern Mesopotamian Kish," and her map shows URKISH, perhaps of the Gelb Kish civilization in brown. Then she says, Kish is down there, mid-Mesopotamia. Is it Northern only because it's north of Southernmost Mesopotamia? This still bothers me. Not to mention that Cush and Kish are probably confused too often. ... Kinda surprised she doesn't use English as an example, where Saxon and Latin influences are distinct, Latin-sourced English used in science and official texts, Saxon-sourced English used in spoken contexts.

[@vecvan]

"law" is not from Latin, that would be ius, justice. I'm sure there is a French etymology. Let's see: "Not related to French loi and Spanish ley", instead from Old Norse (wikipedia). However, that too might be folk etymology since the Saxon word *ae* with a typical French le shortened to l' gives something close to law. French liason is not attested as early as the Enish word. So it's the same problem again: the writing does not represent the spoken language completely.

[@ramibakkar]

Total nonsense Semitic languages origin from Syria .. not from Iraq at all .. Semitic ppl origin from north of Syria and Anatolia .. not from Iraq

[@christianstahl4099]

Doppelname, die eigene Muttersprache nicht mehr beherrschen und v.Chr./n.Chr. durch atheistische Kunstbegriffe ersetzen. So unsagbar langweilig und klischeehaft…

[@Namuchat]

Wer auf den Baum steigt, muss auch mal wieder runter kommen. 🤔

[@hieronyma_]

was ist dein Problem...?

[@waclosh]

Bin voll dabei. Danke für deine Mühe.