Ḫ > Ḥ in Assyria and Babylonia

Abstract

Conclusions The available evidence suggests that H > Ḥ occurred later in Babylonia than in Assyria, in both Akkadian and Aramaic. In Assyria, it seems to have occurred-for some speakers, at least-before 669 BCE; in Babylo­nia it seems to have occurred after 510-with some evidence pointing to the early /mid-fifth century BCE and other evidence pointing to the first century BCE or CE. The geographic difference is reflected in two Akka­dian loanwords in Amherst 63: Aram. i1r1El from Assyria written with Demotic l:i and Aram. i:mm from Babylonia written with Demotic b.