Searching the CAMS corpus

There are many ways to search the CAMS corpus. This page describes how to search the transliterations, translations, and catalogue data. Instructions on searching the glossaries are given on a separate page.

Searching the transliterations

You can use the Text: search box at the top left of the Page View and Item View to search for sequences of signs within the transliterations. However, searching for Akkadian or Sumerian words, regardless of spelling, is best done within the glossaries.

To search within the transliterations, type the sequence of signs you want to find into the Text: search box and click "Search". The lines containing that sequence will be displayed in the right hand part of the screen, with the relevant word highlighted. Click on the blue designation to the right to see the Item View of each tablet or composite text found. Place the cursor over a word to see its outline glossary entry, and click on the world to go to its full glossary entry. You can sort the found records by genre, period, and provenance as described for Page View.

Use the following conventions when you type in the Text: search box:

type s, (s comma) for ṣ (e.g., s,a finds ṣa)
type sz for š (e.g., sza finds ša)
type t, (t comma) for ṭ (e.g., t,a finds ṭa)
type diacritics as normal numerals 0-9 (e.g., sza2 finds šá and sza3 finds šà)
type hyphens - to connect signs within words (e.g., i-na finds the sequence i-na in any word)
type underscores _ to connect adjacent signs in different words (e.g., i_na finds all words that end with -i and that are followed by a word beginning with na-)
type tildes ~ to connect adjacent signs, whether they are in the same word or not (e.g., i~na finds both of the above)
type logograms in capital letters, preceded by l: (l colon) (e.g., l:SZA3 finds all occurrences of ŠÀ in logograms)
type sign names are in capital letters, preceded by s: (s colon) (e.g., s:SZA3 finds all occurrences of ŠÀ in logograms and syllabic lìb)

Click the [?] button at top left of the main frame for more detailed help on searching transliterations.

Searching the catalogue data

To search within the catalogue data, type into the Cat: search box. Here are some hints for more efficient catalogue searching:

Instead of the characters š, ş, and ţ use the sequences sz, s,, and t, respectively (e.g., Marduk-szumu-us,ur finds Marduk-šumu-uṣur)
There are no long vowels in the catalogue data: just use normal vowel characters.
The catalogue search is not case-sensitive: do not worry about capital letters.
Do not use leading (initial) zero in numbers or commas between words.
To search for multi-word phrases, separate the words with an underscore (e.g., STT_1_15 finds STT 1, 015)
You can use the wildcard character *. For instance, Nabu-* will find all occurrences in the catalogue date of names beginning with Nabu-. For more help with wildcards, click [?] to the top right of the search box.

You can restrict your catalogue searches to the following fields, by entering the field name followed by a colon and then what you are searching for, with no space between:

Designation - e.g., designation:CTN_4,_117
CDLI catalogue number - e.g., id_text:p363531
Museum collection - e.g., owner:National_Museum_of_Iraq
Museum number - e.g., museum_no:IM_67576
Joins - e.g., join_information:VAT_7828

Genre - e.g., genre:medical
One or more words (in sequence) of the subgenre (including composition names), e.g, subgenre:medical_recipe
Presence of colophon - e.g., text_remarks:colophon
Language - e.g., language:bilingual

Period - e.g., period:Neo-Assyrian
Ancient date, as recorded on the tablet - e.g., date_of_origin:SE_61 (where SE = Seleucid Era)
Date BC, as calculated from ancient date - e.g., date_remarks:250_BC

Provenance - e.g., provenience:Kalhu (note US spelling)
Findspot square (for Uruk tablets) - e.g., Ue_XVIII_1
Excavation number - e.g, excavation_no:ND_4404
Excavation season - e.g., provenience_remarks:1985-6 (note US spelling)
Library - e.g., findspot_remarks:Ezida

Browse or search the CAMS corpus [http://cdl.museum.upenn.edu/cgi-bin/cdlpager?caller=gkab;project=cams]

Searching the translations

You can use the Trans search box at the top left of the Page View and Item View to search for words within the English translations.

The search engine will display all relevant paragraphs with your search term highlighted. You can click on the link on the right of each entry to see the word in the context of the entire text. You can sort your finding by period, provenance, and genre using the outline of the left.

You can also search for English words in any of the glossaries.

Content last modified on 8 Oct 2009.

Eleanor Robson

Eleanor Robson, 'Searching the CAMS corpus', The Geography of Knowledge in Assyria and Babylonia, The GKAB Project, 2009 [http://cdl.museum.upenn.edu/gkab/usingthecamscorpus/searchingthecamscorpus/]