Chinese and Sumerian grammar and dictionary

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CHINESE AND

SUMERI AN BY C. J. LECTURER

IN

BALL, M.A.,

ASSYRIOLOGY

IN

D.LiTT.

THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON HUMPHREY MILFORD :

HORACE HART M.A. PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY OXFORD

:

PREFACE A And

LENGTHY preface would hardly go

it is

a pertinent question to ask

why an

should labour to say over again in brief length.

The

well with a slender book.

all

author, of whatever sort,

that he has already said at

slenderness of the present volume

is

happily not due to

an early consumption of the available material. The introductory chapter, with its analyses of various Sumerian characters, mostly determined years ago, although here published for the first time, might have been considerably prolonged; especially if Professor Barton's valuable work on the Origin

had come

The

to

hand before

this

and Development of Babylonian Writing book was sent to press (September 1912).

pages or so of philological discussion which precede the detailed comparison of vocabularies, might easily have been extended fifty

hundred or more, had the writer chosen to publish everything

to a

lying at his disposal in the miscellaneous accumulations of years.

As

some may think that he has given more than sufficient evidence of the imperfection of his own equipment for dealing with the difficult problems of speech and writing which the book makes some attempt to solve and he will not be altogether dissatisfied with results, if an examination of his work should induce a few younger minds, starting with the advantages of a better education and higher natural endowments, to follow in a path in which it is perhaps not entirely presumptuous on his part to hope to be regarded hereafter as a humble pioneer. The writer's thanks are due to the Staff of the Clarendon Press for the care and intelligence exhibited in the production of a work it is,

;

involving

many

obligation to the

material difficulties.

He

is

especially sensible of

draughtsman whose calligraphy

is

well displayed in

the Plates of Characters.

C Bletchington Rectory, Oxford.

J.

BALL.

TO

PAUL CARUS AND

HERMANN VICTOR HILPRECHT

INDEX OF REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS yiC. = Terrot and Chipiez, A History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria. London. 1884. AL^. = Assyrische Lesestiicke, von Friedrich Delitzsch, ed. 5. Leipzig. 1913. Ar. = Arabic; Aram. = Aramaic As. or Assyr. = Assyrian. B. (in the Sign-list) = Barton, G. A., The Origin and Development of Babylonian Writing. Leipzig. ;

1913-

BPS.=Babylonische Busspsalmen, von Dr. Heinrich Zimmern. Leipzig. 1885. Br. = Brunnow, R. E., A Classified List of all Simple and Compound Cuneiform Ideographs. Leyden. 1889. (The numerals in. the Sumerian column of the Comparative Lexicon mainly C.

(in

refer to this indispensable work.)

the Sign-list)

= Couling,

Samuel

(a

MS.

list

of old Chinese characters from inscribed

fragments of bone).

Chalmers=Tke Structure of London.

Chinese Characters,

by John Chalmers, M.A., LL.D. Aberdeen.

1882.

Char. = character charr. = characters. Cogn. = cognate cogn. c. = cognate with. C. T.= Cuneiform Texts frotn Babylonian Tablets, &c., in the British Museum. D. = Dangin, Franfois Thureau, Recherches sur forigine de Ucriture cundiform£. ;

;

(A work of priceless value for comparative purposes.) Ddc.—Dkouvertes en Chald^e, par Ernest de Sarzec. Paris.

1891.

Paris.

('A thing of beauty

is

1898.

a joy

for ever.')

Dd.

Perse.=De Morgan, D^Ugation en Kish there published.) Z>,f/. = Deluge-Tablet {NE. xi). en

Perse, vol.

ii.

{Ob. de

Man.=Obdlisque de Manistuirba

rot de

/?4^^, read GUN, GU, and neck, throat and the Chinese kou, dirt (from got, P. 10 1, 268), G. 6163 :

;

(

= wu),

mei, miii,

me, dust (from mot, P. 719), G. 7746; and mo, mut, mat, K. mal, dust, G. 7999 dust, G. 7979) answer with equal completeness to the sounds (ff. also mo, mok, ;

belonging to the old Sumerian character for dust,

GASH = GAR) SA.6AR :

may be

;

and

dirt, earth, viz.

