ANATOLIAN LANGUAGES

extinct Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages spoken in Anatolia from sometime in the 3rd millenium BC until the early centuries of the present era, when they were gradually supplanted by Greek. The Anatolian languages are known only from texts of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC; the earliest evidence is that of the so-called Cappadocian tablets (19th18th centuries BC). The term Asianic is sometimes used as an alternative designation for the Anatolian languages, but, since the discovery in 1915 that Hittite, the main Anatolian language, is an Indo-European language, there has been a tendency to use Asianic in a more restricted sense for the non-Indo-European languages that existed in Anatolia before the entry of the Indo-Europeans. These are called substratum languages. Hattic (or Hattian), also misleadingly called Proto-Hittite, is the best-known substratum language. It is completely unrelated to Hittite and its sister languages as well as to Hurrian, a language also spoken in Anatolia. The Anatolian group of Indo-European languages consists of Hittite, Palaic, Luwian, Hieroglyphic Luwian, Lydian, and Lycian. Hittite, Palaic, and Luwian are known from 2nd-millennium cuneiform texts found in the excavations in Bogazky-Hattusa since 1905; Hieroglyphic Luwian is found on scattered inscriptions and seals from Anatolia (mainly the southern area) and northern Syria dating mainly from later times (i.e., between c. 1200 and 700 BC, although there are earlier examples from the empire period, c. 1400c. 1190 BC). Lydian and Lycian are known from texts in alphabetic script from c. 600 to 200 BC. It seems fairly reasonable to add the Carian language of southwest Anatolia to this list as well as other less well documented languages like Sidetic. More to the east, in the Caucasus region centring around Lake Van, Hurrian of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC was replaced in the 1st millennium BC by the related Urartian language. Both of these languages are definitely non-Indo-European. the extinct Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages spoken in Anatolia from sometime in the 3rd millennium BC until the early centuries of the present era, when they were gradually supplanted by Greek. They include the Indo-European languages Hittite, Palaic, Luwian, Hieroglyphic Luwian, Lydian, Lycian, and Phrygian and the non-Indo-European languages Hattic, Hurrian, and Urartian. Two other Anatolian languages, Carian and Sidetic, are so poorly attested that whether or not they are Indo-European is unknown. Anatolian is also used in a narrow sense to refer to the languages that belong to the Anatolian branch of Indo-European. This branch includes all of the Indo-European languages listed above with the exception of Phrygian. The non-Indo-European languages of Anatolia are sometimes called Asianic. Hittite is the best attested of the Anatolian languages. It is known chiefly from approximately 25,000 clay tablets or fragments of tablets that were excavated at Bogazky-Hattusa, the Hittite capital, in central Anatolia. It was written in a cuneiform script that closely resembles that used in the 17th century BC in Alalakh. The language was first shown to be Indo-European in 1902 by a Norwegian Assyriologist, Jrgen Alexander Knudtzon, who based his study on two Hittite letters that had been found in the Amarna archive. Hittite was first interpreted in 1915 by a Czech Orientalist, Bedrich Hrozn, who worked with the tablets excavated at Bogazky. The majority of the Hittite texts are concerned with religious subjects (oracle texts, hymns, prayers, myths, rituals, and festival texts), but there are also many of historical, political, administrative, literary, and legal character. Palaic was used as a ritual language in a few Hittite cuneiform texts. It was spoken in Pala (probably Blane in the Greek period) in northwest Anatolia. It is closely related to Hittite and Luwian, but very little else is known about it because it is so poorly attested. Luwian was spoken in southern Anatolia and northern Syria. It is known from texts of three major periods: the Hittite New Empire (c. 1400c. 1190 BC) found at Bogazky-Hattusa; the period of the Neo-Hittite states (c. 1190c. 700 BC); and monumental inscriptions of about 400 to about 200 BC. Hieroglyphic Luwian is the daughter language of the East Luwian dialect, while Lycian is a later descendant of a West Luwian dialect. The Anatolian hieroglyphic system begins as early as the Hittite stamp seals of the 18th and 17th centuries BC; the youngest texts date from approximately the last quarter of the 8th century BC. Geographically they are attested across southern Anatolia well into northern Syria and as far north as the Hittite capital, Bogazky-Hattusa. The decipherment of Hieroglyphic Luwian was accomplished during the 1930s and '40s. Significant contributions were made by the British archaeologist Archibald H. Sayce, the German-born Orientalist Hans G. Gterbock, and the German archaeologist Helmuth T. Bossert. Lydian is attested in sepulchral inscriptions, votive texts, and many