Tuesday, June 07, 2011

CAD meets NYT

THE COMPLETION OF THE CHICAGO ASSYRIAN DICTIONARY is celebrated in the New York Times:
After 90 Years, a Dictionary of an Ancient World

Ninety years in the making, the 21-volume dictionary of the language of ancient Mesopotamia and its Babylonian and Assyrian dialects, unspoken for 2,000 years but preserved on clay tablets and in stone inscriptions deciphered over the last two centuries, has finally been completed by scholars at the University of Chicago.

[...]

At a conference on Monday, historians, archaeologists and specialists in ancient Semitic languages assessed the significance of the comprehensive dictionary, which Gil Stein, director of the university’s Oriental Institute, said “is an indispensable research tool for any scholar anywhere who seeks to explore the written record of the Mesopotamian civilization.”

[...]
I'm glad someone has finally raised the issue of the dated title.

Background here.