Hittite cuneiform

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The surviving corpus of Hittite texts is preserved in cuneiform script on clay tablets dating to the 2nd millennium BC (roughly spanning the 17th to 12th centuries). Hittite orthography was directly derived from Old Assyrian cuneiform.

The HZL of Rรผster and Neu lists 375 cuneiform signs used in Hittite documents (11 of them only appearing in Hurrian and Hattic glosses), compared to some 600 signs in use in Old Assyrian. About half of the signs have syllabic values, the remaining are used ideographically only.

The syllabary distinguishes the following consonants (notably dropping the Akkadian s series),

b, p, d, t, g, k, แธซ, r, l, m, n, ลก, z,

combined with the vowels a, e, i, u. Additional ya (=I.A ๐’„ฟ๐’€€), wa (=PI ๐’‰ฟ) and wi (=wi5=GEล TIN ๐’ƒพ "wine") signs are introduced. The contrast of the Assyrian voiced/unvoiced series (k/g, p/b, t/d) is not used to express the voiced/unvoiced contrast in Hittite; they are used somewhat interchangeably in some words, while other words are spelled consistently. The contrast in these cases is not entirely clear, and several interpretations of the underlying phonology have been proposed. Similarly, the function of "plene writing" of vowels, that is, the insertion of additional an additional vowel sign between syllabograms, for example the -a- in iลก-แธซa-a-aลก "master" or in la-a-man "name", รบ-i-da-a-ar "waters", is not entirely clear. In some cases, it may indicate an inherited long vowel (lฤman, cognate to Latin nลmen; widฤr, cognate to Greek แฝ•ฮดฯ‰ฯ hudลr), but it may also have other functions connected with word accent.

Cuneiform signs can be employed in three functions: syllabograms, Akkadograms or Sumerograms. Syllabograms have a direct phonological significance, while Akkadograms serve morphological functions directly taken from Akkadian orthography, but not intended to be pronounced as in Akkadian, while Sumerograms are mostly ideograms and determiners already inherited from Sumerian in Akkadian orthography. Conventionally,

  • syllabograms are transcribed in italic lowercase
  • Akkadograms in italic uppercase
  • Sumerograms in uppercase.

Thus, the sign GI ๐’„€ can be used (and transcribed) in three ways, as the Hittite syllable gi (also ge); in the Akkadian spelling Qรˆ-RU-UB of the preposition "near" as Qรˆ, and as the Sumerian ideogram GI for "tube" also in superscript, GI, when used as a determiner.

Contents

b- d- g- แธซ- k- l- m- n- p- r- ลก- t- w- y- z-
-a a ๐’€€ ba ๐’€ da ๐’• ga ๐’‚ต แธซa ๐’„ฉ ka ๐’…— la ๐’†ท ma ๐’ˆ  na ๐’ˆพ pa ๐’‰บ ra ๐’Š ลกa ๐’Šญ ta ๐’‹ซ wa ๐’‰ฟ ya ๐’„ฟ๐’€€ za ๐’
-e e ๐’‚Š be ๐’ de ๐’ฒ ge ๐’„€ แธซe ๐’„ญ, แธซรฉ ๐’ƒถ ke ๐’†  le ๐’‡ท me ๐’ˆจ, mรฉ ๐’ˆช ne ๐’‰ˆ, nรฉ ๐’‰Œ pรฉ ๐’‰ re ๐’Š‘ ลกe ๐’Šบ te ๐’‹ผ ze ๐’ฃ, zรฉ ๐’ข
-i i ๐’„ฟ bi ๐’‰ di ๐’ฒ gi ๐’„€ แธซi ๐’„ญ ki ๐’†  li ๐’‡ท mi ๐’ˆช ni ๐’‰Œ pรญ ๐’‰ ri ๐’Š‘ ลกi ๐’…† ti ๐’‹พ wi5 ๐’ƒพ zi ๐’ฃ
-u u ๐’Œ‹, รบ ๐’Œ‘ bu ๐’ du ๐’บ gu ๐’„– แธซu ๐’„ท ku ๐’†ช lu ๐’‡ป mu ๐’ˆฌ nu ๐’‰ก pu ๐’ ru ๐’Š’ ลกu ๐’‹—, ลกรบ ๐’‹™ tu ๐’Œ… zu ๐’ช

