Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World (120 page)

and Queen Cleopatra 131

sacred language 93-96, 98, 100-101, 110, 520

script 94
n
, 97

similarity to Hebrew 110

spread of 95, 97-98, 102-105, 108, 111-112, 134, 141, 149, 164-165, 209, 212, 260, 377, 490, 528
n
, 536, 547, 554

Arabs, and Egypt 164-165, 260

Aragon 99, 332

Aram 35
n
, 64, 80, 83

Aramaeans 43-44, 64-66, 111, 164

Aramaic
12, 13, 21, 22, 35, 35
n
, 38, 47-50, 57, 80, 250, 335, 536

alphabetic script 63-64

chancery language 269, 517, 548

in China 141

and Christianity 88-90, 90
n
, 111

coins 247, 249

and Egypt 129-132, 149, 164-165

Imperial 80-81

inscriptions 83-85, 249

and Iran 108

and Islam 88
n
, 97

as lingua franca 246, 258

overtakes Akkadian 60-61, 63, 65-68, 70, 76, 78

pronunciation 81

related to
Arabic
93, 110

supplanted by
Greek
as language of Persia 85

written interlingua 82

Arcadia 236

Arcado-Cyprian dialects of Greek
236

Archaeology 31, 46
n
, 67, 124-129, 136, 281, 290, 357

Ardashir, king of Persia 259

Argentina 339, 372

Nonconformist Welsh 93

Aristophanes 551

Aristotle 265, 278

Armenia 41, 88, 93, 96, 241, 269

Armenian
24
n
, 43, 300
n
, 434, 435, 442

alphabet 88

Arnold, Matthew 516
n

Arphaxad, Hebrew ancestor 35
n

Arrian, Greek historian 272

Arsaces, Parthian king 85

Arsames, Persian governor 83

Artaxerxes, king of Persia 82

Arte de la Lengua General …del Perú
334, 346

Arthur, legendary king 461

Arthurian legends 313

Arwadites 35
n

Aryan languages
41, 176-178, 187-190, 195-198, 212
n
, 216-217, 223

Aryāvarta 186-187

Ashdod 129

Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria 32, 54, 59

Asia

English
505, 513, 528

French empire 417

immigration 535

Iranian languages
109

Persian 108

Portuguese empire 385-390, 496

Roman rule 252

Turkic languages 107

Asia Minor 12, 295

Aśoka, emperor 84, 151, 178, 186-9, 197-9, 208, 215, 218, 220, 246, 503
n

Assamese 176

Asshur 35
n
, 61, 66

Asshurbanipal 56

Assyria 13, 30, 40, 42, 44, 46-47, 49, 56, 61-65, 111, 120, 423
n

deportations 65-66, 79

and Egypt 128-129, 164-165

Astrakhan 106, 427

Atahuallpa, Inca emperor 342-343, 356

Atatürk, Turkish priest 105
n

Athens 232-233, 242, 254
n

Attila, Hun general 106, 306

Atsuya, Washisu 449

Attic dialect of Greek
229-230, 231
n
, 271

Atticism 255-257, 329

literature 268

writers 254
n

Augustine (Saint), bishop of Hippo, 46, 75-76, 307
n
, 308

Augustus, Roman emperor 76, 259

Austin, Moses, US developer 490, 494

Australia 12, 19, 505-506, 508, 510, 514
n
, 535

Austria 448

Austro-Asiatic languages
201, 205

Austronesian 22, 205

Avars 41, 262, 306, 425

Avesta
scriptures 48, 96

Avienus, Roman poet 290

Aymara
357, 364, 368, 370

Ayvu Rapyta
361

Azerbaijan 93, 434-435, 443
n

Aztecs 1-4, 12, 15, 348, 351-355, 372

Babur, emperor 106, 212

Babylon 53, 55-57, 278

civilization 30, 50, 53, 56-57, 58-61, 63-64, 66, 70, 79-80, 82, 129, 165

dynasties 44, 47, 68

Kassite takeover 40-41, 55, 60, 62, 63

use of Akkadian 42, 61, 67
n
, 111, 130, 247

and Nimrod 35
n

origin of name 58

Talmud 90

Babylonia, Greek overlordship 245, 247

Bacchylides, Greek lyric poet 130

Bacon, Francis, English sage 328

Bactria 178, 257-258

Bactrian
48
n
, 108

Baghdad 101, 167

Bahasa Indonesia
403, 444, 532

Bairoch, P.510, 575-576
n
65

Bali 204, 207

Balkans 261, 424

and German 447

military catastrophe 273

population 260
n

Slav invasions 310, 423

spread of Slavic 275, 280, 309

Baltic states 429, 431, 432-433, 439, 442

Baluchistan 47

Bantu languages 9, 22, 23
n
, 103-104, 507, 532

Banu Hilal 100-101

Barbarians 158, 160, 167-170, 227, 228, 230, 232

Basa Perteges
(Dutch)
389
n

Basham, A.L. 216

Basil I, Byzantine emperor 262

Basque
301

Basques 290, 306
n

Basshar bin Burd, Persian poet 98

Batavi 398
n

Bayeux Tapestry 319

Bazin, Louis 139

Beal, Samuel 138
n

Becket, Thomas à, Norman bishop 408

Bedouin 93

Behistun, rock inscription 32, 57

Beijing 143, 144, 145, 151, 529

Beja
131
n

Belarus 425, 429, 431, 439, 443

Belgium 407, 418-419

Bengal/Bengali 149, 527
n
, 528, 530

Berber
(Tamazight) 127, 292, 307
n
, 412
n

Berbers 36, 97, 99-100

Bernardino, Brother Gaspar de San 388

Bhāgavad Gītā
195

Bible

Authorised version in English 473
n

Greek
Septuagint
248

Latin
Vulgate
294

New Testament 87

Matthew 87
n

Old Testament 31, 70

translations 472-473, 485, 521, 573
n
114, 574
n
24

see also
Hebrew
, scriptures

Bislama
508

Bismarck, Otto, German Chancellor 505

Bît Bazi 44

Bithia 76

Black et al 69
n

Boer War 399

Bogotá 341, 362, 366, 568
n
15

Bohairic dialect of Coptic
92

Bokhara 101

Bolivia 339, 357, 368, 370, 372

Book of Routes and Kingdoms
422
n

Borneo 507

Bosnian, William 399

Bosnians 430
n

Bourguiba, Habib, President of Tunisia 420

Bousquet, G.H. 402
n

Boutros Ghali, Boutros 420

Boxer, C.R. 396
n

Boyl, Father 365

Brahmi script 85
n
, 156;
see also
Indic scripts Brahui 39

Braudel, Fernand 85
n
, 110

Brazil 336, 373
n
, 374
n
, 380, 384, 385, 390-395, 444, 446, 480, 531

Brennus 293

Britain

bubonic plague/Black Death 313, 466-468, 518

and China 148-149

colonies 412, 415, 444, 482-484, 490-495, 505-511