Hurrian language
Hurrian | |
---|---|
Native to | Mitanni |
Region | Near East |
Era | attested 2300–1000 BC |
Hurro-Urartian
| |
Neo-Assyrian cuneiform | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | xhu |
xhu | |
Glottolog | hurr1240 |
Hurrian is an extinct
Classification
Hurrian is closely related to
History
The earliest Hurrian text fragments consist of lists of names and places from the end of the third millennium BC. The first full texts date to the reign of king
In the thirteenth century BC, invasions from the west by the Hittites and the south by the
Renewed interest in Hurrian was triggered by texts discovered in
Dialects
The Hurrian of the Mitanni letter differs significantly from that used in the texts at Hattusha and other Hittite centres, as well as from earlier Hurrian texts from various locations. The non-Mitanni letter varieties, while not entirely homogeneous, are commonly subsumed under the designation Old Hurrian. Whereas in Mitanni the vowel pairs i/e and u/o are differentiated, in the Hattusha dialect they have merged into i and u respectively. There are also differences in morphology, some of which are mentioned in the course of the exposition below. Nonetheless, it is clear that these represent
Phonology
Consonants
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal
|
m | n | ||
Plosive
|
p | t | k | |
Affricate
|
(ts) | |||
Fricative
|
f | s | x | |
Approximant
|
w | j | ||
Rhotic | r | |||
Lateral | l |
As can be seen from the table, Hurrian did not possess a
Since /f/ was not found in the
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Mid | e | o | |
Open | a |
Vowels, just like consonants, can be either long or short. In the cuneiform script, this is indicated by placing an additional vowel symbol between the CV and VC syllables, giving CV-V-VC. Short vowels are indicated by a simple CV-VC pairing. In the Latin transcription, long vowels are indicated with a macron, ā, ē, ī, ō, and ū. For /o/, which is absent in the Sumerian script, the sign for U is used, whereas /u/ is represented by Ú.
Grammar
Word derivation
While Hurrian could not combine multiple stems to form new stems, a large number of suffixes could be attached to existing stems to form new words. For example, attardi (ancestor) from attai (father), futki (son) from fut (to beget), aštohhe (feminine) from ašti (woman). Hurrian also provided many verbal suffixes, which often changed the valency of the verb they modify.
Morphology
Nominal morphology
The nominal morphology of Hurrian employs numerous suffixes and/or enclitics, which always follow a certain order. The resulting "morpheme chain" is as follows:[9][10]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Root | Nominalizers (for verbs) | Thematic vowel | Derivational Suffixes
|
Article
|
Possessive Pronoun Clitics | Plural | Case | Anaphoric | Plural (SA) | Case (SA) | Absolutive Pronoun Clitics | Enclitic Particles & Conjunctions
|
Note: (SA) indicates morphemes added through Suffixaufnahme, described below.
These elements are not all obligatory, and in fact a noun can occur as a single root followed by nothing except zero-suffixes for case and number. Despite the general agglutinative structure of the language, the plural marker (5) merges with the case morphemes (6) in ways which do not seem to be entirely predictable, so singular and plural forms of the case endings are usually listed separately. The anaphoric marker (7) is formally identical to the article and anchors the Suffixaufnahme suffixes (8) and (9). While the absolutive pronoun clitics (10) attached to a noun are not necessarily connected to it syntactically, typically designating the object or intransitive subject of a nearby verb, the third plural pronoun clitic -lla can be used to signal the plural of the host noun in the absolutive.
Thematic vowels
Almost all Hurrian
This stem-final vowel disappears when certain endings are attached to it, such as case endings that begin with a vowel, certain derivational suffixes, or the
A minority of Hurrian noun roots have athematic stem vowels, such as šen (brother) in the forms šena and -šenni, mad (wisdom; later becomes i-stem in the form madi), and muž (divine name). Some names of gods, heroes, persons, and places are also athematic, e.g. Teššob (Teššobi/a), Gilgaamiž, Hurriž (later Hurri). These nouns seem to occur more frequently in the earliest Hurrian texts (end of the third millennium BC).
Note: This type of thematic stem vowel is completely different in function to Indo-European stem vowels. For a discussion of those, see here and here.
