Sumerian Grammar

I first discovered and began studying Sumerian independently when I was 18.  The first thing that struck me about the language was how remarkably similar it was to my own earliest attempts at creating a con-lang, so it also seemed to me to be the most natural manifestation of human language known to-date.  After all, children are more in touch with their instinctual natures than adults are, so the drives and interests from your childhood can thus be considered the most fundamental to your nature.  Little surprise, it was the very first written language in all of human history, predating the oldest Egyptian writings by a thousand years at the very least—but very much unlike Egyptian, you can follow the evolution of writing in Mesopotamia to its roots back to approximately 9000 BCE, whereas Egyptian just comes out of nowhere.  So it’s pretty obvious who really invented writing, and who just jumped on the bandwagon.

Shortly after first discovering the Sumerian language, I managed to track down various Sumerologists online, including John A. Halloran, the author of the Sumerian Lexicon (also available in Paperback).  His website, sumerian.org, contained a great working edition of the lexicon prior to its publication (v3.0 is actually still available online, if you’re interested).  However, at the time it was otherwise very difficult to access any legitimate material on Sumerian culture, history, and language outside a university setting.

That all changed in 2004 when I started studying Biblical Hebrew in the Near and Middle-eastern Civilizations department at University of Toronto.  I happened to mention to my professor that I was only really interested in the Sumerian language, but since UofT didn’t have an undergrad Sumerology program, I had to study Hebrew as a prerequisite to Akkadian.  And it so happened that my Hebrew professor was only filling in that year for the Hebrew course, and was actually a professor of Akkadian and Sumerian.  Talk about luck.

Since I was doing so well in Hebrew, he offered me the chance to audit his graduate level course in Ur III Sumerian.  Sadly, that meant no credit, however it would work in my favour when applying for grad school.  No surprise, my passion for Sumerian showed, and even though I came into the class late I had no trouble catching up and exceeding the talent I showed for languages in Biblical Hebrew.  It was a good year for me, and I finally got access to all the books and material I had been looking for.

Naturally it didn’t last; the NMC department scrapped its support of the Assyriology program and merged it back in Biblical studies, my professor wasn’t needed at the university anymore, and I had to find a new degree to pursue.  But at least I got access to what I needed.

These days, it’s a lot easier to get most of the books you need to study the Sumerian language; almost all of them are listed on Amazon.com (a few of which I have collected together in my aStore), but if you are really serious about studying Sumerology, Assyriology, Egyptology, or Biblical Studies, you need to go to Eisenbraun’s.  Many of the most essential texts which are listed as Out of Print on Amazon.com are still available through Eisenbraun’s—and I will be cataloguing them all here.

Also, of course, I plan on publishing my own work in the Sumerian language, which will make much of the rarest material affordable and accessible.  Keep checking this section out for the latest news.