graffiti, the majority of which were excavated at the Lydian capital, Sardis. Most stem from the 4th century BC. The Lydian alphabet was derived from an East Greek prototype. The study of Lydian is hampered by many lexicological uncertainties, but the grammar indicates that it belongs to the Anatolian subgroup of Indo-European. The Anatolian branch of Indo-European contains numerous grammatical archaisms combined with the absence of several typical Indo-European categories such as the dual number, the feminine gender, and the perfect tense. Another peculiarity is a strong preference for the linking of particles and enclitic pronouns to form chains that are placed at the beginning of a sentence or clause. A striking phonological trait is the presence of certain guttural sounds (laryngeals) not found in the other Indo-European languages. Phrygian is the one Indo-European language of Anatolia that does not belong to the Anatolian subgroup. The Phrygian inscriptions and graffiti may be separated into two groups: Old Phrygian texts in a typical Phrygian alphabet dating from about 730 to 450 BC, and New Phrygian inscriptions (sepulchral texts in the Greek alphabet) from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Hattic is known from its ritual use in the Hittite cuneiform texts. It was the linguistic substratum of northern Anatolia before the invasion of the Indo-European speakers. Hattic has no known relatives. Hurrian texts have been found in Urkish (c. 2300 BC), Mari (18th century BC), Amarna (c. 1400 BC), Bogazky-Hattusa (c. 1400c. 1190 BC), and Ugarit (14th century BC). All of these texts are in cuneiform, with the exception of several that are in the Ugaritic alphabetic script. The many Hurrian personal names found at Bogazky-Hattusa, Alalakh, Ugarit, and especially Nuzu constitute a second important source of information about this language. Urartian was used in northeastern Anatolia during the 9th through the 6th century BC as the official language of Urartu. The Urartian texts are written in a variant of the Neo-Assyrian cuneiform script. There is also an indigenous hieroglyphic script that is poorly attested and remains undeciphered. Hurrian and Urartian share a common parent language. They are agglutinative and chiefly suffixing. Carian is attested mainly by graffiti found in Egypt that were written in an alphabetic script by Carian mercenaries, but it is also attested by monumental inscriptions and clay tablets found in Caria itself. The assumption that Carian belongs to the Anatolian branch of Indo-European is still unproved. Sidetic was spoken in the city of Side on the Pamphylian coast. It is attested by legends on coins of the 5th(?) through the 3rd(?) century BC and by five inscriptions from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, two of which are bilingual. The script is only partly deciphered, so nothing is known about the contents of the texts or the classification of the language. Additional reading The best general handbook on Anatolian history and civilization, in German, is A. Goetze, Kleinasien, 2nd ed. (1957), with succinct chapters on the Anatolian languages (pp. 4563). An excellent, more popular account of Anatolia with marked emphasis on the Hittite period is O.R. Gurney, The Hittites, rev. ed. (1961). This book deals with languages and races in ch. 6. The general handbook on the Anatolian languages, both Indo-European and non-Indo-European, written by scholars, is A. Kammenhuber et al., Altkleinasiatische Sprachen (1969), although in some chapters the book is perhaps too detailed for the general reader. J. Friedrich (ed.), Kleinasiatische Sprachdenkmler (1932), is still a very valuable collection of texts, chosen to illustrate the various languages of Anatolia. Although written from the viewpoint of the Indo-Hittite hypothesis, E.H. Sturtevant and E.A. Hahn, A Comparative Grammar of the Hittite Language, rev. ed. (1951), was a major achievement. In many respects it is still the best grammar of Hittite. H. Pedersen, Hittitisch und die anderen Indoeuropischen Sprachen (1938), was directed against the Indo-Hittite hypothesis and should be used with Sturtevant and Hahn's book. J. Puhvel's contribution Dialectal Aspects of the Anatolian Branch of Indo-European, in H. Birnbaum and J. Puhvel (eds.), Ancient Indo-European Dialects, pp. 235247 (1966), gives a good survey of the main characteristics of the Anatolian subgroup. The best recent introduction to the Indo-European problem with a notable emphasis on Anatolian matters is R.A. Crossland, Immigrants from the North, fasc. 60 of the Cambridge Ancient History, rev. ed. (1967). The best introduction to the Anatolian languages and to Hittite literature may be found in two highly authoritative and very well written scientific contributions by H.G. Guterbock: Toward a Definition of the Term Hittite, Oriens, 10:233239 (1957), and A View of Hittite Literature, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 84:107115 (1964). The history of the various decipherments has been dealt with by J. Friedrich, Entzifferung verschollener Schriften und Sprachen, 2nd ed. (1966). Philo H.J. Houwink ten Cate