The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (CAD)

Martha Roth, Ph.D., Professor of Assyriology and Dean of Humanities, discusses the final volume of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, a comprehensive lexicon of ancient Akkadian dialects 86 years in the making. Roth has served as Editor-in-Charge of the project for the past 11 years.

RECORDED:
October 20, 2007
Audio: MP3
PUBLISHED: November 14, 2007
SERIES: Research at the University of Chicago

Iraq Museum Database - the Oriental Institute Iraq Museum Database project is a worldwide effort to document and recover the items looted from the museum in April, 2003.

The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, initiated in 1921 by James Henry Breasted, is compiling a comprehensive dictionary of the various dialects of Akkadian, the earliest known Semitic language that was recorded on cuneiform texts that date from c. 2400 B.C. to A.D. 100 which were recovered from archaeological excavations of ancient Near Eastern sites. The Assyrian Dictionary is in every sense a joint undertaking of resident and non-resident scholars from around the world who have contributed their time and labor over a period of seventy years to the collection of the source materials and to the publication of the Dictionary.

The CAD project began not long after James Henry Breasted founded the Oriental Institute in 1919, and barely one hundred years after the decipherment of the cuneiform script. This initial decipherment, and the soon-to-follow achievements in understanding the languages in which the hundreds of thousands of clay tablets were inscribed, opened an unsuspected treasure-house for the study and appreciation of one of the world's oldest civilizations.

The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary was conceived to provide more than lexical information alone, more than a one-to-one equivalent between Akkadian and English words. By presenting each word in a meaningful context, usually with a full and idiomatic translation, it recreates the cultural milieu and thus in many ways assumes the function of an encyclopedia. Its source material ranges in time from the third millennium B.C. to the first century A.D., and in geographic area from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Zagros Mountains in the east.

With sixteen of the projected twenty-one volumes published and the remaining volumes in various stages of preparation, with close to two million file cards - a database which is continually updated and which is accessible to scholars and students who wish to consult it - the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary has become an invaluable source for the study of the civilizations of the ancient Near East, their political and cultural history, their achievements in the sciences of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, linguistics, and the timeless beauty of their poetry.

Source: The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures at the University of Chicago

Assyrian Dictionary

The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (CAD) of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures at the University of Chicago

Editor-in-Charge:

Martha T. Roth

Editorial Board:

Robert D. Biggs
John A. Brinkman
Miguel Civil
Walter Farber
Erica Reiner
Martha T. Roth
Matthew W. Stolper

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Terms of Use: The electronic files are only to be distributed from the Oriental Institute's Web site. Individuals, libraries, institutions, and others may download one complimentary copy for their own personal use. Links to the Institute's website are welcomed.
© The University of Chicago.

Volume Pagination Date ISBN Price Purchase Download

Volume 1, A, part 1 xxxvi + 392 1964 0-918986-06-0 $60.00 Purchase Book Book Download PDF PDF, 42 MB

Volume 1, A, part 2 xx + 531 1968 0-918986-07-9 $80.00 Book PDF, 53 MB

Volume 2, B xviii + 366 1965 0-918986-08-7 $60.00 Book PDF, 37 MB

Volume 3, D xiv + 203 1959 0-918986-09-5 $50.00 Book PDF, 21 MB

Volume 4, E xiv + 435 1958 0-918986-10-9 $70.00 Book PDF, 44 MB

Volume 5, G xii + 158 1956 0-918986-11-7 $45.00 Book PDF, 15 MB

Volume 6, H <Het> xiii + 266 1956 0-918986-12-5 $50.00 Book PDF, 26 MB

Volume 7, I/J xv + 331 1960 0-918986-13-3 $60.00 Book PDF, 33 MB

Volume 8, K xix + 617 1971 0-918986-14-1 $80.00 Book PDF, 60 MB

Volume 9, L xx + 259 1973 0-918986-15-X $55.00 Book PDF, 26 MB

Volume 10, M, part 1 xxiv + 441 1977 0-918986-16-8 $130.00 Book PDF, 43 MB

Volume 10, M, part 2 xx + 324 1977 0-918986-16-8 † — PDF, 32 MB

Volume 11, N, part 1 xxiii + 382 1980 0-918986-17-6 $130.00 Book PDF, 38 MB

Volume 11, N, part 2 xxi + 357 1980 0-918986-17-6 † — PDF, 35 MB

Volume 12, P xxx + 559 2005 1-885923-35-X $130.00 Book PDF, 4 MB

Volume 13, Q xxiv + 332 1982 0-918986-24-9 $70.00 Book PDF, 32 MB

Volume 14, R xxx + 441 1999 1-885923-14-7 $95.00 Book PDF, 4 MB

Volume 15, S xxiv + 428 1984 0-918986-40-0 $80.00 Book PDF, 39 MB

Volume 16, S <Tsade> xv + 262 1962 0-918986-18-4 $65.00 Book PDF, 26 MB

Volume 17, S <Shin>, part 1 xxviii + 492 1989 0-918986-55-9 $75.00 Book PDF, 48 MB

Volume 17, S <Shin>, part 2 xxviii + 453 1992 0-918986-78-8 $70.00 Book PDF, 43 MB

Volume 17, S <Shin>, part 3 xxxiv + 420 1992 0-918986-79-6 $95.00 Book PDF, 39 MB

Volume 18, T xxx + 500 2006 1-885923-42-2 $145.00 Book PDF, 4 MB

Volume 19, T <Tet> xxxii + 167 2006 1-885923-43-0 $105.00 Book PDF, 2 MB

Volume 20, U/W xxxi + 411 2010 1-885923-78-3 $150.00 Book PDF, 4 MB

Volume 21, Z xv + 170 1961 0-918986-19-2 $45.00 Book PDF, 17 MB

† sold as set with part 1
Revised: April 13, 2011