William W. Hallo

Extremely eclectic in style and content, and a bit skewed towards Akkad/Sumer and Israel (this, however, can be easily justified).

Here is a sample:
The chameleon, with its improbable Greek etymology as the "on-the-ground lion," is more likely related to Akkadian hulamēšu and to the "lion of the ground" (nēšu sa qaqqarì) in Gilgamesh XI 296 with which hulamēšu is equated in a commentary text. A. Sjöberg has even suggested a relationship to the Hebrew nāhàš (= Akkadian nēšu, Eblaite na'isu?) in the story of Eden. This daring suggestion receives a curious sort of support from an unexpected quarter: the autobiography of an English physician's wife who spent many years in Kenya records the local belief that the snake of Eden was in fact a chameleon.

Greek etymology is swept away as "improbable", then its exact equivalent in Akkadian is given as a fact, then there is an unsubstantiated suggestion of Semitic cognates (maybe substantiated in the article mentioned), and then an absolutely fantastic "support" from a very solid source. This kind of argumentation (which might of course be a projection of something more serious but very well hidden from view) permeates the book.… (mer)