lisun

Updated: May 17, 2025

The early kings are continually represented on the monuments as sovereigns over the Kiprat-arbat, or, Four Races. These "Four Races" are called sometimes the Arba Lisun, or "Four Tongues," whence we may conclude that they were distinguished from one another, among other differences, by a variety in their forms of speech.

George Rawlinson - The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 1: Chaldaea : The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.

Besides these two main constituents of the Chaldaean race, there is reason to believe that both a Semitic and an Arian element existed in the early population of the country. The subjects of the early kings are continually designated in the inscriptions by the title of kiprat-arbat, "the four nations," or arba lisun, "the four tongues."

George Rawlinson - The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 1: Chaldaea : The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.

Recent linguistic research has clearly traced among the Arba Lisun, or, "Four Tongues" of ancient Chaldaea, which are so often mentioned on the ancient monuments, an Arian formation, such as would naturally have been left in the country, if it had been occupied for some considerable period by a dominant Arian power.

George Rawlinson - The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 3: Media : The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.