MIL (MAL). The SA

of the

ISH

(from

compound

GISH,

SA.6AR

the Chinese sha, sa, from sak, sand, G. 9624.

hwang, A. kwang,

G. 5137 (old sound kom) kuang, kong, J. ko, light, brightness, G. 6389; king, kin, bright, beautiful, G. 2143, and other kindred words (e.g. 2142, 2149) and Ch. ming, min, light, bright, represent Similarly, Ch.

bright,

dazzling,

;

the Sumerian

KUM,

flashing, brightness.

flame, fire;

KUN,

to shine;

and

MEL

(MEN),

MUN,

flame,

AND FINAL SOUNDS,

INITIAL

ETC.

7

Lastly, to conclude with an instance as remarkable as any, the

Vj r" had ghost,

the two values

demon

spirit,

we have an

MUL

GAL,

(written

GALLA, MULLA),

(Assyr. loanword gallti).

exact agreement with the Chinese

Here, as

^

kwei,

cii,

I

Sumerian group and the meaning

pointed out years ago,

kwai,

^

J. ki,

ghosts, spirits,

demons, G. 6430 (old sound kut, P. 684), and mei, mui, mi, H. mat, mwoui, K. mi, J. bi, mi, a demon, G. 7738 (old sound mot, P. 135). Cf. also G. 7748.

The

old Chinese final

From

t

= Sumerian

L, as in

many

other instances

(see

pp. 4, 10).

be seen that sometimes the related G- and M- or B-forms are represented by one and the same character, sometimes by it

It will also

characters.

different labial

the above examples

sounds, which

will

be noticed that these changes from guttural to

characteristic of

are

the

Eme-sal,

'The Women's Speech'

or softer pronunciation of Sumerian, reappear in the Chinese dialects in the most

unmistakable manner.

And

by these

sounds (G, K,

different initial

in

both languages closely related words, distinguished

H = M,

W), occur, not only as

B, P,

variations, but also as constituent elements in the vocabulary of the

speech:

e.g.

'blood'

corresponding words

We

saw

is

expressed by

hiit

and myt

in

labial letters,

them, finds ample illustration

seems

never

have

to

Hesychius's transcription of

very latest stage

wanting

in

in

demon,

read bi as well as mi by the

is

Mongol.

DIL-BAD,

in

it

BAR = MASH.

transition from

The

one to another of

known

that F,

Sumerian (unless we regard

SfXiipdr,

It is well

as an indication of

of the language),

In Chinese

The

and the

the Chinese dialects.

emerged

in the history

Sumerian, and by the

in Chinese.

that the character for mei,

mutual equivalence of the

It is

MUD

This reminds us of the Sumerian equivalence

Japanese.

which

(G)USH and

dialectic

main body of

is

its

appearance at the

a modern sound

in

has taken the place of an older

Chinese. p,

which

and the older pronunciation of Chinese words traditional in Korea, Japan, and Annam, supply abundant proof of this and other facts important for Chinese Phonology and Chinese Etymology. fang, house, itself

sprang from

b.

dialects

^

K. pang,

final ng, as always), Ningpo vong, pong (G. 3440). Here we have f, p, b, v, in succession. The old sound would be bam, ban and the term appears to be ultimately identical with the Sumerian MAL, house, which is probably from (WAN), weakened from GAN. The character is t^], read GA (GA-L or GA-N) and MAL. A trace of GA(N) may be recognized in Fuchau hwong ( = kwong, gong). So feng, the wind, K. pung, A. fong, anciently bam (P. 571); but the Fuchau hung ( = kung) implies an earlier kam, gam, agreeing with the primary Sumerian GAM, GAN, the wind, which later became IM, EN. This last word illustrates another important and normal interchange of sounds in both languages I mean that of the final m and n. As the Sumerian character wind, was read both IM and EN, so we find in Chinese that i'f^, heart, is read ^4f,

for instance,

Wenchow

is

J.

bo (Japanese drops the

voa, Shanghai vang,

Amoy

;

MAN

;

AND FINAL SOUNDS,

INITIAL

B sin

by the Japanese and sim by the Koreans.

Hakka

(sum or sam), the

ETC. sem

Further, the Cantonese says

sim, the Pekingese hsin (with an approach to sh).

Bearing

mind what has been said of the free interchange of the labial letters, we see that the Chinese word is ultimately the same as the Sumerian SHAB ( = SHAM), heart. But the Eme-ku, the harsher Sumerian dialect, pronounced the term SHAG, or (especially when linked with other subordinate words) SH AG-GA. In the latter case, at all events, the G seems to have been nasalized in utterance, thus SH ANGA so that we have here a prototype of the Wenchow sang, Ningpo sing, Yangchow hsing, heart. are ALAN, ALAM, likeness, image; Other Sumerian instances of MU.TAN, NITA.DAM, husband GIN, GIM, DEN, DIM, DAM, TUMA, in

;

N=M

;

SUN, SUM,

like;

to give.

