Vingt-quatre tablettes cappadociennes de la collection W. Golénischeff

Description

In 1891 Mr. Golenischeff published autographs (i.e. reproductions of hand-written and -drawn pages) of 24 tablets belonging to his collection, preceded by an interesting introduction, and a list of the characters found in the tablets. “In this work he has determined the values of most of the characters, and pointed out the signification of many words. The tablets are written in an Assyrian dialect. On the phonetic side the dialect displays the peculiarities of the *Tel el-Amarna* letters from Northern Syria, [...]. Like them it also employs the old Babylonian mimmation, [...]. But in certain respects its phonology is peculiar [...]. The vocabulary is mainly Assyrian, but it contains some Aramaic forms, [...]. But besides [the] Semitic words, the dialect further presents us with a considerable number of words which have no Semitic etymology, and must therefore have been borrowed from the language of the country from which the tablets come. [...] It would seem, accordingly, that the tablets belong to an Assyrian colony which was established in a city of Kappadokia in the midst of a foreign population. Here the usages and customs of Assyria were maintained, such as the use of the Assyrian language and syllabary, the yearly appointment of officers called *limmi*, or “eponyms,” after whom time was reckoned, and the employment of proper names, of which the name of Assur formed an element. [...] The age of the Kappadokian tablets is, I believe, as early as that of the Tel el-Amarna tablets.” *Citation from: Records of the Past, Being english Translations of the Ancient Monuments of Egypt and Western Asia, N. Ser., ed. by A. H. Sayce, ..., Vol. VI; London : S. Bagster & Sons, [1892], Chapter 8: “The Cuneiform Tablets of Kappadokia”, p. 118 ff.*

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