Sumerian Lexicon: A Dictionary Guide to the Ancient Sumerian Language

by John Alan Halloran

With 6,400 entries, this is the most complete available lexicon of ancient Sumerian vocabulary. It replaces version 3 of the author's Sumerian Lexicon , which has served an audience of over 380,000 visitors at the web site www.sumerian.org since 1999. This published version adds over 2,600 new entries, and corrects or expands many of the previous entries. Also, following the express wish of a majority of online lexicon users, it has merged together and sorted the logogram words and the compound words into purely alphabetical order. This book will be an indispensable reference for anyone trying to translate Sumerian texts. Also, due to the historical position of ancient Sumer as the world's first urban civilisation, cultural and linguistic archaeologists will discover a wealth of information for research.

Genres: Linguistics, Language

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2006

Reviews

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best resource for anyone that's studying the language of ancient Sumer!!

[Michael Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Expected a description of the grammar and syntax with this. Otherwise a very extensive collection of words and definitions

[Gavin White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I occasionally used the online version for a while and found it infuriating due to the way it was organised. Fortunately the author has rectified this and produced a very valuable reference work.
For me, the best thing about this book is that the author is brave enough to suggest derivations for many Sumerian words. There are a many instances where I am sure he is wrong but that is to be expected with a language like Sumerian which is still poorly understood in many areas. It is clear from the definitions that the author has used his extensive knowledge of Akkadian to bolster up the entries.
I nearly always use this book alongside the online PSD (Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary) to get two opinions on any particular term.
The PSD is more conservative as it does not directly use the better known Akkadian lexicon. It is still in its early stages and will be developed further in years to come. The other great advantage of the PSD is that it has the Sumerian sign forms and an English interface which Halloran's lexicon doesn't.
To be sure, incorporating the Sumerian signs would add a lot to this book. Perhaps John could do a guide to the writing system to go alongside his lexicon? I'd certainly buy it.

[Michael Weaver]

This was a great reference guide.