In the word feng, bam, wind, Chinese has preserved the labial

IM (GIM, GAM).

standard speech, in contrast with the Sumerian to go,

has

it

manner preserved the

in like

wong, A. vang, presents a trace of the other sound (y = older

g)

;

just as

GIN

hwang.

Sumerian

;

it

GUN

(from

?),

to go,

which

is

the Chinese hing, ging, to walk,

were ng,

Canton and

and

k',

k,

t,

p, s,

and the vowels

The

g, d, b, z, dz, zh,

and k, t, p, s, are more recent

on he observes

p,

dialects.

ts, sh.

p', ts',

t',

t,

k,

(p.

f

;

83) that

'

initials

78), the old

sounds retained to

;

were

p.

g, d, b, ng, n,

m,

1,

'

The sonants

and h seem

to

g, d, b,

z,

drop

off,

day

z,

dz, zh,

is

all

'

[ib. p.

through laziness

final

in the

and the sounds

initial

are the old letters

be the newest of

final letters will

Chinese

this

were gradually developed the younger

through imitation of the defects of others, and from the circumstance is

in

Chinese wang.

to the

m,

n,

Amoy

From

vowels.

MUN

GUN,

M-form of GIN, to go, has not yet been identified = MAN), the Erne-sal of GA(L), to go {aldku, C. T. xii. 27), (

According to Edkins (Chinas Place in Philology, letters

yiioa

labialized or

MAL

but

nearly akin to

Wenchow

kwo, and wang, A. vong, answer to Sumerian

J.

The

(p. 5 seg.).

in

g,

H. F.

C.

and wong implies a guttural counterpart kwong, from gong, answering

Sumerian

to the

initial

the

^ wang,

In

Wang,

softer initial sound,

in

initial

;

the surds

82).

Further

in enunciation,

that,

when

stress

by the speaker on some one element of sound, the other elements will suffer '. euphony may also have something to do with it. Sumerian presents a general agreement with these phenomena. We find there,

laid

The

feeling for

as final sounds, g, stone,

milk,

open,

d, b, n,

m, ng, and the vowels

;

e.g.

GIN,

walk,

DIM,

like,

DAG,

GUN, tribute, DIB, take, GIN and MEN, pronoun ist pers., GA and DA, GUG, GU, speak, MUD, blood, GUB, stand, SHAB, heart, ME, liquid, BAD, SIM,

call,

BI, that, LI,

in,

The sound ng is perhaps heard in KINGI, compound of KIN, earth, land, and GI (perhaps

into.

which may be really a NGI), a synonym of KI {see C. T. xii. 38); in MUNGA, MUNGAR, property, goods (Br. 1292 sq.), which need not be regarded as forged on the basis of the land, country,

Semitic

makkuru

;

in

SANGU,

priest,

which so curiously resembles the Chinese

AND FINAL SOUNDS, ETC

INITIAL

SANGU,

name KI.AG, pronounced KI.ANG(?), to

s6ng, priest

in

;

A

7285).

^l with the values

character like

perhaps in

;

SHANGA,

love; and certainly in

SHAG, SHAGGA

sounds of the character

SAG, head

of the character for

the

9

one of the

SHANGA?), bright, pure (Br. SUM, SUN, SIG (SIG-GI, SIG-GA), {i.e.

suggests the existence in Sumerian of a nasalized G, equivalent to the Chinese ng

SEM or ZIM ? Br. 4202) means shang; G. 9735 10463. and to give, and is thus equivalent to the Chinese sung The surds, as finals in Sumerian, appear to be of much later origin c/. AKA, ITU, ITI, moon, month, from love, beside AG; UTU, sun, day, beside UD, UG

and

a remarkable

it is

fact that this

SUM

(dialectic

;

:

;

GUD, GID,

ID, bright;

Final p hardly occurs at

SUKAL,

oldest

people, country, C. T.

