Amorite Names through Time and Space

Abstract

This article examines diachronic and geographical developments in the orthography and pronunciation of Amorite names. Specifically, it studies examples of scribal reanalyses and creative spellings of Amorite names through time, as well as changes in their pronunciation and the lag of orthography behind these changes. In addition to potentially improving our analyses of particular names, the phenomena considered here further support principles observed already by others, especially the principle that names undergo linguistic developments which are somewhat distinct from those which occur in common language, so that the use of names in the reconstruction of a dead language such as Amorite, for which we have no texts, should proceed with the utmost caution. Amorite names should, first and foremost, be used as a basis for studying Amorite onomastics before they are used as a basis for studying Amorite language.