Ola Wikander
@olawikander.bsky.social
Lundensian. Ugaritologist, Hebraist, Semitist, part IE-ist, author. PhD & Reader/Senior Lecturer, Lund. Ex Pro Futura fellow (Uppsala & Cambridge).
Ordained in a rare religion.
Abyssum per Sapientiam Linguā Incarnandō.
Ola-Wikander-eng.se
Ordained in a rare religion.
Abyssum per Sapientiam Linguā Incarnandō.
Ola-Wikander-eng.se
Pinned
Ola Wikander
@olawikander.bsky.social
· Nov 18
Thread of all my currently published books! (1/x):
First:
"Unburning Fame: Horses, Dragons, Beings of Smoke, and Other Indo-European Motifs in Ugarit and the Hebrew Bible" (2017)
and
"Drought, Death, and the Sun in Ugarit and Ancient Israel: A Philological and Comparative Study" (2014)
First:
"Unburning Fame: Horses, Dragons, Beings of Smoke, and Other Indo-European Motifs in Ugarit and the Hebrew Bible" (2017)
and
"Drought, Death, and the Sun in Ugarit and Ancient Israel: A Philological and Comparative Study" (2014)
Will [Normal OT/HB Studies Journal X] like my long, highly specialized comp-phil-ish article with phonology and materials from numerous different linguistic families which still ends up in a sort of "theological" argument (in the academic sense of the word)? Hmm... questions...
November 26, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Will [Normal OT/HB Studies Journal X] like my long, highly specialized comp-phil-ish article with phonology and materials from numerous different linguistic families which still ends up in a sort of "theological" argument (in the academic sense of the word)? Hmm... questions...
Reposted by Ola Wikander
Ugaritic phrase of the day:
spr ẓlm ("document of shades").
Pictured: Jonas Brun's wonderful novel "Skuggland" ("Shadowland"). A personal favorite of mine. So, so sad, though...
spr ẓlm ("document of shades").
Pictured: Jonas Brun's wonderful novel "Skuggland" ("Shadowland"). A personal favorite of mine. So, so sad, though...
November 19, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Ugaritic phrase of the day:
spr ẓlm ("document of shades").
Pictured: Jonas Brun's wonderful novel "Skuggland" ("Shadowland"). A personal favorite of mine. So, so sad, though...
spr ẓlm ("document of shades").
Pictured: Jonas Brun's wonderful novel "Skuggland" ("Shadowland"). A personal favorite of mine. So, so sad, though...
Just heard on YouTube:
"Greek is a more philosophical language, so Greek-speakers thought in more metaphysical categories [...] Latin is a more legal language, so Latin-speakers thought in categories of morality and authority".
Ugh.
"Greek is a more philosophical language, so Greek-speakers thought in more metaphysical categories [...] Latin is a more legal language, so Latin-speakers thought in categories of morality and authority".
Ugh.
November 26, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Just heard on YouTube:
"Greek is a more philosophical language, so Greek-speakers thought in more metaphysical categories [...] Latin is a more legal language, so Latin-speakers thought in categories of morality and authority".
Ugh.
"Greek is a more philosophical language, so Greek-speakers thought in more metaphysical categories [...] Latin is a more legal language, so Latin-speakers thought in categories of morality and authority".
Ugh.
We need to talk about Swedish TTRPGs
YouTube video by Weird Place
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Ola Wikander
Mina två senaste (2025 och 2024); trots genreskillnaden är familjelikheten större än man kunde tro!
/ My two latest books (2025 and 2024, respectively); despite the difference in genre, the family resemblance is greater than one might think!
/ My two latest books (2025 and 2024, respectively); despite the difference in genre, the family resemblance is greater than one might think!
November 23, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Mina två senaste (2025 och 2024); trots genreskillnaden är familjelikheten större än man kunde tro!
/ My two latest books (2025 and 2024, respectively); despite the difference in genre, the family resemblance is greater than one might think!
/ My two latest books (2025 and 2024, respectively); despite the difference in genre, the family resemblance is greater than one might think!
Mina två senaste (2025 och 2024); trots genreskillnaden är familjelikheten större än man kunde tro!
/ My two latest books (2025 and 2024, respectively); despite the difference in genre, the family resemblance is greater than one might think!
/ My two latest books (2025 and 2024, respectively); despite the difference in genre, the family resemblance is greater than one might think!
November 23, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Mina två senaste (2025 och 2024); trots genreskillnaden är familjelikheten större än man kunde tro!