Sumerian, except perhaps

all in

UKU,

27, beside

xii.

in the

proper

S^'

246.

name PAP-

BABSUKAL.

from an older

The

UG,

identical

also are practically

initials

we

Chinese, as far back as

can go, these were g,

vowels: compare the Sumerian words

GIN, GI,

stem;

reed,

two languages.

the

in

ng, n, m,

d, b,

1, z,

GAB,

In

and the

dz, zh,

breast;

GAN,

BAD, open BA, give NA, NE, that NIM, high; MUSH, serpent; LAG, offering; LUD, LUTU, a vessel; ZI. right; ZUN, many, all AB, ocean; IB, region, district UB,clo.; AN, high, heaven EN, high, lord UN, dwelling-place UG, U KU, country, people. That initial G was some-

garden

;

DUG,

sweet,

good

DUB,

;

tablet

;

;

;

;

KI.BI.GAR,

in

is

is

clearly connected with the old

Turkish i^jS^i tengry, God,

by t'ang-li a compound.) dz, ts, are

aspirate k'

Sumerian;

e.£'.

KALA,

;

KUM,

t',

inferred from the

Z and SH,

p",

with the Sumerian spirant

KUN,

to shine;

K,

t,

p, s,

sh,

KAN, KA,

TUD, to beget, to life; TAG, to break,

G are

proves that

may be regarded

but zh

;

in cases like ZI, life,

cannot be traced.

flame;

DI.MER

dialectic

hardly traceable in Sumerian

maybe compared

GUD

from an older

(The

G. 735.

see

:

as the transitional sound between

The

also

king, side

is

DI.GIR, god,

transcribed in Chinese

The sounds

may be written

Chinese

in

province, satrapy, which

DI.NGIR, which

(ng),

compound KI.BI-IN.GAR, i.e. KI.BI. by side with DI-IN-GIR, i.e.

Sumerian as

Cf. also the term

DINGIR

;

;

times nasalized

NGAR.

;

;

and the

later

SHI.

GUD,

to shine,

common

initials in

in

KUD,

gate;

cut

off,

TAB, double companion; TIN, TIL, TI, live, evil; PAR, bright; PAD, PA, call, speak; PIL, to burn; SAM or SHAM, price; SUM, SIG, SI, to give; SIL, to cut through; SAR, SAG, to write; SHU, writing, the scribe's art; SHU, hand; SHAG, bright; SIG, green; SIG, to beget; SIM, call, name, proclaim; decide

;

SHUM,

kill,

high, exalted, costly

slay;

SHEN,

scholars will at once recognize

As

final

copper (from all

SHUN;

bring forth

Assyrian

or most of these words

(see

Lex.

;

shinnti). s.

;

Chinese

vv,).

SH. To take the last and BUZ, a title of the goddess

sounds Sumerian also employs R, L, and Z, S,

Z occurs in GAZ, smite, Damkina; LI. LIZ, a ring (?)

first,

;

GUZ, a bond, NU.NUZ, offspring;

kill; ;

(the

last

two perhaps from

NUZ.NUZ

LIZ. LIZ,

reappears as injure

S

AND FINAL SOUNDS,

INITIAL

lo

t,

GUZ,

;

and a few other

;)

so far as

a bond,

we can

be transcribed

MEZ,

;

(MES,

SUS.LUG,

S^ 120; and

(s)

GAZ, to smite, is gat, kat, now hai, to IZ, GAZ, fire, is gat, kat, ka, ho. The final

ambiguous.

is

Z

In Chinese this final

instances.

e.g.

it;

kieh, to bind

is kit,

doubtful, as the writing

is

trace

ETC.

male, hero, might equally well

SUZ.LUG,

be bright, might be

to

The final L has sometimes displaced an older N, as appears from TIL, DIN, TIN, live; GAL, GUL, GIN, DILI, DIN, male, man; MEL and

Br. 7209.)

TI, and

MUNU, dig;

the interchange of

cf,

from the Semitic or

initial

N, L,

f^

like

dialectic,

Kindred

Chinese.)

in

3354,

SHU. DUN, yoke; SHUL and DUN, to in NU, LA, not. (LA need not be derived

and

may be

It

Id.

G.

fiyi,

li,

i,

SHU.DUL

flame, flash;

may have happened in other instances, wide; where GAL, MAL, may be assumed

such as

corresponding to kwan, fun, H. kon, fon,

kan,

this

MAL, kon,

house, from

GAN, MAN,

which so strongly resembles

J*'

yen, fm, ng^n,

DA. GAL, DA.MAL,

broad

^

originally

G. 12205

;

DUN

and that

rejoice; G. 4571

=

tun,

an older G.

;

broad,

GAN, MAN, So GA(L),

6382.

GUL,

{cf.

KUN,

to

gen, gon, roof, shelter, G. 13 148

DUL, DU, mound

Sumerian

sprang from

be bright, to

hut, cottage, G. 50.

