Word Lists: A Very Short History
Word Lists: A Very Short History
This chapter focuses on the first works of Babylonian scholarship and thus the earliest in world history: word lists. The extraordinary character of these works seems to be ignored not only by scholars surveying the world history of lexicography, but also by those specialists of Babylonian scholarship who have devoted much effort to the study of lexical lists. No other ancient culture developed lexicography at the moment its people started to write, and throughout antiquity lexicographic activity out side Babylonia always remained minimal. This chapter examines the lexical material in Near Eastern history, taking into account the intricacies of the genre’s developments. To illustrate the longevity and popularity of lexical lists, as well as how much their contents could change, the chapter describes what is known about the thematic series that treated topics relating to human beings, including professional designations, kinship terms, and social classes.
Keywords: word lists, Babylonian scholarship, lexicography, Near East, lexical lists, human beings, professional designations, kinship terms, social classes
Princeton Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
