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The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary
2001-2002 Annual Report
Martha T. Roth
During 2001/2002 the staff of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (CAD) Project worked on the four remaining volumes of the dictionary, P, T, 
, and U/W. Martha T. Roth, the editor-in-charge, devoted most of her attention to the P and volumes.
The members of the editorial board, Professors Robert D. Biggs, John A. Brinkman, Miguel Civil, Walter Farber, Erica Reiner, Martha T. Roth, and Matthew W. Stolper, and our consultants, Professors Simo Parpola of the University of Helsinki and Klaas R. Veenhof of the University of Leiden, read and commented on the 1,108 first galleys of the P volume. Roth and research associate Tim Collins incorporated these comments into a corrected copy that was returned to Eisenbrauns, Inc., our typesetter. We have returned half of the first galleys, and those galleys have been set as page proofs. Additionally, Eisenbrauns has set all of the T volume as first galleys, and so both volumes are in press.
Roth, with the assistance of Collins, finished editing them volume. They examined the manuscript of each word, added new references, and made any necessary revisions. Linda McLarnan then edited the words for stylistic consistency and Edythe Seltzer input them. The edited words were also sent to Professor W. G. Lambert of Birmingham, England, for his comments and additions. When the manuscript was in final typescript, the staff and members of the editorial board checked all the references against the cuneiform texts cited, a time-consuming process that occupied everyone for most of the winter and spring quarters. This essential stage in the preparation of a volume provides two benefits. First, the accuracy of all entries is secured by confirming the dictionary citation against the original publication. Second, as the checkers examine texts by genre, often concentrating on their own areas of expertise, the entire volume is viewed through a series of unique cross sections, quite different from that seen by the draft writer or by the editor who works on one article at a time. For example, in checking all the medical texts, or all the Neo-Assyrian letters, or all the Old Babylonian real estate contracts, the checker will often rectify inconsistencies across the articles, or discover new correlations between texts.
When checking was completed, Roth then began reading the volume closely, evaluating all the changes, corrections, and suggestions that emerged from the checking process and from the comments of the outside consultants and of the members of the editorial board. She reads the volume with attention to content and substance rather than to technical details. This step aims for internal consistency and overall intelligibility. When she finishes the volume in the summer of 2002, we will input the corrections and send the volume to press in the autumn.
During 2001/2002 we have been assisted by visiting scholars Professor Hermann Hunger and Joan Westenholz and by research associates Tim Collins and Gertrud Farber. Hunger, visiting from the University of Vienna in summer 2001, devoted his time to writing articles for U/W including ubru "foreigner," 
mu "day," and untu "merchandise, equipment." Westenholz, on leave from her job as chief curator at the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem, was with us for the spring and summer of 2001 and wrote many articles including urû; "stable," utukku "demon," and uznu "ear." Collins wrote articles for the U/W volume, including su "arrow" and 
"meadow," and helped Roth with the editing of the volume. Farber assisted with checking the volume and with any queries involving lexical texts. Jay Munsch, a graduate student in the Divinity School, generously volunteered his time to the CAD during academic year 2001/2002.
In December, members of the CAD editorial board, along with the editor of the Hittite Dictionary Theo van den Hout and the Oriental Institute Director Gene Gragg and our families, were feted by our friends in the Chicago Assyrian community at a dinner graciously hosted by Dr. Norman Solhkhah. We hope to repay the hospitality of the CAD's friends and supporters when we host celebrations marking the publication of the final volume in 2006.
Revised: July 30, 2007
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