Diakonoff, I. M. Languages of Ancient Western Asia (Yazyki drevney Peredney Azii), 1967. In Russian.

И. М. Дьяконов.
Языки древней Передней Азии.
Москва: Наука, 1967.
492 с. Твердый издательский переплет. Обычный формат.
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I. M. Diakonoff.
Languages of Ancient Western Asia (Yazyki drevney Peredney Azii).
Moscow: Nauka, 1967.
492 pp. Publisher's hardcover. Standard format.

This 1967 monograph by the world-renowned assyriologist and sumerologist Igor Diakonoff is a monumental synthesis of Near Eastern linguistics. The text provides a deep dive into the internal logic of eleven ancient languages, including the arrangement of genetic and typological analyses that highlight both their unique structures and shared evolutionary traits. Diakonoff’s work is pioneering for its integration of linguistic data with ethnogenetic questions, providing a historical and cultural introduction for each language, followed by a detailed characterization of its writing system.  The volume is strictly structured into sections covering Non-Semitic languages (Sumerian, Elamite, Hurrian, and Hattic) and Semitic languages (Akkadian in its archaic and middle stages, Canaanite, Amorite, Ugaritic, Biblical Hebrew, and Old Aramaic). As a vital primary source, this volume documents the mid-20th century peak of the "Leningrad School" of Oriental studies, unified by Diakonoff's rigorous theoretical framework. The book also includes a valuable selection of primary texts for each language, making it an indispensable tool for philologists. It remains a significant bibliographical rarity for collectors of linguistics, Ancient Near East history, and scholarly first editions from the "Nauka" publishing house.