SUMERIAN (Language)
It is agglutinative in character, and totally different from the Semitic language of the Babylonians in northern Mesopotamia.
This language, with no known relationship to any other, has been assigned to the unclassifiable group of Turanian languages. Their vocabulary has, however, been largely deciphered through syllabaries and lists of names.
A Sumerian dictionary is currently being prepared, of which various volumes have been published, remaining unfinished to date (1998).
Currently he is Professor Emeritus and Curator of the Museum of Archeology at the University of Pennsylvania. Ref.: http://www.upenn.edu/museum/WhosWho/section s.html
The Sumerians are the first known civilization to use the cuneiform writing system, which would later be adapted by the Babylonians and adopted into their own languages.
Many tablets have been discovered in the Sumerian language, from Erech, Ur and other cities, among which are fragments of bilingual dictionaries, vocabularies and even student exercises.
Also found among these texts is the oldest legislative code, that of King Ur-Nammu, who was the first monarch of the third dynasty of Ur.
There are also tablets with formulas for ointments and syrups for the treatment of diseases, an agricultural almanac and the first known fables involving animals, ancient precursors of those of Aesop.