Online Companion to Neo-Assyrian Inscriptions

2. Searching for Words/Phrases

If you research a specific term or try to identify a text fragment, you can use the online corpus's search function. You can search for specific words, phrases, or terms related to your research topic in both English (more information1) and Akkadian.

For more detailed instructions on how to search in RINAP online, see Eleanor Robson's guidelines on 'Searching the Oracc corpora', Oracc: The Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, Oracc, 2019.

 

Using the Search Tool with no Akkadian Language Skills
(Searching for Words/Names in the Translations)

>Type your search query into the search bar at the top of the web page.

>Use Underscores (_) for Multi-Word Queries: When searching for a group of words that form a phrase or term, it's essential to use underscores (_) between the words.
For example, if you want to search for the phrase "House of Succession," you would type it as "house_of_succession" in the search bar.

> Search for Akkadian names with no hyphens: Please refrain from using hyphens when using the search tool for Akkadian names. Hyphens may alter the search results, potentially omitting relevant matches.
For example, if you want to search for the name "Marduk-apla-iddina", you would type it as "Mardukaplaiddina" in the search bar.

 

Now it is your turn: Use the online corpus to answer the following questions.

 

Using the Search Tool with Akkadian Language Skills
(Searching for Transliterations, Sumerograms, and Cuneiform Signs)

> If you search for Transliterations, use hyphens (-) between the signs within a word, e.g. "ri-du-u2-ti".

>Use Underscores (_) for Multi-Word Queries: When searching for a group of words that form a phrase or term, it's essential to use underscores (_) between the words.
For example, if you want to search for the phrase "É ri-du-ú-t", you would type it as "E2_ri-du-u2-ti" in the search bar.

> For consonants in special characters you can either use Unicode (š) or non-Unicode (sz), e.g. you can either type "sza" or "ša" to find ša (=that).

> For vocals in special characters you can type in the normal character followed by the defining number, e.g. for (ú) type in (u2).

cuneiform sign 𒌋 𒌑 𒅇 𒌓 𒊓
transcription u ú ù u4 u5
type as u1 u2 u3 u4 u5

> Search Sumerograms/Logograms with capital letters, e.g. type E2 to find É (=house).

> Type sign names in capital letters, preceded by s: (s colon), e.g., s:ŠA₃ finds all occurrences of ŠÀ in logograms and syllabic writings lìb)

 

Now it is your turn: Use the online corpus to answer the following questions.

 

  1. Further information about Searching for English Words:
    The search engine understands the basics of English morphology so that if, for instance, you search for "king", it will find "king" and related words such as "kings" and "kingly". But it will not find words such as "asking", "speaking" or "waking" which contain the characters "king" but have nothing to do with monarchs (Robson 2019). Click here to return to the main text.