There has been another dictionary project going on (besides our beloved child, OEDILF)...for 90 years...and all 21 volumes have finally been published: Link, the Assyrian Dictionary Project. It has been compiled by 88 scholars at the Oriental Institute in Chicago (an amazing museum if you ever get to Chicago). The set will cost $1400 and will enable students and scholars to read a reproduction of millions of original documents, sun-baked clay cuneiform tablets, left behind by the world's first civilizatons. the Oriental Institute Director, Gil Stein, says the dictionary "is in essence a cultural encyclopedia of Mesopotamian history, society, law, literature and religion."

Interestingly, the dictionary was the idea of James Henry Beasted, the founder of the Oriental Institute. He named it the Assyrian Dictionary Project 90 years ago. However, scholars later learned Assyrian was a dialect of the Akkadian language that arose around 2500 BC and was spoken and written until the time of Christ.

I posted something similar on the OEDILF website for those of you who post there, too.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

James Henry Beasted

Breasted.

Oh, sorry. The article was correct (another article on the subject; I couldn't find it online). I just misread it.

Interestingly, I no longer see my post about this on the OEDILF forum. I guess it wasn't of general interest...or perhaps they moved it...or maybe I just missed it.

Here's the original article I read: Link

Loved this excerpt from the article:

quote:

It includes the earliest codified systems of law, early literary epics like the adventures of Gilgamesh, poetry, erotica, even a 4,400-yearold letter a wheedling teenage son at boarding school wrote to his wealthy mother, showing some things in life never change:

“From year to year, the clothes of the (young) gentlemen here become better, but you let my clothes get worse.

“The son of Adad-iddinam, whose father is only an assistant to my father, (has) two new sets of clothes . . . while you fuss even about a single set of clothes for me. In spite of the fact that you bore me and his mother only adopted him, his mother loves him, while you, you do not love me!”

BTW, I found that OEDILF moved my forum entry to another forum. Apparently they are more Type A than we are about where posts belong. Still, being the host of Wordcraft, I'd never move a post without alerting the poster by PM.