Case and number
Hurrian has 13
Like many languages in the region, Hurrian is an
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Absolutive | -Ø | -Ø, -lla |
Ergative | -š | -(a)šuš |
Genitive | -fe, -we | -(a)še |
Dative | -fa, -wa | -(a)ša |
Essive[12][13] (in, at ...) |
-a | -(a)ša, -a |
Allative (to ...) |
-ta | -(a)šta |
Ablative (from ...) |
-tan | -(a)štan |
Instrumental (with ...) |
-ae | not found |
Ablative-Instrumental (through/by ...) |
-n(i), -ne | -(a)šani, -(a)šane |
Comitative (together with ...) |
-ra | -(a)šura |
Associative (as ...) |
-nn(i) | not found (often extrapolated -(a)šunn(i)) |
Equative I (like ...) |
-ōš | not found |
Equative II | -nna | -(a)šunna |
'e-Case' | -ē | not found |
In certain phonological environments, these endings can vary. The f of the genitive and dative endings merges with a preceding p or t giving pp and tt respectively, e.g. Teššuppe (of Teššup), Hepat-te (of Hepat). The associative can be combined with the instrumental, as in šēna-nn-ae (brother-ass-instr), meaning 'brotherly'.
The so-called
The article
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Absolutive | -Ø | -na |
all other cases | -ne |
In Hurrian, the function of the so-called "
Suffixaufnahme
One prominent feature of Hurrian is the phenomenon of Suffixaufnahme, or suffix absorption, which it shares with Urartian and the geographically proximate Kartvelian languages. In this process, the dependent modifiers of a noun share the noun's case suffixes. Between the suffix of the dependent noun and the case ending comes the article, which agrees with the referent in number, for example, with an adjective:
ḫurwoḫḫeneš
ḫurw-oḫḫe-ne-š
Hurrian-ADJ-ART.SG-ERG.SG
ōmīnneš
ōmīn-ne-š
land-ADJ-ART.SG-ERG.SG
"the Hurrian land"
Suffixaufnahme also occurs with other modifiers, such as a noun in the genitive modifying another noun, in which case the following nouns takes a possessive pronoun.
šēniffufenefe
šēn-iffu-fe-ne-fe
brother-my-GEN.SG-ART.SG-GEN.SG
ōmīnīfe
ōmīni-i-fe
land-his-GEN.SG
"of the land of my brother" (lit, "of my brother his land")
The phenomenon is also found when the head noun is in the locative, instrumental or equative. In the absolutive singular, Suffixaufnahme would be meaningless, as the case and number are unmarked. When more than two genitives occur, they are merged, so Suffixaufnahme only occurs on the innermost genitive, as in the following example:
ōmīni
ōmīni
country
Mizrinefenefe
Mizri-ne-fe-ne-fe
Egypt-ART.SG-GEN.SG-ART.SG-GEN.SG
efrīfe
efri-i-fe
ruler-its-GEN.SG
aštīnna
ašti-i=nna
lady-his=she
"she is the lady of the ruler of the country Egypt"
Verbal morphology
The verbal morphology of Hurrian is extremely complex, but it is constructed only through the affixation of suffixes (indicated by '-') and clitics (indicated by '='). Hurrian clitics stand for unique words, but are attached to other words as though they were suffixes. Transitivity and intransitivity are clearly indicated in the morphology; only transitive verbs take endings that agree with the person and number of their subject. The direct object and intransitive subject, when they are not represented by an independent noun, are expressed through the use of clitics, or pronouns (see below). Moreover, suffixes can be added to the verb stem that modify its meaning, including valency-changing morphemes such as -an(n)-- (causative), -ant (applicative) and -ukar (reciprocative). The meanings of many such suffixes have yet to be decoded.
The "morpheme chain" of the verb is as follows:[15]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Root | Derivational Suffixes
|
Tense/Aspect | Non-Present Intransitive | -imbu- | Valency | Negation
|
Ergative Person | Ergative Number | Absolutive Pronoun Clitics | Enclitic Particles & Conjunctions
|
Ergative 3PL -it- (OH) |
As with the noun, not all of these elements must be present in each verb form, and indeed some of them are mutually incompatible. The marker -t- in position (4) may indicate intransitivity in non-present tenses. Position (5) may carry the suffix -imbu- (5) of unclear function or the ergative third-person plural suffix -it- , which is only attested in Old Hurrian.[16] Valency suffixes (6) indicated the intransitive, transitive, or antipassive. The negative suffixes (7), the ergative person suffixes (8), and the ergative number suffixes (9) merge in ways which are not entirely predictable, so the person endings are usually listed in separate singular and plural versions. The absolutive person-number enclitics that may appear in slot (11) can also appear on other words in the sentence and are the same ones which were listed above in section Personal pronouns.
