Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/795

* SUMERIAN LANGUAGE. G93 SUMMARY PROCEEDINGS. assumption that the Sumcrian language ever ex- isted. He first attempted to prove that the !>iiiiu'i'ian hiiiguaj^e did uut belong to the Tura- nian family and that the Turanian people can- not he supposed to have lived in Babylonia, and then maintained that the texts claimed to be Sumerian could be regarded as composed in an ideographic writing invented bj' the Assj'rians in addition to the phonetic system and having the same values in pronunciation. Of the Sumerian signs in the syllabarj-, he fcmnd Semitic values for 114. In 1870 Halevy modified his view by admitting that the Sumcrian signs could not have been pronoiuiccd like the ordinary Assyrian words. In his opinion, the so-called Sumerian was only a hieratic or priestly sj'stem of writing used as a cryptography for purposes of conceal- ment. "It was made from the other not only by the peculiar choice of ideograms, but by the apocopation of the closing vowel or syllable, changes of vowels and consonants, transpositions of syllables, and transfers of rarer meanings to conunon forms. Consequently it was to be re- garded not only as a priestly system of writ- ing, but as an artificial language constructed for certain occult purposes. Against this theory es- pecially Oppert and Lenormant, Sayce, and Schrader urged many argvunents, such as the im- possibility of finding real Semitic values for the Sumerian signs and the improbability of an artificial language having been created as a seci'et means of communication between priests and tlien used for inscriptions in which kings recount tlieir victories and their building enterprises. In ISSO Haupt indicated the existence of two dia- lects, Emeku and Einesal, of the Sumerian as shown by certain differences observed by earlier scholars without full appreciation of their sig- nificance. Even in view of this fact, explained by Hal6vy as due to varieties of cryptography, the difficulty of classifying the Sumerian, the apparent silence of the monuments concerning a nation speaking this language and conquered by the Babylonians, and the manifest influence of the Semitic speech on the vocabulary, led some scholars to hesitate. Meanwhile the study of the Sumerian, on the assumption that it was a real language, continued. Lehmann's investiga- tions rendered it pi'ob.able that the native name of the people speaking this language was Hhumcri and that their home was in South Babylonia, in distinction from the Akkadi. who were the Sem- ites and had their centre in North Babylonia. The Sumerian is found in bilingual syllabaries and word-lists, bilingual hymns and prayers, bilingual inscriptions of kings, and many unilin- gual inscriptions. Of these the earliest show the least evidence of a Semitic influence. These are in the Emeku dialect. Those in the Emcsal dia- lect naturally reveal more traces of the Semitic vernacular. Even within the Emeku dialectical differences have been observed, and the E memalah may represent a dialect spoken in Jliluhha. (See Mix.E.j,"s. ) Sumerian loan-words in the As- syrians—of which Leander has counted 217 — are taken from the Emeku dialect. The Sumerian is made up of monosyllabic roots and shows no ten- dency to triliterality : it is fond of compounds, which are rarely found in the Semitic languages, and expands its nouns by many prefixes and suf- fixes ; it has no gender. The plural is often formed by duplication, as kur-kur, 'lands,' si-si, 'horns,' and sometimes by inij the genitive is sometimes expressed by the suffix gc or gid ; in- stead of prepositions it has post-positions, such as -sliii, 'to,' -/(/, "from,' -du, 'with;' the pronouns are either independent or pronominal suffixes, but altogether <lifferent from the Semitic; the nu- merals resemble the Semitic only in making the twenties, thirties, etc., in the plural while the forms are entirely different; the verb has prac- tic-ally the same derived stems as the Semitic and Hamitic, but has a greater variety of prefixes, infixes, and suffixes. The attempts to discover the affinities of this language have not yet been successful, but it is probably the oldest known language in the world. From the Smuerian vo- cabulary it is evident that the people who spoke this language had reached a comparatively high civilization. The sexagesimal system was in vogue, and the beginnings of astronomy and mathematics are with much plausibility ascribed to the race who spoke the lishdi) SItumiri or Sumerian language. BiiiLioGK.iriiY. Lenormant, Lettres assyri- oloyiqucs (Paris, 1874); Hal^^vy, Recherches critiques sur I'origine de la civilisation baby- lonienne (ib., 187G) ; Delitzsch, Assyrische Grammatik (Berlin, 1880) ; id., Assyrisches Handwiirterbuch (Leipzig, 1890); id., Entste- hung des <ihylonien}ir ( Paris, 1882) ; Zimmern, Bubylonische Busspstilmen (Leipzig, 188.5) ; Lehmann, Skamash-shinii-iikin (ib., 1892) ; Hommel. Humerische Lesestiieke (Munich, 1894) ; Weissbach, Die sumerische Frage (Leipzig, 1898) ; Radau, Early His- tory of Babylonia (Oxford, 1000); Hi'lprecht, Old Babylonian Inscriptions (Philadelpliia, 1898) ; De Sarzee and Heuzy, Decourerfes en Chaldee (Paris, 1890, et seq.) ;"Eogers, History of Babylonia (New York, 1902) ; Barton, A Sketch of Semitic Origins (ib., 1902). SUMIDA-GAWA, soT/me-da-ga'wa. A river in tlie island of Hondo. .Japan, rising northwest of Tokio on the border of the provinces of .Mu- sashi and Kai, and entering the Bay of Tokio, after a course of some 00 miles. It is navigable for small boats. In Tokio it is a place of popu- lar resort. On its banks are tea-houses, temples, and the great avenue of cherry trees at Muko- jima. It is crossed by numerous bridges. In July it is the scene of a great festival called 'river opening,' when the tea-houses are illumi- nated, a great display of fireworks is given, and the river is covered with gayly decorated boats filled with jileasnre parties, SUMMARY PROCEEDINGS (from Lat sunima, main thing, substance, sum. fem. sg. of siimmus. superlative assigned to snprr. ai)ove. over). Proceedings in the nature of trials which are conducted before judicial officers without juries, and in a speedy and peremptory manner. Such proceedings must be specially autliorized by statute, as they are not sanctioned by the com- mon law. The Federal Constitutional guaranty of the right to trial by jury does not extend to such civil and criminal cases as were not triable by jury at common law. thu"; leaving the States free to dispose of such cases by summary proceedings