Hattic_language

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Hattic language

Hattic was a language spoken by the Hattians in Asia Minor between the 3rd and the 2nd millennia BC. Scholars call this language 'Hattic' to distinguish it from the Hittite language--the Indo-European language of the Hittite Empire.[http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-256934/Hattian Hattian - Britannica Online Encyclopedia]

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name=Hattic familycolor=Isolate region=Anatolia extinct=around 1100 BC? iso3=xht notice=nonotice }}

The heartland of this oldest attested language of Anatolia, before the arrival of Nesian (i.e., "Hittite") speakers, ranged from Hattusa (which they called "Hattus") northward to Nerik. Other cities mentioned in Hattic include Tuhumiyara and Tissaruliya.

The Hittites conquered Hattus from Kanesh to its south, and thence eventually absorbed or replaced the Hattic speakers (Hattians); but they retained the name Hatti for the region.

The Hittite term for Hattic was hattili after the city of Hattus, whereas the Hittite dynasty called their own language nesili after their city of origin Kanesh. The form "Hittite" in English originally comes from biblical Heth, quite possibly connected to common Assyrian and Egyptian designations of "Land of the Hatti" (Khatti) west of the Euphrates. It is unknown what native speakers of "hattili" called their own language.

Corpus

No documents have been found in which the native Hattic speakers wrote their own language. Scholars today rely on indirect sources or mentions by their neighbours and successors, the Nesian-speaking Hittites. Some Hattic words can be found in religious tablets of Hittite priests, dating from the 14th and 13th centuries BC. Those passages contained between the lines of the text signs with the explanation "the priest is now speaking in Hattili". Akurgal, Ekrem - The Hattian and Hittite Civilizations ( p.4 and p.5)

Roots of Hattic words can also be found in the names of mountains, rivers, cities and gods. Other Hattic words can be found in some mythological texts. The most important of these is the myth "The Moon God who fell from the Sky", written in both Hattic language and Hittite.

The catalogued Hattic documents from Hattusa span CTH 725-745. Of these CTH 728, 729, 731, 733, and 736 are Hattic / Hittite bilinguals. CTH 737 is a Hattic incantation for the festival at Nerik. One key (if fragmentary) bilingual is the story of "The Moon God Who Fell from the Sky".

There are additional Hattic texts in Sapinuwa, which had not been published as of 2004.

Orthography

The Hittites used Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform for their own language, and they applied this system to the Hattic language as well.

In the Hittite form of cuneiform, all sibilants are written with the "sh" phonograms. Hittite scribes applied this to Hattic as well.

Language characteristics

The conservative view is that the Hattic language is a language isolate and it is completely different from neighbouring Indo-European and Semitic languages. Certain similarities between Hattic and both Northwest (e.g., Abkhaz) and South Caucasian (Kartvelian) languages have led to assumptions by some scholars about the possibility of a linguistic block stretching from central Anatolia to the Caucasus.Ivanov, Vyacheslav V., "On the Relationship of Hattic to the Northwest Caucasian Languages," in B. B. Piotrovskij, Vyacheslav V. Ivanov and Vladislav G. Ardzinba, eds., Anatoliya - Ancient Anatolia, Moscow: Nauka (1985) 26 - 59 (in Russian)John Colarusso, Peoples of the Caucasus; in Introduction to the Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life (1997); Pepper Pike, Ohio: Eastword PublicationsArdzinba, V.G., 1979. "Nekotorye sxodnye strukturnye priznaki xattskogo i abxazo-adygskix jazykov?. Peredneasiatskij Sbornik III: istorija i filologija stran drevnego vostoka, 26-37. Moscow: NaukaDunaevskaja, I. M. & DŽjakonov, I. M. 1979. "Xattskij (protoxettskij) jazyk?. Jazyki Azii i Afriki, III. Jazyki drevnej perednej Azii (nesemitskie), Iberijsko-Kavkazskie jazyki, Paleoaziatskie jazyki, ed. by G. D. San?eev, 79-83. Moskva. Nauka

Known words include:

• alep = 'word' (also alew)

• hilamar = 'temple'

• katte = 'king'

• Kasku = the Hattic moon god

• pinu = 'child'

• sapu = 'god'

• wa-zari = 'humankind, population'

• wel = 'house'

• windu = 'wine'

• wuru = 'land'

• Wurun-Katte = 'King of the Land', the Hattic war god

• Wuru-Semu = the Hattic sun goddess

• zari = 'mortal'

Hattic formed a "collective" plural by adding a wa- prefix: e.g., wa-sapu "gods". It formed conventional plurals with a le- prefix: "children" = le-pinu. The accusative case, used to define the object of the sentence, was marked with es- (eg. ess-alep 'word').

Notes