Indicative mood
After the derivational suffix come those marking
After these endings come the vowel of transitivity. It is -a when the verb is intransitive, -i when the verb is in the antipassive and -o (in the Mitanni letter, -i) in transitive verbs. The suffix -o is dropped immediately after the derivational suffixes. In transitive verbs, the -o occurs only in the present, while in the other tenses transitivity is instead indicated by the presence (or absence) of the aforementioned -t suffixes.
In the next position, the suffix of negation can occur; in transitive sentences, it is -wa, whereas in intransitive and antipassive ones it is -kkV. Here, the V represents a repetition of the vowel that precedes the negative suffix, although when this is /a/, both vowels become /o/. When the negative suffix is immediately followed by a clitic pronoun (except for =nna), its vowel is /a/, regardless of the vowel that preceded it, e.g. mann-o-kka=til=an (be-intr-neg-1.pl.abs-and), "and we are not...". The following table gives the tense, transitivity and negation markers:
Transitivity | Present | Preterite | Future | |
---|---|---|---|---|
intransitive | affirmative | -a | -ōšta | -ētta |
negative | -okko | -ōštokko | -ēttokko | |
antipassive | affirmative | -i | -ōši | -ēti |
negative | -ikki | -ōšikki | -ētikki | |
transitive without derivational suff. |
affirmative | Mari/Hattusha -o Mitanni -i |
Mari/Hattusha -ōšo Mitanni -ōši |
Mari/Hattusha -ēto Mitanni -ēti |
negative | Mari/Hattusha -owa Mitanni -iwa |
Mari/Hattusha -ōšowa Mitanni -ōšiwa |
Mari/Hattusha -ētowa Mitanni -ētiwa | |
transitive with derivational suff. |
affirmative | -Ø | Mari/Hattusha -ōšo Mitanni -ōši |
Mari/Hattusha -ēto Mitanni -ēti |
negative | -wa | Mari/Hattusha -ōšowa Mitanni -ōšiwa |
Mari/Hattusha -ētowa Mitanni -ētiwa |
After this, in transitive verbs, comes the ergative subject marker. The following forms are found:
1st person singular |
1st person plural |
2nd person singular |
2nd person plural |
3rd person sing/pl | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
with -i (transitive) (only Mitanni) |
-af, -au |
-auša | -i-o | -*aššo, -*aššu |
-i-a |
with -wa (negated) |
-uffu | -uffuš(a) | -wa-o | -uššu | -wa-a |
with other morphemes (no merging) |
-...-af, -...-au |
-...-auša | -...-o | -...-aššo, -...-aššu |
-...-a |
The suffixes of the first person, both plural and singular, and the second person plural suffix merge with the preceding suffixes -i and -wa. However, in the Mari and Hattusha dialects, the suffix of transitivity -o does not merge with other endings. The distinction between singular and plural in the third person is provided by the suffix -t, which comes directly after the tense marker. In the third person, when the suffix -wa occurs before the subject marker, it can be replaced by -ma, also expressing the negative: irnōhoš-i-ā-ma, (like-trans-3rd-neg) "He does not like [it]".
In the Old Hurrian of Hattusha the ending of the third person singular ergative subject was -m. A third person plural ergative subject was marked with the suffix -it-, which, however, unlike the other ergative endings, occurred before instead of after the transitivity vowel: contrast uv-o-m "she slaughtered" with tun-it-o "they forced".[16][17][18] In the intransitive and antipassive, there was also a subject marker, -p for the third person but unmarked for the others. It is unknown whether this suffix was also found on transitive objects.
If a verb form is nominalised, e.g. to create a relative clause, then another suffix is used: -šše. Nominalised verbs can undergo Suffixaufnahme. Verb forms can also take other enclitic suffixes; see the section Enclitic particles below.
For a list of the enclitics that mark the person and number of the absolutive participant, see the section Personal pronouns above.
Other moods
To express nuances of
Person | Number | Negation | Ending | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st person | singular | affirmative | -ile, after /l/ or /r/, -le and -re | "I want to..." |
negative | -ifalli | "I do not want to..." | ||
plural | unattested | |||
2nd person | singular | affirmative | -i, -e | "you will (imperative) |
negative | -ifa, -efa | "you will not..." | ||
plural | affirmative | -i(š), -e(š) | "you will..." | |
negative | -ifa(š), -efa(š) | "you will not..." | ||
3rd person | singular | affirmative | -ien1 | "he/she/it can..." |
negative | -ifaen1 | "he/she/it cannot..." | ||
plural | affirmative | -iten1 | "may they..." | |
negative | -itfaen1 | "may they not..." |
1 In the optative forms of the third person, the /n/ ending is present in the Mari/Hattuša dialect when the following word begins with a consonant.
