Product Description

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages is the first comprehensive reference work treating all of the languages of antiquity. Clear and systematic in its approach, the Encyclopedia combines full linguistic coverage of all the well-documented ancient languages, representing numerous language families from around the globe. Each chapter focuses on an individual language or, in some instances, a set of closely related varieties of a language. Providing a full descriptive presentation, each of these chapters examines the writing system(s), phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon of that language, and places the language within its proper linguistic and historical context. The Encyclopedia brings together an international array of scholars, each a leading specialist in ancient language study. While designed primarily for linguistic professionals and students, this work is invaluable to all whose studies take them into the realm of ancient language. Roger D. Woodard is the Andrew V.V. Raymond Professor of Classics at the State University of New York, Buffalo. He previously served on the faculties of Classics and/or Linguistics at the University of Southern California, Johns Hopkins University and Swarthmore College. Among his other books are Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer: A Linguistic Interpretation of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet (Oxford, 1997) and co-author of Ovid's Fasti ( Penguin, 2000). He is a member of the Linguistic Society of America and the American Philological Association.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #981627 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1182 pages

Review
"Woodard has done the scholarly world a great service. [...]This book fills a distinct void...Highly recommended." Library Journal

"Written and organized clearly and concisely, this scholarly work contains a wealth of information about the languages of antiquity...Essential." Choice

About the Author
Roger D. Woodard is the Andrew V. V. Raymond Professor of the Classics at the University of Buffalo. Among his other books are Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer: A Linguistic Interpretation of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet (1997, Oxford); Ovid's Fasti (with A. J. Boyle, 2000, Penguin); and On Interpreting Morphological Change (1990, Gieben).

Customer Reviews

Absolutely magnificent. A bit heavy on the Semitic though
This book is probably the most comprehensive work on the languages of the ancient world, including even the only recently-deciphered Epi-Olmec script of Mesoamerica.

However, there is no good definition provided of what is 'ancient' and what is not: should Old Japanese and Old Korean have been included? What about Old Nubian?

Surely more could've been written about some of the as-yet undeciphered ancient languages, such as Rongorongo, Meroitic, Linear A, Zapotec, and the Indus script?

It's also a bit heavy on Semitic languages: while some languages are grouped with other languages into a single chapter for all of them, each of the ancient Semitic languages has a separate chapter.

Some of the ancient languages of Asia, Africa, and the Americas are omitted completely.

great reference for an experienced linguist
As a reference book for an experienced linguist, this book might be excellent. However, I have no formal training in linguistics analysis, so this book did not support me as much as a beginner would need. In particular, some terms were not explained, but I found these within a dictionary and then continued. The histories of each language and the overviews of current understandings about the language's translations were thorough and quite interesting. You rarely see dozens of pages explaining the translations of the more common Egyptian hieroglyphs. It was organized well and the only other improvement I would suggest would be to insert more writing examples with their translations. Marvelous.

Beyond Incredible
This book is an invaluable tool for anyone with a passion in ancient philology and linguistics. If you have scoured the internet for information on obscure ancient languages only to find meager tidbits, or if you have been overwhelmed by grammars that are too large and too detailed to be any use, this book will solve your problems. It is certainly a book for the serious student, someone who takes the time to learn the basics of phonetics, morphology, and syntax, but with these easily obtainable keys, the Encyclopedia is a true treasure. It provides enough information to satisfy curiosity, but it does not become so heavy on details that one gets lost in the text; and, if you want to pursue the language further, the recommended texts section at the end of each chapter provides plenty of resources.