6, ein,

A. doun, an

do, J. ton,

joy, rejoice,

J.

am, ang,

an,

again, Chinese analogy suggests that the

was

suggest that

will

from ngam, ngan), and with

:

Sumerian,

in

be equivalent to the Chinese |^ kwan, kiin, kou, a residence, G. 6353, and cognate with EN, E, house (from GAN),

kiie,

(R. 53

Chinese

in

to represent

J.

NI, LI,

I,

terms

shine, y^". to

=

{tilu. Tell),

mound; a tumulus;

artificial

GUN

So,

hin, y^n, J. kin, kon, joy,

be cheerful,

glad).

L

Often, however, and perhaps most frequently, a Sumerian final

is

represented

by Chinese t: thus we have BAL (a character which has also the value BUL), to draw up water = pa, pat, J. bat-, Korean pal; G. 8527 BAL, pour out water = p'o, p'ut, p'at, p'wak, K. pal, A. bat, bak, G. 9428 BAL, pudendum muliebre coire = po, p'at, K. pal, A. bat, wife, G. 9384; BAL, rebel, oppose, resist; battle; combat = po, ;

;

put,

;

A. bout, disobedient, rebellious, G. 9356 po, put, pat, bah, K. pal, A. bat, to walk, to traverse, G. 9386 = BAL, to travel, march, proceed {see the other ;

to travel,

equivalents of

agrees with

BAL;

lieh,

Lex. p. i^f).

lyt, lih,

The Sumerian LIL,

(K. yol), violent gust, squall, G. 7090

rebellious, with lieh, lut, lih,

K.

equated with

nal, J.nat-si,

la, lat, lak,

Wells Williams.

(K.

yol,

G. 7101

A.

la,

a bird-net; to spread out

so agreeing with the Sumerian

A

Sumerian

while

;

A.

lat),

In numerous cases the final

phonetic use of the character proves that na, J. ra,

final

L

wind, storm-wind, blast,

LAL,

;

it

t

;

to take, to seize,

to seize, to carry

off,

may be

G. 6655 and

has disappeared in Chinese, though the

was formerly present e.g. lo, K. ra, and G. 7291, was once lat, P. 1031 :

to arrange

a net

LAL,

and LUL, bad,

;

;

;

to lay out, extend, spread out or over.

sometimes represents a prior S (SH)

MIL (= MISH), dust; DISH and perhaps MAL, house; GISH and GIL.DAN, ear;

DIL, one; "^ read

;

GASH,

DEL

(G)ISH, ISHI, ESH, and GA(L),

as in

(= DISH) and LISH.

AND FINAL SOUNDS,

INITIAL Like D, L, R, and Z, seen (pp. lift,

from

R

the

is

instances.

It

the contrary that

may

be,

is

represented by Chinese

In other instances

\osupr.).

5, 6,

OUR,

S

this final

GA

also read

(from

ETC. as

interchanges with R,

it

GAR),

t,

it

to

lift

cf.

;

also

GAL,

we have already as in GIL, IL, to

to

lift.

Sumerian as we have it, involving over 150 may have arisen from final S (of which about 50 examples remain); or

commonest

in

final

may have happened but the former seems more probable. However we find the same character ]^ read DUR and TUSH, in the sense to ;

MASH in a great variety of meanings *-^f TUR to set, of the sun, ^ SHUSH (C. T. Jlldf, the dog-symbol, had the sound GISH as well as UR (= GUR = GUSH = GISH) and DISH, SUR, TASH dwell;

»Jf- is

BAR

read

and

and so

is

;

xii.

is

i)

;

TAN, LIG, and LI ]} ^] RA,

;

^

OS.

ik,

day, C. T.

tik,

K.

—

i,

F.

ik,

sik

DA, RA, have

in,

DU

( = tik), A.

MAR-DUG,

These two

tok.)

less certain, are possible

= ^>^ DU,

come, from

re, J. rai, to

R

initial

in

^

^

;

DUG?

(from

yu, at,

c/.^} LA6,

da-k (P. 409) -yy-< U-ZU (from ZUG ?), flesh, in the meta-

NA, SHA,

Other Sumerian examples are ;

C. T.

10;

xii.

^^

;

;

;

^

phorical expression >:f-'^X^^^^ relations

NU-NU-NE,

'this

on€s

i.e.

his blood-

Sumerian

E0 BAR,

fleshes,'

(compare G. 5665).

Lastly, the equivalence of initial

sounds which we see

in

SHAR, .-( BAD, TIL,