Akkadian language

Akkadian is an extinct East Semitic language of ancient Mesopotamia, written mainly in cuneiform and used in Assyria and Babylonia.

Cuneiform: A writing system that uses wedge-shaped signs impressed into clay or carved into stone. Akkadian scribes adapted this originally Sumerian writing system to represent their language.
Syllabogram: A written sign that represents a syllable rather than a single sound or meaning. Akkadian cuneiform used syllabograms to spell words and grammatical endings.
Eblaite language: An ancient Semitic language attested in third-millennium BCE texts from Ebla in Syria. Eblaite is the other poorly known language conventionally grouped with East Semitic.
Code of Hammurabi: A Babylonian royal law stele from the eighteenth century BCE, inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform. It is a prominent example of Akkadian used for public law and royal authority.
Aramaic language: A Northwest Semitic language that became widely used across the ancient Near East. Aramaic gradually displaced Akkadian in everyday and administrative use.
Semitic languages: A branch of the Afroasiatic language family that includes Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Akkadian. Akkadian's grammar and vocabulary place it within this broader language family.
Logogram: A written sign that represents a word or morpheme rather than its pronunciation alone. Akkadian scribes often used inherited Sumerian signs as logograms.
Old Akkadian: The earliest broadly attested stage of Akkadian, documented in third-millennium BCE inscriptions and tablets. Its inscriptions provide some of the earliest direct evidence for Akkadian.
Epic of Gilgamesh: A Mesopotamian epic poem preserved in several languages and in a standard Akkadian version. Its Akkadian versions are among the best-known literary works in the language.
Akkadian loanwords in Sumerian: Words borrowed from Akkadian into Sumerian through prolonged contact between their speakers. The borrowing record captures the languages' sustained interaction.

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