-b -d -g -แธซ -k -l -m -n -p -r -ลก -t -z
a- a ๐’€€ ab ๐’€Š ad ๐’€œ ag ๐’€ aแธซ ๐’€ช ak ๐’€ al ๐’€  am ๐’„  an ๐’€ญ ap ๐’€Š ar ๐’…ˆ aลก ๐’€ธ at ๐’€œ az ๐’Š
e- e ๐’‚Š eb ๐’… ed ๐’€‰ eg ๐’…… eแธซ ๐’€ช ek ๐’…… el ๐’‚– em ๐’…Ž en ๐’‚— ep ๐’… er ๐’…• eลก ๐’Œ, ๐’ et ๐’€‰ ez ๐’„‘
i- i ๐’„ฟ ib ๐’… id ๐’€‰ ig ๐’…… iแธซ ๐’€ช ik ๐’…… il ๐’…‹ im ๐’…Ž in ๐’…” ip ๐’… ir ๐’…• iลก ๐’…– it ๐’€‰ iz ๐’„‘
u- u ๐’Œ‹, รบ ๐’Œ‘ ub ๐’Œ’ ud ๐’Œ“ ug ๐’ŠŒ uแธซ ๐’€ช uk ๐’ŠŒ ul um ๐’Œ un ๐’Œฆ up ๐’Œ’ ur ๐’Œจ, รบr ๐’Œซ uลก ๐’‘ ut ๐’Œ“ uz ๐’–

  • แธช: แธซal ๐’„ฌ ; แธซab/p ๐’†ธ ; แธซaลก ๐’‹ป; แธซad/t ๐’‰บ (=pa, PA "sceptre); แธซul (=แธชUL "evil"); แธซub/p ๐’„ฝ; แธซur ๐’„ฏ (แธชUR="thick", MUR "lung")
  • K/G: gal ๐’ƒฒ (=GAL "great"); kal,gal9 ๐’†—; kam/gรกm ๐’„ฐ (=TU7 "soup"); k/gรกn ๐’ƒท (=GรN "field"); kab/p,gรกb/p ๐’† (=KAB "left"); kar (=KAR "find"); k/gร r ๐’ƒผ; k/gaลก ๐’‰ (=bi, KAล  "beer"); k/gad/t ๐’ƒฐ (=GAD "linen"); gaz ๐’„ค (=GAZ "kill"); kib/p ; k/gir ๐’„ซ; kiลก ๐’†ง (=KIล  "world"); kid/t9 ๐’ƒฐ (=gad); kal ๐’†— (=KAL "strong"); kul ๐’†ฐ (=KUL "offspring"); kรบl,gul ๐’„ข (=GUL "break"); k/gum ๐’„ฃ; kur ๐’†ณ (=KUR "land"); kรนr/gur ๐’„ฅ
  • L: lal ๐’‡ฒ (=LAL "bind"); lam ๐’‡ด; lig/k ๐’Œจ (=ur); liลก ๐’‡บ (=LIล  "spoon"); luแธซ ๐’ˆ› (=LUแธช "minister"); lum ๐’ˆ
  • M: maแธซ ๐’ˆค (=MAแธช "great"); man (=MAN "20"); mar ๐’ˆฅ; maลก ๐’ˆฆ (=MAล  "half"); meลก (="90") ; mil/mel ๐’…– (=iลก); miลก ๐’ˆฉ ; mur ๐’„ฏ (=แธซur); mut (=MUD "blood")
  • N: nam ๐’‰† (=NAM "district"); nab/p ๐’€ฎ; nir ๐’‰ช; niลก (=man)
  • P/B: p/bal ๐’„; pรกr/bar ๐’ˆฆ (=maลก); paลก ; pรกd/t,pรญd/t ๐’; p/bรญl ๐’‰‹ (=GIBIL "new"); pir ; p/biลก,pรนลก ๐’„ซ (=gir); p/bur
  • R: rad/t ๐’‹ฅ; riลก ๐’Š• (=ลกag)
  • ล : ลกaแธซ ๐’‹š (=ล UBUR "pig"); ลกag/k ๐’Š• (=SAG "head"); ลกal ๐’Šฉ (=MUNUS "woman"); ลกam ๐’Œ‘ (=รบ); ลกร m ; ลกab/p ; ลกar ๐’Šฌ (=SAR "plant"); ลกรฌp ; ลกir ๐’‹“ (=ล IR "testicles"); ลกum ๐’‹ณ; ลกur ๐’‹ฉ
  • T/D: t/daแธซ, tรบแธซ ๐’ˆญ; tรกg/k,dag/k ๐’–; t/dal ๐’Š‘ (=ri); tรกm/dam ๐’ฎ (=DAM "wife"); t/dan ๐’†— (=kal); tab/p,dรกb/p ๐’‹ฐ (=TAB "2") ; tar ๐’‹ป; t/dรกลก,t/diลก ๐’น ("1") ; tร ลก ๐’€พ; tin/tรฉn ๐’ท; t/dim ๐’ด ; dir (=DIR "red") ; tir/ter ๐’Œ (=TIR "forest") ; tรญลก  ; tรบl ๐’‡ฅ; t/dum ๐’Œˆ; t/dub/p ๐’พ (=DUB "clay tablet") ; tรบr/dur ๐’„™ (=DUR "strip")
  • Z: zul ๐’‚„; zum ๐’ฎ

