The Dawn of Translation in Ancient Mesopotamia

Language Contact and Bilingualism

Ancient Mesopotamia offers the earliest example of language contact and
bilingualism. Sumerian, a language with no known relatives, is attested from
the 31st century BCE and its speakers were concentrated in the southern
lowlands. The East Semitic Akkadian language was spoken – at first only in the
north – from the 30th century BCE until the first century of the Common Era.

A Sumerian echo of the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel is found

in the legend “Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta.” the hymn “The Incantation of
Nudimmud” refers to a time of linguistic unity and describes the four corners
of the world with their languages as Shubur (the North), Hamazi (the East),
Martu (the West) and the harmonious union of Sumer & Akkad (Kengi & Urra)
with its two languages.
Interpretation and Translation

The primacy of the spoken word over the written text guaranteed the
existence of interpreters before translators. The earliest reference found to
translating / interpreting dates to the middle of the third millennium BCE, on a
clay tablet from Tell Abu Salabikh near the ancient city of Nippur in Iraq. The
Sumerian word ‘emebala’ in the text means ‘to interpret’ from the literal
combination of ‘eme’ (tongue, language) and ‘bala’ (to turn).

Tablets with commercial texts from the third millennium BCE mention
interpreters from places like Amurru (Syria) and Marhasi (Iran). A tablet from
Lagash with a text from around 2100 BCE lists fourteen translators of three
types: the aforementioned ‘emebala’ , ‘ugula emebala’ meaning ‘supervisor of
interpreters’ and ‘emebala kaskal’, ‘caravan interpreter.”

Translation from Sumerian into Akkadian was a major part of scribal activity in
ancient Mesopotamia, one that would last for longer than two millennia. At
the turn of the second millennium, the Sumerian language was probably no
longer spoken by a majority in the south, although for a further two thousand
years it survived as a literary and ceremonial language, somewhat like Latin in
Europe.

Languages of Trade
Among Mesopotamia’s maritime trading partners were Dilmun, Magan and
Meluhha. The last is widely considered to have been the Indus Valley
civilization known from the excavations at Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.

An inscription of Sargon of Akkad ( c. 2334–2284 BCE) refers to ships from

Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha docking in the quay of Akkad. Meluhha exported
copper, gold, wood and gem stones to Mesopotamia in exchange for
foodstuffs, cloths and oil.

A cylinder seal from the time of Sargon provides the evidence for a distinct
language of Meluhha which was used in Mesopotamia. The text reads: ‘Shu-
Ilishu emebal Meluhhaki’, meaning ‘Shu-Ilishu, translator of the Meluhha
language’.
 Shu-Ilishu emebal Meluhhaki

The scene on the seal contains several figures, including a seated one with a
headdress wearing a tunic and a smaller bearded figure (Shu-Ilishu) either
sitting on this one’s lap or to the side in the background, with a hand raised in
greeting. To the right, a large bearded man carrying an animal also gives a
hand greeting gesture. Next to him stands a woman holding a vase. To the left,
behind the seated figure, a kneeling man attends to a pot beneath two jars.

Two of the possible interpretations: A Meluhhan trade delegation is being

introduced to a Mesopotamian dignitary or brings offerings to the goddess
Ishtar. Whatever the interpretation, the scene demonstrates the importance of
the interpreter / translator in the commercial life of Sumer & Akkad.

Some rulers of Sumer were polyglots, such as Shulgi of Ur who reigned from c.
2029 – 1982 BCE (short chronology). On tablet number 11065 from the temple
library at Nippur, Shulgi boasts of his proficiency in the languages of
neighbouring lands: “Also I know the Martu language as well as I do the
Sumerian. (...) Also I know the Elamite language as well as I do the Sumerian
(...)”
Whatever the situation of spoken Sumerian between 2000 and 1700 BCE, this
era produced a vast quantity of literary texts and Sumerian-Akkadian lexical
lists, from the scribal school of Nippur in particular. From the middle of the
second millennium Akkadian replaced Sumerian as the language of diplomacy
and trade.

In this period, the term ‘emebala’ (language turner) was replaced by ‘inimbala’,
(word turner) which was eventually replaced by ‘targumannu,’ a term possibly
derived from the Nesite (Hittite) ‘tarkummai:’ The Akkadian ‘targumannu’ is
the source of Hebrew ‘meturgeman’; Arabic ‘tarjuman’ and Greek
‘dragoumanos’.
The Libraries of Ebla and Ugarit
The Ebla tablets are considered the earliest example of the systematic
translation of words and texts from one language to another. The Ebla tablets
are a collection of more than 1,800 complete clay tablets and 4,700 fragments
found in the archives of the ruins of Ebla at Tell Mardikh in Syria. The texts
date to the time between 2500 BCE and the destruction of the city around
2250 BCE.

Many of the tablets include both Eblaite and Sumerian texts with a basic
bilingual wordlist. There were also syllabaries providing the Eblaite
pronunciation of Sumerian words. The exclusively Sumerian tablets at Ebla are
lexical lists used for training scribes in cuneiform writing. The archives also
contain thousands of wordlists for training purposes and scratch pad tablets
for students, proving that Ebla was an important educational center.

A thousand years later, a glossary of Akkadian, Hurrian, Sumerian and Ugaritic

was used in the port city of Ugarit (Ra’s Shamra in Syria). Other languages
represented on the Ugarit tablets are Egyptian, Hurrian, Nesite (Hittite) and
various Semitic dialects of Canaan. Ugarit thrived from the middle of the
second millennium until its destruction at around 1200 BCE during the
mysterious Bronze Age Collapse.
Three Types of Translation
There were three types of translation in ancient Mesopotamia. Literal
translation occurs primarily in pedagogical texts. For three thousand years,
word lists were used to teach apprentice scribes the lexical items and their
cuneiform signs. The Sumerian words in these lists were accompanied by
literal, semantic Akkadian translations, including those on the Ebla tablets from
the middle of the third millennium right up until the death of written Sumerian
in the Seleucid period.

The second type, hermeneutic translation, is found mainly in scholarly texts.

Hermeneutic translation, which interprets the meaning of the text, thrived in
the first millennium.

The third type of translation involves ritual communication and non-verbal

expression. Hymnic liturgies in mainstream Emegir Sumerian and
lamentational liturgies in the Emesal dialect were performed for many
centuries after the last mother tongue speaker of Sumerian had

Akkadian translations of these may have served to explain the meaning of the
Sumerian lyrics to the performers but the texts also contain musical notation,
instructions for performance and subscripts indicating musical instruments.
Specific syllable sequences refer to the manner of vocal articulation and
delivery.

Akkadian was thus employed to orchestrate Sumerian texts for performances

that communicated through sound and symbol instead of semantics.

REFERENCES:
Chrobak, Marzena. For A Tin Ingot: The Archaeology of Oral Interpretation.
Przekładaniec. A Journal of Literary Translation Special Issue (2013): 87–101.
Delnero, Paul. Translating the Untranslatable: The Role of Akkadian in the
Sumerian Liturgical Tradition. Paul Delnero AOS Plenary Talk: Session on
Translation American Oriental Society Annual Meeting, Portland 18 March
2013. Nair, Jayakrishnan. The Indus Colony in Mesopotamia. Vermaak, P.S.
Guabba, the Meluhhan village in Mesopotamia, Journal for Semitics 17, no. 2
(2008): 553 – 570.