William (Wilhelm) Muss-Arnolt (May 7, 1860 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

– June 25, 1927 in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

) was an

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , '' -logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southea ...

and librarian known for his exposition of the Assyrian language. Muss-Arnolt received a B.D. from

New Brunswick Theological Seminary New Brunswick Theological Seminary is a Reformed Christian seminary with its main campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was founded in 1784 and is one of the oldest seminaries in the United States. It is a seminary of the Reformed Church in Ame ...

in 1883, and a Ph.D. from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

in 1888. He taught at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

for one semester, then went to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, where he continued work on his ''Concise Dictionary of the Assyrian Language''. He ended his career as a librarian at the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonweal ...

.William W. Bishop, "College Days—1889–93: Fragments of Autobiography"; ''Michigan Alumnus: Quarterly Review'', Vol. LIV No. 10, December 6, 1947; p
351
In 1900 Muss-Arnolt published an article positing a Babylonian origin for the words

Urim and Thummim In the Hebrew Bible, the Urim ( he, ''ʾŪrīm'', "lights") and the Thummim ( he, ''Tummīm'', meaning uncertain, possibly "perfections") are elements of the ''hoshen'', the breastplate worn by the High Priest attached to the ephod. They are ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

. This article originally appeared in the '' American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures'' and was thereafter published separately by the

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

. Muss-Arnolt's ''Concise Dictionary of the Assyrian Language'' was completed in 1905, providing a useful tool for translators faced with a large volume of newly discovered cuneiform texts. The ''Chicago Tribune'' wrote of this work in progress in 1901:Light Thrown by University of Chicago on History of the Oldest Civilization
, ''Chicago Tribune'', 3 March 1901, p. 37.

An ordinary dictionary stands as a monument to several men's perseverance, but one compiled by one man which has to make plain in two languages the mysteries of the Assyrian is not an ordinary monument—it is an obelisk.

University of Michigan librarian William W. Bishop wrote that he owed to Muss-Arnolt "a severe regard for bibliographic accuracy." He also mentions that Muss-Arnolt was Protestant, with Jewish ancestry.

Selected publications

* "On Semitic Words in Greek and Latin", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'', Vol. 23, 1892.
PDF
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

) * "The Names of the Assyro-Babylonian Months and Their Regents", ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' Vol. 11, No. 1, 1892.
PDF
* "The Urim and Thummim: A suggestion as to their original nature and significance"; ''American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures'', Vol. XVI, No. 4; July 1900.
PDF
* ''A Concise Dictionary of the Assyrian Language''. Berlin: Reuther & Reichard, 1905. ** Volume 1: A—MUQQU
PDF
at Internet Archive) ** Volume 2: MIQQU—TITURRU
PDF
at Internet Archive) * ''The Book of Common Prayer Among the Nations of the World: A History of Translations of the Prayer Book of the Church of England and of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America''. London:

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and across the world. The SPCK is th ...

, 1914. *
Full text
PDF and HTML by chapter. * "Maneant Sua Data Libellis: A Protest and a Plea", ''Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America'' Vol. 13, 1919.
PDF
at U. Chicago Journals
full volume
at Internet Archive)

References

Bibliography

* Borger, Rykle. "Altorientalische Lexikographie - Geschichte und Probleme". ''Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse'', 1984, p. 85-89. {{DEFAULTSORT:Muss-Arnolt, William American Assyriologists American librarians University of Chicago faculty 1860 births 1927 deaths New Brunswick Theological Seminary alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni