3. Berliner Leseabend der toten Sprachen

The 3rd Berlin Leseabend der toten Sprachen (LetoS) took place on July 5, 2024, this time in a large auditorium at Humboldt University—an upgrade made necessary after last year’s event overflowed the Lise-Meitner-Saal at the BBAW. Although the evening coincided with a major football match and steady rain, both of which kept many away, the turnout was still impressive: roughly half the seats were filled. Given the circumstances, it was clear that the event had carved out a space of genuine interest.

The program featured 13 performances that brought several historical languages to life, namely Proto-Indo-European (in pronunciations reconstructed by the OG August Schleicher, Rosemarie Lühr and Frederik Kortlandt), Akkadian, Vedic, Late Egyptian, Biblical Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Classical Latin, Sanskrit, Old Irish, Manchu, Middle High German, Early New High German, and Old East Slavic.

You can listen to my reading of Kortlandt’s reconstructed Proto-Indo-European here:

My reading of Biblical Hebrew in Tiberian Pronunciation (inspired by the great A. Z. Foreman) sounded like this:

For more impressions (in German), visit the website of the Institute for Comparative Linguistics at HU Berlin.