Most Probably

Saying that something is likely, doubtful or merely imagined is one of the hardest things in any language to pin down, and Akkadian has long kept its secrets here. Nathan Wasserman brings fifteen years of work to the epistemic modal system of Old Babylonian, one of the best-documented periods of the language. He takes each modal word and particle in turn, setting out its etymology, syntax and usage across most of the Old Babylonian examples published so far.

The approach draws on philology, linguistics and psychology together, and Wasserman is candid that some questions remain open. What emerges is a clearly organised general picture of how judgement and estimation worked in the language, with real consequences for reading the texts themselves. A careful, serious monograph for Assyriologists, Semitists and linguists curious about how an ancient language handled uncertainty.