Cuneiform
Holman Bible Dictionary [1]
cuneus
The cuneiform system of writing was adapted and developed to suit the requirements of several other languages, including Akkadian, Hurrian, Hittite, Elamite, and Eblaite. The people at Ugarit and the Persians used wedges to form their alphabetic scripts.
The decipherment of the cuneiform scripts of Mesopotamia was aided by the existence of trilingual inscriptions, such as the Behistun Rock inscriptions written in Persian, Babylonian, and Elamite cuneiform. The decipherment of the Persian written in an alphabetic cuneiform opened the way for the decipherment of the more difficult syllabic Babylonian and Elamite scripts. Due to the pioneering efforts of H. Rawlinson, E. Hincks, and J. Oppert and others, by the end of the nineteenth century it was possible to read with confidence the cuneiform inscriptions known up to that time.
The decipherment of the Ugaritic alphabetic cuneiform script was accomplished simultaneously but independently by H. Bauer, E. Dhorme, and Ch. Virolleaud in 1930-31. Unlike any other cuneiform writing, Ugaritic consists of thirty-one signs or characters used to record documents in a language similar to Phoenician and Hebrew. The Ugaritic inscriptions and documents date from the fourteenth century and are of crucial importance for the study of the Bible. See Akkadian; Assyrian; Babylonian; Sumerian; Writing .
Thomas Smothers
Webster's Dictionary [2]
(1): (n.) Alt. of Cuniform
(2): (a.) Alt. of Cuniform
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [3]
Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Cuneiform'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/c/cuneiform.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
