The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-19
CHASING A LANGUAGE GHOST,
AN AMERICAN SCHOLARS STUDY
or AN ANCIENT CIVILIZATION.
Prof. Prince OF Columbia Preparing
sumcrian Lexicon which Is ENpccteu
10 Throw Light on the Origin OF the
CIVILIZATION In the Euphrates Nalley'

Civilization In the fupnrA'cs '"'''
II Is expected that the work Of an Ameri-
can scholar will shortly throw new llght
upon the question debated among Assyrl-
ologists as to whether there actually existed
a Sumerian civilization to which the
Semites owed much The work referred
TO Is the compilation of Sumerian lexicon
by Prof. John Dyneley Prince, of the de-
partment of Oriental languages at Column
bia University
Not only IL this the first lexicon OF the
Sumerian language ever attempted, but
it marks big step forward in the efforts
made by certain scholars 10 demonstrate
the possibility and probability of such
language and civilization. The Importance
of this work and the difficulty Of the task
are about equal. Prof. Prince had nothing
with which to work except old texts, written
in a n on-Senitic language, called, Tor con-
yenience sake at first. Suneilph rom
tn decipherable and traceable WORDS oil
these manuscripts. fragments ana scrolls
Prof. Prince has slowly gathered together
the necessary words and phrases Tor the
lexicon. II will be brought out in four
parts
For many years the little world of Assy-
rioogy has been divided over a question
which relates to the origin OF the clvlh-
zation Of the ancient Euphrates valley.
Were the founders of this. the most ancient
culture in the world, Semites, or were they
a non Semitic. non-Aryan people who spoke
an agglutinative idiom similar in structure
to modern Turkish? Upon the solution Of
this problem rests the determination of
the origin OF a civilization to which the an
Gent Hebrews owed 80 much of their re-
ligious and legal life.
The debt OF the Hebrews to the
Babylonians, scientists declare. has been
pointed out admirably by the great As
syriologist. Friedrich Delitzsch Of Berlin
The Sumerian question. as it generally is
called has given rise 10 two schools OF
AssyTiology.
One is headed by the French-Jewish
scholar Halevy, who believes that there
never was a Sunerian language and cul-
tne. The other has as its spokesmen
Delitzsch aud Haupt, who insist that there
was preSemtic civilization in the Eu-
phrutes Valley in very ancient times upon
which the later Semitic emigrants grated
their own cruder culture. From this. it is
oontended, the Semites borrowed practically
all their religion and arts.
To clear up this question has been the
aim of Assyrioogists for long time. The
difficulty OF Prof. Prince 5 task can there
fore be ina gined.
The question is declared by Prof. Prince
to I've purely a linguistic one.
ave have n number Of texts in what
appear to be two languages, the second of
which undoubtedly is Semitic Babylonian,
There can he no doubt that the other nom
Semitic text Of these inscriptions, which
usually Is called Sumerian, shows many
traces of Semitic influence. The fact Is.
however, that underlying these loan words,
and pun1 on Semitic words is "a real ag-
glutinat.ve idiom which cannot he obscured
even by the MAS of later material which
was put upon it by Semitic priests.
That is a part OF Prof Princes intro
duction to the lexicon Prof. Prince BE-
ieves that the Sumerian language really
existed. In the course OF centuries. how
ever as the Semitic influences grew even
stronger the priesthood OF Babylonia used
this Sumeran as q purely ttualistic idiom.
much ss is the case with Latin in the Roman
Catholic churches to-day.
Prof. Prince declares that, from the evil
dence of the constantly increasing mass Of
Semitic loan words with which mis- priestlr
idom was garnished as the centuries adj
vanoed he concludes that the Sumerian
gradually lost its spoken character and in
the end became nothing more than a purely
written system, which, however, was read
aloud in the temple services down to the
Greek period
This is certain he continues. from
the occurrence of number OF Sumerian
words in Greek transcription in the Greek
authors At the same time, it could not have
been a real oryptogram based on inverted
and distorted Semitic, like, for example, the
back slang of London or the inverted Gaelic,
still spoken as a secret language by the Irish
thinkers on our own roads.
This is evidenced by the fact that the
Sumerian never lost it's grammatical struc-
ture. which constantly is peeping through
the later Semitic potpourri. even in the most
garbled form Of the priestly language.
This view. which really is n combination
OF the opinions Of both schools, has found
acceptance by at least one prominent Assy-
biologist to whom it was presented before
the publication OF the lexicon"
The lexicon is printed in peculiar fashion.
The introduction is Of course set from
types. but the text has to be written by n
special oopyist. page by page, with a peculiar
kind Of India ink Owing to the many signs
and characters of irregular size, type
setting would be impossible. Each page
is photographed and the plate made in that