LAD

Default Search

  • Enter
    Opens the highlighted autocomplete suggestion (the first one unless you move the highlight with the arrow keys).
  • Ctrl + Enter
    Runs a full search across the whole database — lemmas, definitions, quotes, translations, notes, and AHw/CAD raw content (⌘ + Enter on a Mac; Ctrl + click on the Search button does the same, a plain click acts as Enter).
  • Akkadian:
    Lemmas and variants
  • English:
    Definitions and derived senses

Search Modes

  • saru
    Flexible: finds šarru, saru, šāru (ignores diacritics and gemination)
  • sarru
    Semi-flexible: finds šarru, ṣarru (respects gemination, ignores diacritics)
  • šarru
    Exact: finds only šarru (respects all diacritics)

Wildcards

  • paru
    Matches "paru" or words starting with "paru"
  • paru*
    Starts with: words starting with "paru"
  • *paru
    Ends with: words ending with "paru"
  • *paru*
    Contains: words containing "paru" anywhere
  • par?
    Single character: "par" + any one character
  • par@
    Consonant: "par" + any single consonant
  • par#
    Vowel: "par" + any single vowel

Field-specific Search

  • en:mule
    English definitions only
  • de:Maultier
    German definitions only
  • fr:mule
    French definitions only
  • ar:بغل
    Arabic definitions only
  • root:PRʾ
    Root search (supports wildcards)
  • pos:verb
    Part of speech
  • lemma:parû
    Lemma only (no variants)
  • variant:alamattu
    Variants only
  • log:ANŠE
    Logogram search
  • domain:
    Semantic domain — type the colon to list values
  • topic:
    Attestation topic — type the colon to list values
  • ANŠE.KUR.RA
    ALL CAPS triggers logogram search

Attestations search

  • att:bib:KAR 158
    Attestations that cite a text. Type att: and a reference: the list shows the attestations in the order of the text — the reference (for a field search, the matched words), the entry and its meaning. Enter opens the highlighted entry at that attestation; Ctrl+Enter lists them all and searches CAD and AHw for the plain reference.
  • att:akk:šarrum
    The Akkadian text of the attestation. Diacritics are ignored, so sarrum finds šarrum and ba-la-tu finds ba-la-ṭu.
  • att:tr:king
    The translation of the attestation.
  • att:mus:BM 34160
    Museum number. Spaces, dots and hyphens are ignored, so BM 34160, BM.34160 and BM34160 all match.
  • att:src:ebl
    The project a passage is linked to: ebl, seal, archibab, cal.
  • att:period:ob
    Attestations of a period, by the id of the period list: oakk, ob, mb, sb, nb, lb, oa, ma, na … A short id also takes its sub-periods (ob → ob_onwards, oblit, oblex).
  • att:lemma:šarrum
    Attestations belonging to one entry, by its lemma or its entry id.
  • att:bib:ARM period:ob
    Fields combine, each one narrowing the search further. This gives the Old Babylonian attestations from ARM; att:akk:šarrum period:nb the Neo-Babylonian ones containing šarrum.
  • att:KAR 158
    Without a field, every attestation field is searched at once.

How to cite

Full citation

M. P. Streck/J. Wende (eds.), Leipzig Akkadian Dictionary (https://lad.saw-leipzig.de), Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig (accessed: …)

Entry citation

An entry is cited by its lemma and its permanent number, which stays the same if the lemma is later renamed:

LAD parû I, https://lad.saw-leipzig.de/entry/LAD010459 (accessed: 30 Sept 2026)

Once an entry has been published, its versions are numbered, starting from 1.0, and the citation names the version it refers to. The address then carries the version too and keeps showing that text after later revisions. For a published entry, the citation takes this form:

LAD lemma, version 1.0, https://lad.saw-leipzig.de/entry/LAD000000?v=1.0 (accessed: …)

The cite button beside the headword of every entry copies its citation in this form.