The ''Akkadisches Handwörterbuch'' (full title ''Akkadisches Handwörterbuch: unter Benutzung des lexikalischen Nachlasses von Bruno Meissner (1868-1947)'') is a German lexicon of
Akkadian language
Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218–280 was an East Semitic language that is attested ...
by
Wolfram von Soden, often abbreviated as "AHw." This book is a standard work for study of the
Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...
. It complements the ''
Reallexikon der Assyriologie'', or ''RLA'' (which is an encyclopedia rather than a lexicon, with entries on Assyriological topics rather than on Akkadian words), founded by Bruno Meissner and reformed in 1966 by editor Ruth Opificius and publisher Wolfram von Soden. AHw was partially based on the lexicographical work (the lexical "
Nachlass
''Nachlass'' (, older spelling ''Nachlaß'') is a German language, German word, used in academia to describe the collection of manuscripts, notes, correspondence, and so on left behind when a scholar dies. The word is a compound word, compound in ...
") of
Bruno Meissner
Bruno Meissner also Bruno Meißner (25 April 1868, in Graudenz – 13 March 1947, in Zeuthen) was a German assyriologist.Erika Bleibtreu, Johannes Boese and Barthel Hrouda: ''Orientalistenleben. Kurzbiografien von E. F. Weidner, B. Meissner, ...
, including a manuscript covering about the first half of the letters, and was published in installments from 1959 to 1981. The lexicon was originally intended to be published in only two volumes, but the amount of material ended up necessitating a third. The final product, published by
Harrassowitz Verlag
Harrassowitz Verlag is a German academic publishing house, based in Wiesbaden. It publishes about 250 scholarly books and periodicals per year on Oriental, Slavic, and Book and Library Studies. The publishing house is part of the company Otto Ha ...
, comprises the volumes A-L (1965, 2nd ed. 1985), M-S (1972), and Ṣ-Z (with addenda) (1981).
The original fascicles (Lieferungen) are as follow:
*Volume I (Band I)
**1 (1959): a - ašium, pp. i-xvi, 1-80
**2 (1959): alkadu - dunnamû, pp. 81–176
**3 (1960): dunnānu - gabû, pp. 177–272
**4 (1962): gadādu - ikkibu(m), pp. 273–368
**5 (1963): ikkillu(m) - katāmu(m), pp. 369–464
**6 (1965): katappātu - luwwû, pp. 465–565
*Volume II (Band II)
**7 (1966): ma- - mû, pp. 566–664
**8 (1967): mû - našpartu(m), pp. 665–760
**9 (1969): našpāru(m) - pessû(m), pp. 761–856
**10 (1971): pessûtu - ramû(m), pp. 857–952
**11 (1972): ramû(m) - s/ṣ/zuwar, pp. 953–1064
*Volume III (Band III)
**12 (1974): ṣaʾānu - šāmūtum, pp. 1065–1166
**13 (1976): šāmutu(m) - šubšulu(m), pp. 1167–1256
**14 (1977): šubtu(m) - tēšû(m), pp. 1257–1352
**15 (1979): tēšû - uzuzzu, pp. 1353–1448
**16 (1981): uzzapnannu - zaratu, corrigenda and addenda, pp. i-xvi, 1449-1592
The major English language lexicon of Assyrian is the
Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, CAD. ''A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian'', CDA, published in 1999, edited by Jeremy Black, Andrew George, and Nicholas Postgate, is a smaller, English lexicon based largely on AHw.
[Black, Jeremy, Andrew George, Nicholas Postgate. 2000. ''A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian.'' Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. vii, ix.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akkadisches Handworterbuch
Akkadian dictionaries
Harrassowitz Verlag books