A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language: Second Impression with Corrections

by Daniel Sivan

Sets out the phonology, morphology, and syntax of the North-West Semitic language discovered in 1929 and represented by about 1,250 texts from the 14th to the 12th centuries B.C. Sivan (Biblical Hebrew and North-West Semitic languages, Beer Sheva U.) Also discusses the orthography, each of the various parts of speech, and adverbial suffixes; and appends 24 texts. Revised and translated from the 1993 edition published in Beer Sheva. No subject index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Genres: Language

356 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Koen Crolla]

Much shorter than it looks, but that might just be because consonantal Ugaritic looks so much like consonantal Hebrew you can just keep all of the differences in your head even on a first quick pass-through—if you aren't already familiar with Biblical Hebrew, I can imagine this being much more of a slog. It's more or less assumed that you are, however, even if it isn't 100% required—frequent Bible quotes illustrating parallels and elucidating interpretations are always translated but never transcribed or explained in detail.
It is refreshing that Sivan doesn't feel the need to spend pages upon pages explaining what verb stems or construct states are, though.

[Robert Murphy]

I know no one else is the hopelessly in love language nerd that I am, but I'm going to pretend that you care. After getting hooked on Ugaritic by reading Basics of Ancient Ugaritic: A Concise Grammar, Workbook, and Lexicon, this book is a fantastic reference grammar. Sivan is opinionated and forthright but he cites all major alternate positions at every turn. The number and quality of examples is staggering. This book is a wonderful resource, sure to be useful for many years to come.

[Ahmed]

هذا الكتاب يثبت مقولة "لنا مدنية سلفت !" ,, لم يستطع الككاتب اخفاء عروبة الارض و اللغة و التاريخ وان حاول المقاربة بين اللغة الاوغاريتية و ما يسمى اللغة العبرية .
أن من اشد ما يؤخذ عىل الكاتب هو محاولته انكار و فصل وسلخ سكان أوغاريت عن الكنعانيين ,, كيف لا و صهيوني الفكر و التصرف .
على رغم من ذلك ظهر الحق و بانت عروبة اللهجات الكنعانية و الارامية و الاكادية ,, وبانت ضرورة اعادة قرائة و فك رموز هذه الاهجات على ضوء الابجدية الجديدة التي تم اكتشافها في رأس شمرا (أوغاريت ) ,, اجمالا الكتاب جيد و المادة العلمية غزيرة توعا ما
.
و أخيرا ان اللغة الاوغاريتية هي دليل على ان اللغة العبرية لغة مصطنعة بألفاظها و طرق نطقها و لهجتها .

[Kirk Lowery]

The best out there...but hideously expenseive.

[Philip Ryan]

An essential reference work for Ugaritic but accessible. I recommend using this and John Huehnegard's introduction.