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I: The Vocabulary and Phonetic System of Sumerian.
§ I. — The stud}- of the Sumerian vocabulary falls logically into three divisions. 1
These are (i) the origin of the signs, 12) the etymology of the phonetic values, and (3) the
elucidation of the many and varied primitive sign-meanings.
Professor FRIEDRICH DELITZSCH in his epoch-making work on the origin of the
most ancient Babylonian system of writing 2 has paved the way for our thorough under-
standing of the principles which were followed by the fathers of the ancient pre-cuneiform
lineal style of inscriptions. Previous to DELITZSCH's masterly work in this field, really no
1 inc had correctly understood the facts regarding the beginnings of the cuneiform writing.
These are so overwhelmingly in favor of the linguistic character of Sumerian that they have
caused DELITZSCH himself to abandon the HALEVYan "ideophonic" cryptographic hypothesis, 3
of which the distinguished German Assyriologist had former!}- been an ardent adherent.
DELITZSCH's work, however, has thus far included only the stud}- of the signs. He has
made no attempt as yet to combine the examination of the signs with the investigation of
the phonetic values, which it is necessary to do, in order to ascertain the true nature of
the Sumerian idiom as it has been handed down to us. The thorough examination of every
sign is imperative, if we are ever to penetrate the mysteries of this highly difficult problem,
but it is equally imperative that every phonetic value and word-combination be also studied,
both in connection with the equivalent signs and with other allied phonetic values.
§ II. — A most important point should now be noted. The etymological stud}- of
the Sumerian word-list is attended with incalculable difficulties, because nearly all the Sumerian
texts which we possess are written in an idiom which is too evidently under the influence
of Semitic. With the exception of certain very ancient texts, such as those published by
Professor HlLPRECHT in the OBI, vol. I, I and II, 4 and probably also the Gudea inscriptions, 5
Leipzig, 1S97.
(1) Cf. the material in my article, JAGS, XXV, 49—67.
(2) Friedr. Delitzsch, Die Entstehung des iiltesten Schriftsystems oder der Vrspi unc der Keilschriftzeichen,
(3) Halevy, JA, vol. IV, sir. 3 (1874) pp. 461 seq.\ Comptes-rendus, vol. IV, sir. 3, p. 477; vol. IV,
sir. 3, pp. 128, 130; IA, vol. viii, sir. 7, pp. 201 stq. Also his book Recherches critiques sur I'origine de la
civilization balylonienne, Paris, 1876. See Weissbach, Die sumerische Frage, p. 183, for further references.
I4 1 H. V. HlLPRECHT, The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania, I, parts I and II,
Philadelphia, 1S93-1S97.
5 The Great Cylinder Inscriptions A and B of Gudea, by Ira Maurice Price, part I, Leipzig, 1899. Cf.
also Thureau-Dangin, ZA XVI, 344ff.; XVII, iSiff.; XVIII, 119ft".