摘要
Not all topics can be treated in the same way. Some are too intimate or thorny to be discussed without precautions in our use of language. One of these topics is undoubtedly death, a timeless and placeless taboo in which psychological, religious, and social interdictions are embodied. The aim of this paper is to explore the linguistic devices that Akkadian speakers used to tone down the taboo and cope with death. To address the issue, written sources, belonging to different genres and time periods, are examined.
1. Introduction1Death, mankind’s unavoidable destiny, has been considered by humans from all eras and in all places, and our discomfort in dealing with death and dying connects us across historical and geographical divides.2 Following the example set by anthropologists, scholars in other fields have begun to realize the importance of studying the reactions of diferent civilizations to the eternal problem of death, both verbally and nonverbally. Among the classic studies on the subject, the work of Robert Hertz and Ernesto De Martino merits special mention.
