Eblaite language

Updated on Dec 12, 2023

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Region Ebla ISO 639-3 xeb Glottolog ebla1238		Era 3rd millennium BCE Linguist list xeb

Language family Afro-AsiaticSemiticEast SemiticEblaite

Eblaite language

Eblaite /ˈɛblə.aɪt/ (also known as Eblan ISO 639-3) is an extinct Semitic language which was used during the third millennium BCE by the East Semitic speaking populations of Northern Syria. It was named after the ancient city of Ebla, in western modern Syria. Variants of the language were also spoken in Mari and Nagar. According to Cyrus H. Gordon, although scribes might have spoken it sometimes, Eblaite was probably not spoken much, being rather a written lingua franca with East and West Semitic features.

Eblaite has been described as an East Semitic language which may be very close to pre-Sargonic Akkadian; its relation with the latter is debated :

Scholars such as Richard I. Caplice, Ignace Gelb and John Huehnergard, have the view that Eblaite is not to be seen as an early Akkadian dialect, because the differences with other Akkadian dialects are considerable.

Manfred Krebernik says that Eblaite "is so closely related to Akkadian that it may be classified as an early Akkadian dialect", although some of the names that appear in the tablets are Northwest Semitic.

Eblaite is considered an East-Semitic language which exhibits both West-Semitic and East-Semitic features. Grammatically, Eblaite is closer to Akkadian, but lexically and in some grammatical forms, Eblaite is closer to West-Semitic languages.

The language is known from about 15,000 tablets written with cuneiform script which have been found since the 1970s, mostly in the ruins of the city of Ebla.

References

Eblaite language Wikipedia

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