Chicago Assyrian Dictionary
Encyclopedia
The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (CAD) or The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago is a nine-decade project at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

's Oriental Institute
Oriental Institute, Chicago
The Oriental Institute , established in 1919, is the University of Chicago's archeology museum and research center for ancient Near Eastern studies.- History and purpose:James Henry Breasted built up the collection of the Haskell Oriental Museum...

 to compile a dictionary of the Akkadian language
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...

 and its dialects, focusing on the New-Assyrian forms. modeled on the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...

, work on the project was initiated in 1921 by James Henry Breasted
James Henry Breasted
James Henry Breasted was an American archaeologist and historian. After completing his PhD at the University of Berlin in 1894, he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago. In 1901 he became director of the Haskell Oriental Museum at the University of Chicago, where he continued to...

, the founder of the Oriental Institute, who had previously worked on the Berlin dictionary
Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache
The Wörterbuch der äegyptischen Sprache was a project by Adolf Erman and Hermann Grapow to publish a comprehensive dictionary of Old, Middle, and Late Egyptian and the hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Greco-Roman period...

 of Ancient Egyptian
Egyptian language
Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...

.

From 1973 to 1996, Erica Reiner
Erica Reiner
Erica Reiner was an American Assyriologist and author. From 1974, she was Editor of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, which was published in 21 volumes over 55 years, being completed in 2011 after her death. Reiner was associated with the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago...

 was editor in charge, followed by Martha T. Roth, dean of humanities. Expected to take 10 years to complete, the first volume was not published until 1956, and the 26th and final volume was not published until 2011.

At a conference at the Oriental Institute on June 6, 2011, scholars assessed the significance of the dictionary. Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute, said it "is an indispensable research tool for any scholar anywhere who seeks to explore the written record of the Mesopotamian civilization." It is one of several large-scale United States dictionary projects for ancient Middle Eastern languages, including the Chicago Hittite Dictionary
Chicago Hittite Dictionary
The Chicago Hittite Dictionary is a project at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago to create a comprehensive dictionary of the Hittite language. The project was founded by Hans Gustav Güterbock and Harry Hoffner in 1975 and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. It...

, the Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary
Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary
The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary is a project to compile a comprehensive dictionary of the Sumerian language. It is run out of the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and funded by both private donors and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project...

, and the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon.

External links

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