Ugaritic language
The
Ugaritic language is only known in the form of writings found in the lost city of
Ugarit in
Syria since its discovery by
French archaeologists in
1928. It has been extremely important for scholars of the
Old Testament in clarifying
Hebrew texts and has revealed more of how
Judaism used common phrases, literary idioms, and expressions employed by surrounding
pagan cultures.
Ugaritic was "the greatest literary discovery from antiquity since the deciphering of the Egyptian hieroglyphs and Mesopotamian cuneiform". Literary texts discovered at Ugarit include the "Legend of Keret", the "Aqhat Epic" (or "Legend of Danel"), the "Myth of Baal-Aliyan", and the "Death of Baal", all revealing a Canaanite mythology.
Ugaritic was a
Semitic language written in
cuneiform that was adapted for use as an
alphabet. This Ugaritic alphabet, among the oldest that has been discovered, is different from all other cuneiform writings insofar as it is an alphabet rather than a
syllabary. The so-called long alphabet has 30 different letters, while the short alphabet has 22. (See the
Ugaritic alphabet for an illustration.) To the casual observer, it appears very similar in appearance to Akkadian or Assyrian writing.
The Ugaritic language is attested in texts from the 14th through the 12th century BC. The city was destroyed in 1180/70 BC.
Ugaritic was used by a
Canaanite culture, and the use of the term 'Canaanite' to refer to the Ugaritic language is sometimes found. It is closely related to the
Canaanite languages. However, from the perspective of
linguistic taxonomy, it is not viewed as a
Canaanite language mainly because of the absence of the
Canaanite ā ' ō shift; rather, it is a close relative of the proto-language from which the languages termed
Canaanite descend, and was spoken at about the same time as that language.
* at p. 99.
*One edition of the mythological texts is This contains Latin-alphabet
transliterations of the Ugaritic texts and facing translations in English.
*A much more affordable and up-to-date edition of many of the Ugaritic texts (including introductions, transcriptions, English translations, and notes) is
*The most recent and also the most extensive dictionary of the Ugaritic language in English is: (2 vols), (originally in Spanish, translated by W.G.E. Watson).
*Grammars: The most complete grammar presently available is: J. Tropper, Ugartische Grammatik, AOAT 273, Münster, Ugarit Verlag, 2000. A more concise grammar: .
*
Ugarit*
Ugaritic alphabet*
Kadash Kinahnu: Complete Directory (Contains the complete version of the Ugaritic Baʻal cycle – based on various translations – in frames mode and no frames mode. Search on "Baʻal".)
*
Ugarit and the Bible (An excerpt from an online introductory course on Ugaritic grammar (the Quartz Hill School of Theology's course noted in the links below); includes a cursory discussion on the relationship between Ugaritic and Old Testament/Hebrew Bible literature.)
*
BBCi website: "El in the Ugaritic tablets" gives many attributes of the Ugaritic creator and his consort Athirat.*
Abstract of Mark Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Text.*
Introduction to Ugaritic Grammar (Quartz Hill School of Theology)
*
Unicode Chart
