Anatolian languages
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The Anatolian languages are a group of extinct Indo-European languages, which were spoken in Asia Minor, the best attested of them being the Hittite language.
Contents |
List
- Hittite (nesili), attested from ca. 1900 BCE to 1100 BCE, official language of the Hittite Empire
- Luwian (luwili), a close relative of Hittite spoken in adjoining regions sometimes under Hittite control
- Cuneiform Luwian, glosses and short passages in Hittite texts written in Cuneiform script
- Hieroglyphic Luwian, written in Anatolian hieroglyphs on seals and in rock inscriptions
- Palaic, spoken in north-central Anatolia, extinct around the 13th century BCE, known only fragmentarily from quoted prayers in Hittite texts
- Lycian, spoken in Lycia in the Iron Age, a descendant of Luwian, extinct in ca. the 1st century BCE, fragmentary.
- Lydian, spoken in Lydia, extinct in ca. the 1st century BCE, fragmentary.
- Carian, spoken in Caria, fragmentarily attested from graffiti by Carian mercenaries in Egypt from ca. the 7th century BCE, extinct ca. in the 3rd century BCE.
- Pisidian and Sidetic (Pamphylian), fragmentary.
- Milyan, known from a single inscription.
There were likely other languages of the family that have left no written records, such as the languages of Mysia, Cappadocia and Paphlagonia.
Properties
The Hittite morphology is less complicated than other older Indo-European languages. Either some Indo-European characteristics disappeared in Hittite or the other languages have innovated. It contains numerous archaisms of great importance.
Origins
The Anatolian branch is generally considered the earliest to split off the Proto-Indo-European language, from a stage referred to either as Indo-Hittite or "Middle PIE", typically a date in the mid-4th millennium BC is assumed. In a Kurgan framework, there are two possibilities of how early Anatolian speakers could have reached Anatolia: from the north via the Caucasus, and from the west, via the Balkans[1], with the Balkans route being considered somewhat more likely by Steiner (1990).
The Aegean languages have been proposed as being related to the Anatolian branch, but in mainstream linguistics the evidence in support of such claims is not considered conclusive.
Extinction
Anatolia was heavily hellenised following the conquests of Alexander the Great, and it is generally thought that by the 1st century BC the native languages of the area were extinct. This makes Anatolian the first known branch of Indo-European that has become extinct, the only other known branch that has no living descendants being Tocharian, which ceased to be spoken around the 8th century.
References
- Wikipedia
- G. Steiner, The immigration of the first Indo-Europeans into Anatolia reconsidered, JIES 18 (1990), 185–214.
See also
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