/ My two latest books (2025 and 2024, respectively); despite the difference in genre, the family resemblance is greater than one might think!
/ My two latest books (2025 and 2024, respectively); despite the difference in genre, the family resemblance is greater than one might think!
Reposted by Ola Wikander
Parthian word of the day
/dašt/ "desert, plain"
as in Sundermann, MKG, 799-801
/aδyān až dūr maδyān dašt kadag ēw wēnēndēh/
"then from far away he sees a house in the middle of the plain"
/wēn-ēndēh/ is optative, a so-called "parabolic optative," on which see Durkin-Meisterernst, Gramm., §810
/dašt/ "desert, plain"
as in Sundermann, MKG, 799-801
/aδyān až dūr maδyān dašt kadag ēw wēnēndēh/
"then from far away he sees a house in the middle of the plain"
/wēn-ēndēh/ is optative, a so-called "parabolic optative," on which see Durkin-Meisterernst, Gramm., §810
November 19, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Parthian word of the day
/dašt/ "desert, plain"
as in Sundermann, MKG, 799-801
/aδyān až dūr maδyān dašt kadag ēw wēnēndēh/
"then from far away he sees a house in the middle of the plain"
/wēn-ēndēh/ is optative, a so-called "parabolic optative," on which see Durkin-Meisterernst, Gramm., §810
/dašt/ "desert, plain"
as in Sundermann, MKG, 799-801
/aδyān až dūr maδyān dašt kadag ēw wēnēndēh/
"then from far away he sees a house in the middle of the plain"
/wēn-ēndēh/ is optative, a so-called "parabolic optative," on which see Durkin-Meisterernst, Gramm., §810
Ugaritic phrase of the day:
spr ẓlm ("document of shades").
Pictured: Jonas Brun's wonderful novel "Skuggland" ("Shadowland"). A personal favorite of mine. So, so sad, though...
spr ẓlm ("document of shades").
Pictured: Jonas Brun's wonderful novel "Skuggland" ("Shadowland"). A personal favorite of mine. So, so sad, though...
November 19, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Ugaritic phrase of the day:
spr ẓlm ("document of shades").
Pictured: Jonas Brun's wonderful novel "Skuggland" ("Shadowland"). A personal favorite of mine. So, so sad, though...
spr ẓlm ("document of shades").
Pictured: Jonas Brun's wonderful novel "Skuggland" ("Shadowland"). A personal favorite of mine. So, so sad, though...
Oh, I just happened to begin writing a new article (on a debated issue of Ugaritic morphosyntax). Just kinda fell into it :-)
November 15, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Oh, I just happened to begin writing a new article (on a debated issue of Ugaritic morphosyntax). Just kinda fell into it :-)
ʾăḏāvaḥŏkkis(ĕ)...?
November 14, 2025 at 11:14 PM
ʾăḏāvaḥŏkkis(ĕ)...?
Doing a new rewatch of SPOP. And man, how damaged Catra is. Like, she seriously needs treatment... I'd honestly forgotten how disturbed she is around seasons 3 and 4.
November 14, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Doing a new rewatch of SPOP. And man, how damaged Catra is. Like, she seriously needs treatment... I'd honestly forgotten how disturbed she is around seasons 3 and 4.
Editing myself, so to speak. This article has sure grown! Wrote the basic thing in Rome in April and May, but lots of stuff has been added since then. There's Hebrew, Ugaritic, Sam'alian, Hittite, and Luwian in there.
November 12, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Editing myself, so to speak. This article has sure grown! Wrote the basic thing in Rome in April and May, but lots of stuff has been added since then. There's Hebrew, Ugaritic, Sam'alian, Hittite, and Luwian in there.
Got laffs in the thread about the terminology, but I will say that the idea of "modus energicus" (albeit a bit nebulous) is very badass. I remember starting Hebrew as an adolescent, reading in Engnell's grammar that Hebrew had "jussive, cohortative and remnants of the energicus" – that blew my mind!
Probably a nun energicum.
November 12, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Got laffs in the thread about the terminology, but I will say that the idea of "modus energicus" (albeit a bit nebulous) is very badass. I remember starting Hebrew as an adolescent, reading in Engnell's grammar that Hebrew had "jussive, cohortative and remnants of the energicus" – that blew my mind!
New book on Indo-European Afterlives (dowloadable as an Open Access PDF)! :
www.stockholmuniversitypress.se/books/e/10.1...
www.stockholmuniversitypress.se/books/e/10.1...
