Editing Code of Hammurabi (section)

==Language==
[[File:Code of Hammurabi IMG 1937.JPG|thumb|alt=Cuneiform on the stele. Refer to adjacent text|The text. The arrangement of the Code's [[cuneiform]] was antiquated when it was written.]]
The laws are written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian. Their style is regular and repetitive, and today they are a standard set text for introductory Akkadian classes.{{sfnp|Richardson|2004|p=7}} However, as A. Leo Oppenheim summarises, the [[cuneiform]] signs themselves are "vertically arranged{{nbsp}}... within boxes placed in bands side by side from right to left", an arrangement already antiquated by Hammurabi's time.{{sfnp|Oppenheim|1977|p=240}}

The laws are expressed in [[casuistic]] format: they are [[conditional sentences]] with the case detailed in the protasis ("if" [[clause]]) and the [[legal remedy|remedy]] given in the apodosis ("then" clause). The protasis begins {{lang|akk|šumma}}, "if",{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=8}} except when it adds to circumstances already specified in a previous law (e.g. laws 36, 38, and 40).{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=88}} The [[preterite]] is used for simple past verbs in the protasis, or possibly for a simple conditional.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=8}} The [[perfect (grammar)|perfect]] often appears at the end of the protasis after one or more preterites to convey sequence of action, or possibly a hypothetical conditional.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=8}} The [[durative]], sometimes called the "present" in Assyriology, may express intention in the laws.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=8}} For ease of English reading, some translations give preterite and perfect verbs in the protasis a present sense.{{sfnmp|1a1=Roth|1y=1995a|2a1=Van De Mieroop|2y=2016|2loc=chapters 6–7}} In the apodosis, the verbs are in the durative, though the sense varies between permissive—"it is permitted that ''x'' happen"—and instructive—"''x'' must/will happen".{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=7–8}} In both protasis and apodosis, sequence of action is conveyed by suffixing verbs with {{lang|akk|-ma}}, "and".{{sfnp|Huehnergard|2011|pp=49–50}} {{lang|akk|-ma}} can also have the sense "but".{{sfnp|Huehnergard|2011|p=50}}

The Code is relatively well-understood, but some items of its vocabulary are controversial.{{vague|date=March 2023}} As mentioned, the terms {{lang|akk|awīlum}} and {{lang|akk|muškēnum}} have proved difficult to translate. They probably denote respectively a male member of a higher and lower social class.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=8–9}} Wolfram von Soden, in his ''[[Akkadisches Handwörterbuch]]'', proposed that {{lang|akk|muškēnum}} was derived from {{lang|akk|šukênum}}, "to bow down/supplicate".{{sfnp|von Soden|1972|p=684}} As a word for a man of low social standing, it has endured, possibly from a Sumerian root, into Arabic ({{lang|ar|miskīn}}), Italian ({{lang|it|meschino}}), Spanish ({{lang|es|mezquino}}), and French ({{lang|fr|mesquin}}).{{sfnp|Wohl|1968|p=6}} However, some earlier translators, also seeking to explain the {{lang|akk|muškēnum}}'s special treatment, translated it as "leper" and even "noble".{{sfnp|Johns|1914|p=76}} Some translators have supplied stilted readings for {{lang|akk|awīlum}}, such as "seignior",{{sfnp|Meek|1958|pp=139ff}} "elite man",{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016}} and "member of the aristocracy";{{sfnp|Bottéro|1992|p=166}} others have left it untranslated.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=76ff}} Certain legal terms have also proved difficult to translate. For example, {{lang|akk|dīnum}} and {{lang|akk|dīttum}} can denote the law in general as well as individual laws, verdicts, divine pronouncements and other phenomena.{{sfnmp|1a1=Kraus|1y=1960|1p=285|2a1=Roth|2y=1995b|2p=20|3a1=Charpin|3y=2010|3p=72}} {{lang|akk|mīšarum}} can likewise denote the law in general as well as a kind of royal decree.{{sfnmp|1a1=Kraus|1y=1960|1p=294|2a1=Finkelstein|2y=1961|3a1=Charpin|3y=2010|3p=72}}