Determiners are Sumerograms that are not pronounced but indicate the class or nature of a noun for clarity, e.g. in URUแธชa-at-tu-ลกa (๐’Œท๐’„ฉ๐’€œ๐’Œ…๐’Šญ) the URU is a determiner marking the name of a city, and the pronunciation is simply /hattusa/. Sumerograms proper on the other hand are ideograms intended to be pronounced in Hittite.

  • m, I ("1", DIล ) ๐’น, male personal names
  • DIDLI ๐’€ธ (suffixed), plural or collective
  • DIDLI แธชI.A ๐’€ธ๐’„ญ๐’€€ (suffixed), plural
  • DINGIR (D) ๐’€ญ "deity"
  • DUG ๐’‚ "vessel"
  • ร‰ ๐’‚ "house"
  • GAD ๐’ƒฐ "linen, cloth"
  • GI ๐’„€ "tube; reed"
  • GIล  ๐’„‘ "wood"
  • GUD ๐’„ž "bovid"
  • แธชI.A ๐’„ญ๐’€€(suffixed), plural
  • แธชUR.SAG ๐’„ฏ๐’Š• "mountain"
  • รD "river"
  • IM ๐’…Ž "clay"
  • ITU ๐’Œš "month"
  • KAM ๐’„ฐ (suffixed), numerals
  • KI ๐’†  (suffixed), in some placenames
  • KU6 ๐’„ฉ "fish"
  • KUR ๐’†ณ "land"
  • KUล  ๐’‹ข "hide, fur"
  • Lรš ๐’‡ฝ "man"
  • MEล  ๐’ˆจ๐’Œ (suffixed), plural
  • MEล  แธชI.A ๐’ˆจ๐’Œ๐’„ญ๐’€€ (suffixed), plural
  • MUL ๐’€ฏ "star"
  • MUNUS (f) ๐’Šฉ "woman", female personal name
  • MUล  ๐’ˆฒ "serpent"
  • MUล EN ๐’„ท (suffixed) "bird"
  • NA4 "stone"
  • NINDA ๐’ƒป "bread"
  • Pรš "source"
  • SAR ๐’Šฌ (suffixed) "plant"
  • SI ๐’‹› "horn"
  • SรG ๐’‹  "wool"
  • TU7 ๐’„ฐ "soup"
  • TรšG ๐’Œ† "garment"
  • รš ๐’Œ‘ "plant"
  • URU ๐’Œท "city"
  • URUDU ๐’ "copper"
  • UZU ๐’œ "meat"

  • E. Forrer, Die Keilschrift von Boghazkรถi, Leipzig (1922)
  • J. Friedrich, Hethitisches Keilschrift-Lesebuch, Heidelberg (1960)
  • Chr. Rรผster, E. Neu, Hethitisches Zeichenlexikon (HZL), Wiesbaden (1989)
  • Gillian R. Hart, Some Observations on Plene-Writing in Hittite, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1980)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../h/i/t/Hittite_cuneiform.html"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.