Indo-European Afterlives | Stockholm University Press
<p>This volume brings together scholars from archaeology, historical linguistics and comparative mythology to explore how early Indo-European communities imagined death and what lies beyond. From poet...
www.stockholmuniversitypress.se
November 12, 2025 at 10:14 PM
New book on Indo-European Afterlives (dowloadable as an Open Access PDF)! :
www.stockholmuniversitypress.se/books/e/10.1...
www.stockholmuniversitypress.se/books/e/10.1...
"It could not have been lit but for the builders and the tragedians, and there I found it this morning, burning anew among the old stones."
November 12, 2025 at 9:39 PM
"It could not have been lit but for the builders and the tragedians, and there I found it this morning, burning anew among the old stones."
Ugaritic word of the day:
tšʕlynh ("she lifted it/him/her up").
tšʕlynh ("she lifted it/him/her up").
November 12, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Ugaritic word of the day:
tšʕlynh ("she lifted it/him/her up").
tšʕlynh ("she lifted it/him/her up").
People today must be metaphysical idealist monists, given how much they refer to an "absolute unit"...
November 12, 2025 at 3:37 AM
People today must be metaphysical idealist monists, given how much they refer to an "absolute unit"...
My own copies have arrived / författarexen anlända!
November 9, 2025 at 2:50 PM
My own copies have arrived / författarexen anlända!
Ugaritic word of the day:
Ugaritic word of the day:
ʾiqnʾu ("lapis lazuli", "lapis lazuli-colored", "blue", "violet blue", "purple").F
Ugaritic word of the day:
ʾiqnʾu ("lapis lazuli", "lapis lazuli-colored", "blue", "violet blue", "purple").F
November 8, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Ugaritic word of the day:
Ugaritic word of the day:
ʾiqnʾu ("lapis lazuli", "lapis lazuli-colored", "blue", "violet blue", "purple").F
Ugaritic word of the day:
ʾiqnʾu ("lapis lazuli", "lapis lazuli-colored", "blue", "violet blue", "purple").F
Nya boken "Den undflyende ormen" uppmärksammad av Hedengrens i Sthlm:
www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Nya boken "Den undflyende ormen" uppmärksammad av Hedengrens i Sthlm:
www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
Reposted by Ola Wikander
16) the best historical pronunciation of Hebrew is the Provençal one, for the sheer audacity of its consonant shifts.
sorry, I mean:
fe beff hiftorical pronunfiasing of Hebrew iv fe Provençal wung, fokh fe seekh audafity of iff confonanf siff.
sorry, I mean:
fe beff hiftorical pronunfiasing of Hebrew iv fe Provençal wung, fokh fe seekh audafity of iff confonanf siff.
![The very unusual pronunciation tradition of Hebrew can be seen in these examples: the characteristic pronunciation of Hebrew ṯ, s, ś, ṣ, and word-final ṭ and ḏ as [f], z as [v], and š as [s], word-final r as [χ], and syllable-final /n/ and /m/ as [ŋ].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fujsnmqkn7n4pcmd5ybt7jld/bafkreihdjlyzfdte2j3caycwnw7vpnlzajr236hjpenbtm5dec7ttceaga@jpeg)
November 7, 2025 at 9:26 AM
16) the best historical pronunciation of Hebrew is the Provençal one, for the sheer audacity of its consonant shifts.
sorry, I mean:
fe beff hiftorical pronunfiasing of Hebrew iv fe Provençal wung, fokh fe seekh audafity of iff confonanf siff.
sorry, I mean:
fe beff hiftorical pronunfiasing of Hebrew iv fe Provençal wung, fokh fe seekh audafity of iff confonanf siff.
I truly do hate the fact that someone chose not to use NA as the default version of Unicode cuneiform.
November 7, 2025 at 2:05 AM
I truly do hate the fact that someone chose not to use NA as the default version of Unicode cuneiform.
Reposted by Ola Wikander
Counterpoint: a proto-Germanic bagel would be stale beyond toasting now
so theoretically we could reconstruct Proto-Germanic *baugilaz "bagel" (or at least "ringlet").
the intransitive verb in Proto-Germanic was *beuganą 'to bend' (G. biegen), from which a causative *baugijaną 'to bend something' was also derived (G. beugen)
the intransitive verb in Proto-Germanic was *beuganą 'to bend' (G. biegen), from which a causative *baugijaną 'to bend something' was also derived (G. beugen)
November 3, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Counterpoint: a proto-Germanic bagel would be stale beyond toasting now