The so-called final form, which is needed to express a purpose ("in order to"), is formed in conjunction with the 'with', and has different endings. In the singular, the suffixes -ae, -ai, -ilae and -ilai are found, which after /l/ and /r/ become -lae/-lai and -rae/rai respectively. In the plural the same endings are used, though sometimes the plural suffix -ša is found as well, but this is not always the case.
To express a possibility, the potential form must be used. For intransitive verbs, the ending is -ilefa or olefa (-lefa and -refa after /l,r/), which does not need to agree with the subject. Transitive potential forms are formed with -illet and -allet, which are suffixed to the normal endings of the transitive indicative forms. However, this form is only attested in Mitanni and only in the third person. The potential form is also occasionally used to express a wish.
The desiderative form is used to express an urgent request. It is also only found in the third person, and only with transitive verbs. The ending for the third person singular is -ilanni, and for the plural, -itanni.
Examples of finite verb forms
The following tables give examples of verb forms in various syntactic environments, largely from the Mitanni letter:
Ex. | Form |
---|---|
(4) | koz-ōš-o restrain-PRET-2SG "You restrained" |
(5) | pal-i-a-mā-šše=mān know-TRANS-3rd-NEG-NOM=but "..., but which he doesn't know" |
(6) | pašš-ēt-i=t=ān send-FUT-ANTIP=1SG.ABS=and šeniffuta to.my.brother "and I will send to my brother" |
(7) | tiwēna the.things tān-ōš-au-šše-na-Ø do-PRET-1SG-NOM-ART.PL-ABS "the things I've done" |
(8) | ūr-i-uffu=nna=ān want-TRANS-NEG+1SG=3PL.ABS=and "and I don't want it" |
(9) | itt-ōš-t-a go-PRET-INTR-INTR "I went, you went, ..." |
(10) | kul-le say-OPT.1SG "I want to say" |
(11) | pašš-ien send-OPT.3SG "may he send" |
(12) | pal-lae=n know-FINAL-3SG.ABS "so he knows" |
(13) | kepānol-lefa=tta=ān send-POT=1SG.ABS=and "and I might send" |
Infinitive verb forms
Infinitive forms of the verb in Hurrian include both nominalised verbs (
pailianeš
pa-ilia-ne-š
build-I.PRET.PTCP-ART.SG-ERG.SG
šuḫnineš
šuḫni-ne-š
wall-ART.SG-ERG.SG
"the wall built by me" (here in the ergative, so a subject of a transitive verb)
The infinitive, which can also be found nominalised, is formed with the suffix -umme, e.g. fahrumme, "to be good", "the state/property of being good"
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Hurrian uses both enclitic and independent personal pronouns. The independent pronouns can occur in any case, whereas the enclitic ones represent only the absolutive. It is irrelevant to the meaning of the sentence to which word in the sentence the enclitic pronoun is attached, so it is often attached either to the first phrase or to the verb. The following table gives the attested forms of the personal pronouns, omitting those that cannot be determined.
Case | 1st Singular (I) |
2nd Singular (you) |
3rd Singular (he/she/it) |
1st Plural (we) |
2nd Plural (you) |
3rd Plural (they) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Absolutive (indep.) |
ište | fe | mane, manni | šattil, šattitil(la) | fella | manella |
Absolutive (enclit.) |
-t(ta) | -m(ma) | -n(na), -me, -ma | -til(la) | -f(fa) | -l(la), -lle |
Ergative | išaš | feš | manuš | šieš | fešuš | manšoš |
Genitive | šofe | fefe | feše | |||
Dative | šofa | fefa | šaša (?) | feša | manša | |
Locative | feša (?) | |||||
Allative | šuta | šašuta (?) | ||||
Ablative | manutan | |||||
Comitative | šura | manura | manšura, manšora | |||
Equative II | šonna | manunna |
The variant forms -me, -ma and -lle of the third person absolutive pronouns only before certain conjunctions, namely ai (when), inna (when), inu, unu (who), panu (though), and the relative pronouns iya and iye. When an enclitic personal pronoun is attached to a noun, an extensive system of sound changes determines the final form. The enclitic -nna of the third person singular behaves differently from the other pronouns: when it is preceded by an ergative suffix it, unlike the other pronouns, combines with the suffix to form šša, whereas with all other pronouns the š of the ergative is dropped. Moreover, a word-final vowel /i/ changes to /e/ or /a/ when any enclitic pronoun other than -nna is attached.
