Elamite Names

Chapter 16 establishes conversion rules for Elamite personal names occurring in cuneiform texts from Babylonia. Elamite was the main language of southwestern Iran between approximately the 23rd and 4th century BCE and developed more or less contemporaneously with neighbouring Sumerian and later on with Akkadian. Elamite remains to our current knowledge an isolated language that is not fully understood yet. Since we are dealing in this chapter with a language that has no linguistic ties with the Mesopotamian languages, one should highlight the fact that Elamite onomastic conversions into Babylonian texts are actually transcriptions of Elamite personal names into Akkadian. The focus of the conversions is therefore on the language rather than on the historical period. Why? Even though this chapter will treat mainly Elamite names deriving from Neo-Babylonian sources, the general outlines for the conversion rule of Elamite names into Akkadian do not only apply for Neo-Babylonian texts, but also for Neo-Assyrian texts