published. It is with the same regret that I am obliged to finish my labours without having had the advantage of consulting the two Papers by Dr. Schrader upon the Assyrian language, which are expected by readers of the "Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft." Before concluding, I would express my thanks to Mr. G. Smith, for his courtesy and kindness in enabling me to consult the original texts. The cuneiform has been throughout transliterated into Roman characters, partly because the original type would be at once expensive and cumbrous, and partly to facilitate the comparative studies of Semitic scholars who are disinclined to commit to memory the complicated Assyrian syllabary. I have avoided confusing my text with references, so far as was possible; and have only broken the rule in points where dispute might arise. QUEEN'S COLLEGE, Oxford, May 11th, 1872. A. H. SAYCE. = ABBREVIATIONS USED. W. A. I. Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, Vols. I., II., III. (the fourth volume containing translations of Accadian hymns, is expected to be published before the end of the year). S. H. A. Smith's History of Assur-bani-pal, 1871. = [In the transcription of Ethiopic words, shewa is denoted by ě and y.] PAGE V xiii The habitat and character of the Assyrian language Comparison of it with Hebrew, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Aramaic 1-3 Peculiarities of the Assyrian: the dialectic differences between How far Assyrian varied at different epochs, and in the mouths Notes to the above, filling up the details Traces of degeneracy in the language. Use of the masculine for the feminine not a mark of antiquity. 47 The Five Tenses; Permansive, Aorist, Perfect, Present, and The Aorist divided into the Apocopated, the Telic (ending in u), the Conditional (with a the Augment of Motion), and the Paragogic (with the mimmation); also the termination of the |