Leonid Kogan – författare

13 poetic fragments in the Modern South Arabian language Soqotri (the island of Soqotra, Gulf of Aden, Yemen), recorded phonographically at the beginning of the 20th century by the Austrian orientalist David Heinrich Mueller, are presented in phonological transcription and English translation. Each fragment is extensively annotated with the help of native speakers of modern Soqotri. A detailed glossary (Soqotri-English-Arabic) comprising all words from texts and annotations rounds up the book.

In spite of the immense progress of Akkadian and Semitic linguistics in recent decades, no systematic diachronic treatment of the the Akkadian vocabulary has been carried out. The Akkadian vocabulary itself has been relatively well disclosed in two major dictionaries, but the Akkadian language has not been been sufficiently studied and analysed as a linguistic reservoir. The Etymological Dictionary of Akkadian presents a comparative and historical analysis of the entire Akkadian vocabulary in a systematic and comprehensive manner.

Akkadian is the oldest transmitted Semitic language (from ca. 2600 BCE till the end of the first millennium BCE) and with an extant textual corpus of ca. 10 million words it is one of the best documented languages of the ancient world, comparable to the Latin record until the 3rd century CE. Akkadian was the main language of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires and the lingua franca of the ancient Near East used, for example, by the Hittites and Egyptians in international correspondence. The Akkadian language is therefore crucial in reconstructing early Semitic historical grammar, and, due to its central role in a vast geographical and culturally diverse are over a long period of time, Akkadian is unequivocally important as the origin, receptor, and transmitter of both Semitic and non-Semitic loan and foreign words whose traces can, for example, be found in modern languages.

In spite of the immense progress of Akkadian and Semitic linguistics in recent decades, no systematic diachronic treatment of the the Akkadian vocabulary has been carried out. The Akkadian vocabulary itself has been relatively well disclosed in two major dictionaries, but the Akkadian language has not been been sufficiently studied and analysed as a linguistic reservoir. The Etymological Dictionary of Akkadian presents a comparative and historical analysis of the entire Akkadian vocabulary in a systematic and comprehensive manner.

Akkadian is the oldest transmitted Semitic language (from ca. 2600 BCE till the end of the first millennium BCE) and with an extant textual corpus of ca. 10 million words it is one of the best documented languages of the ancient world, comparable to the Latin record until the 3rd century CE. Akkadian was the main language of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires and the lingua franca of the ancient Near East used, for example, by the Hittites and Egyptians in international correspondence. The Akkadian language is therefore crucial in reconstructing early Semitic historical grammar, and, due to its central role in a vast geographical and culturally diverse are over a long period of time, Akkadian is unequivocally important as the origin, receptor, and transmitter of both Semitic and non-Semitic loan and foreign words whose traces can, for example, be found in modern languages.

This volume is the first of its kind to offer a detailed, monographic treatment of Semitic genealogical classification. The introduction describes the author''s methodological framework and surveys the history of the subgrouping discussion in Semitic linguistics, and the first chapter provides a detailed description of the proto-Semitic basic vocabulary. Each of its seven main chapters deals with one of the key issues of the Semitic subgrouping debate: the East/West dichotomy, the Central Semitic hypothesis, the North West Semitic subgroup, the Canaanite affiliation of Ugaritic, the historical unity of Aramaic, and the diagnostic features of Ethiopian Semitic and of Modern South Arabian.

The book aims at a balanced account of all evidence pertinent to the subgrouping discussion, but its main focus is on the diagnostic lexical features, heavily neglected in the majority of earlier studies dealing with this subject. The author tries to assess the subgrouping potential of the vocabulary using various methods of its diachronic stratification. The hundreds of etymological comparisons given throughout the book can be conveniently accessed through detailed lexical indices.

This volume is the first of its kind to offer a detailed, monographic treatment of Semitic genealogical classification. The introduction describes the author''s methodological framework and surveys the history of the subgrouping discussion in Semitic linguistics, and the first chapter provides a detailed description of the proto-Semitic basic vocabulary. Each of its seven main chapters deals with one of the key issues of the Semitic subgrouping debate: the East/West dichotomy, the Central Semitic hypothesis, the North West Semitic subgroup, the Canaanite affiliation of Ugaritic, the historical unity of Aramaic, and the diagnostic features of Ethiopian Semitic and of Modern South Arabian.

The book aims at a balanced account of all evidence pertinent to the subgrouping discussion, but its main focus is on the diagnostic lexical features, heavily neglected in the majority of earlier studies dealing with this subject. The author tries to assess the subgrouping potential of the vocabulary using various methods of its diachronic stratification. The hundreds of etymological comparisons given throughout the book can be conveniently accessed through detailed lexical indices.

For the first time after D. H. Müller’s pioneering studies of the 1900s, a large body of folklore texts in Soqotri becomes available to the Semitological scholarship. The language is spoken by ca. 100.000 people inhabiting the island Soqotra (Gulf of Aden, Yemen). Soqotri is among the most archaic Semitic languages spoken today, whereas the oral literature of the islanders is a mine of deeply original motifs and plots. Texts appear in transcription, English and Arabic translations, and an Arabic-based native script. Philological annotations deal with grammatical, lexical and literary features, as well as realia. The Glossary accumulates all words attested in the volume. The Plates provide a glimpse into the fascinating landscapes of the island and the traditional lifestyle of its inhabitants.

Four years after the publication of the Corpus of Soqotri Oral Literature, volume I (Brill, 2014), this volume present the second installment of the Corpus. Inspired by D.H. Müller’s pioneering studies of the 1900s, the authors publish a large body of folklore and ethnographic texts in Soqotri. The language is spoken by more than 100,000 people inhabiting the island Soqotra (Gulf of Aden, Yemen). Soqotri is among the most archaic Semitic languages spoken today, whereas the oral literature of the islanders is a mine of original motifs and plots. Texts appear in transcription, English and Arabic translations, and the Arabic-based native script. Philological annotations deal with grammatical, lexical and literary features, as well as realia. The Glossary accumulates all words attested in the volume. The Plates provide a glimpse into the fascinating landscapes of the island and the traditional lifestyle of its inhabitants.