Possessive pronouns
The Hurrian
Fall | 1st Singular (my) |
2nd Singular (your) |
3rd Singular (his/her/its) |
1st Plural (our) |
2nd Plural (your) |
3rd Plural (their) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
word-finally | -iffe | -f | -i | -iffaš | -šše | -yaš |
before consonants (except /f,w/) | -iffu | -fu | -i | -iffaš | -šu | -yaš |
before vowels and /f,w/ | -iff | -f | -i | -iffaš | n. bel. | -yaš |
The final vowel of the noun stem is dropped before an attached possessive pronoun, e.g. šeniffe ("my brother", from šena "brother"). It remains, however, when a consonant-initial pronoun is attached: attaif ("your father", from attai, "father")
Other pronouns
Hurrian also has several
Adpositions
Hurrian contains many expressions that denote spatial and abstract relations and serve as
Some examples: N-fa āyita or N-fenē āyē (in the presence of; from āyi "face"). N-fa etīta or N-fa etīfa (for, because of; from eti "body, person"), N-fenē etiyē (concerning), N-fa furīta (in sight of; from furi, "sight, look"), and only in Hattusha N-fa āpita (in front of; from āpi, "front"). Besides these, there is ištani "space between," which is used with a plural possessive pronoun and the locative, for "between us/you/them", e.g. ištaniffaša (between us, under us).
Conjunctions and adverbs
Only a few sentence-initial
Enclitic particles
The enclitic particles can be attached to any word in a sentence, but most often they are attached to the first phrase of the sentence or to the verb. They are much more diverse and frequent in the Mitanni letter than in Old Hurrian. Common ones include =ān (and), =mān (but), =mmaman (to be sure) and =nīn (truly!).
atīnīn
atī=nīn
so=truly
mānnattamān
mānn-a=tta=mān
be-INTR=1.SG.ABS=but
"But I really am thus"
Numbers
In addition to the irregular number word šui (every), all the
Cardinal number |
Ordinal number | |
---|---|---|
1 | šukko, šuki |
unattested |
2 | šini | šinzi |
3 | kike | kiški |
4 | tumni | tumnušše |
5 | nariya | narišše |
6 | šeše | unattested |
7 | šinti | šintišše |
8 | kiri, kira |
unattested |
9 | tamri | unattested |
10 | ēmani | ēmanze |
13 or 30 | kikmani | unattested |
17 or 70 | šintimani | unattested |
18 or 80 | kirmani | kirmanze |
10000 | nupi | unattested |
30000 | kike nupi | unattested |
Distributive numbers carry the suffix -ate, e.g. kikate (by threes), tumnate (by fours). The suffix -āmha denotes multiplicatives, e.g. šināmha (twice), ēmanāmha (thrice). All cardinal numbers end in a vowel, which drops when an enclitic is attached.
Syntax
Hurrian's basic
šeniff
šen-iff-Ø
brother-my-ABS
išaš
iša-š
me-ERG.SG
tatau
tat-au
love-1.SG
"I love my brother"
Immuriyaššan
Immuriya-šš-an
Immuriya-ERG.SG-and
zalamši
zalamši-Ø
statue-ABS
tanoša
tan-oš-a
make-PRET-3
"And Immuriya made the statue"
Within noun phrases, the noun regularly comes at the end. Adjectives, numbers, and genitive modifiers come before the noun they modify. Relative clauses, however, tend to surround the noun, which means that the noun the relative clause modifies stands in the middle of the relative clause. Hurrian has at its disposal several paradigms for constructing relative clauses. It can either use the relative pronouns iya and iye, which has already been described under 'pronouns' above, or the nominalising suffix -šše attached to a verb, which undergoes Suffixaufnahme. The third possibility is for both these markers to occur (see example 16 below). The noun, which is represented by the relative clause, can take any case, but within the relative clause can only have the function of the absolutive, i.e. it can only be the subject of an intransitive relative clause or the object of a transitive one.
iyallānīn
iya=llā=nīn
REL.PRO=3.PL.ABS=truly
šēniffuš
šēn-iffu-š
brother-my-ERG.SG
tiwēna
tiwē-na-Ø
object-ART.PL-ABS
tānōšāššena
tān-ōš-ā-šše-na-Ø
send-PRET-3.SG.SUBJ-NOM-ART.PL-ABS
"those, which my brother sent"
As has been outlined above, Hurrian transitive verbs normally take a subject in the ergative and an object in the absolutive (except for the antipassive constructions, where these are replaced by the absolutive and the essive respectively). The indirect object of ditransitive verbs, however, can be in the dative, locative, allative, or with some verbs also in the absolutive.
olaffa
ola-Ø=ffa
other-ABS=2.PL.ABS
katulle
katul-le
say-OPT.1.SG
"I want to tell youabs something elseabs"
Vocabulary
The attested Hurrian lexicon is quite homogeneous, containing only a small number of
Writing system
The Hurrian language was written using a modified form of the cuneiform script. Several non-standardized systems for writing Hurrian in cuneiform were in use across the various polities with a Hurrian scribal tradition. Generally, these systems are characterized by a limited use of logograms and an emphasis on syllabic writing. This sets Hurrian orthography apart from Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform, which is heavily reliant on logograms.
Notably, in addition to the prototypical cuneiform vowel inventory consisting of a, e, i, and u, the syllabary of the Mitanni Letter also includes the vowel o. In this respect it is unique among all forms of cuneiform writing. The scribe of the Mitanni Letter also frequently employs independent vowel signs in order to disambiguate the readings of uncertain CV signs through a technique called "plene spelling." For example, the sign 𒊑 (RI) can be read as either ri or re. When necessary, the syllable ri could be written unambiguously as 𒊑𒄿 (RI-I) and the syllable re as 𒊑𒂊 (RI-E). It is uncertain whether plene-spelling was also used to mark vowel length.
-a | -e | -i | -o | -u | a- | e- | i- | o- | u- | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
– | A | 𒀀 | E | 𒂊 | I | 𒄿 | U | 𒌋 | U₂ | 𒌑 | A | 𒀀 | E | 𒂊 | I | 𒄿 | U | 𒌋 | U₂ | 𒌑 | – | |
p- | PA | 𒉺 | BE | 𒁁 | BI | 𒁉 | BU | 𒁍 | BU | 𒁍 | AB | 𒀊 | IB | 𒅁 | IB | 𒅁 | UB | 𒌒 | UB | 𒌒 | -p | |
t- | TA | 𒋫 | TE | 𒋼 | TI | 𒋾 | DU | 𒁺 | DU | 𒁺 | AD | 𒀜 | ID | 𒀉 | ID | 𒀉 | UD | 𒌓 | UD | 𒌓 | -t | |
k- | KA | 𒅗 | GI | 𒄀 | KI | 𒆠 | KU | 𒆪 | GU | 𒄖 | AG | 𒀝 | IG | 𒅅 | IG | 𒅅 | UG | 𒊌 | UG | 𒊌 | -k | |
ḫ- | ḪA | 𒄩 | ḪE₂ | 𒃶 | ḪI | 𒄭 | ḪU | 𒄷 | ḪU | 𒄷 | AḪ | 𒄴 | AḪ | 𒄴 | AḪ | 𒄴 | AḪ | 𒄴 | AḪ | 𒄴 | -ḫ | |
l- | LA | 𒆷 | LI | 𒇷 | LI | 𒇷 | LU | 𒇻 | LU | 𒇻 | AL | 𒀠 | EL | 𒂖 | IL | 𒅋 | UL | 𒌌 | UL | 𒌌 | -l | |
m- | MA | 𒈠 | ME | 𒈨 | MI | 𒈪 | MU | 𒈬 | MU | 𒈬 | AM | 𒄠 | IM | 𒅎 | IM | 𒅎 | UM | 𒌝 | UM | 𒌝 | -m | |
n- | NA | 𒈾 | NI | 𒉌 | NI | 𒉌 | NU | 𒉡 | NU | 𒉡 | AN | 𒀭 | EN | 𒂗 | IN | 𒅔 | UN | 𒌦 | UN | 𒌦 | -n | |
r- | RA | 𒊏 | RI | 𒊑 | RI | 𒊑 | RU | 𒊒 | RU | 𒊒 | AR | 𒅈 | IR | 𒅕 | IR | 𒅕 | UR | 𒌨 | UR | 𒌨 | -r | |
s- | SA | 𒊓 | [SI] | 𒋛 | [SI] | 𒋛 | SU | 𒋢 | SU | 𒋢 | [AZ] | 𒊍 | [IZ] | 𒄑 | [IZ] | 𒄑 | [UZ] | 𒊻 | [UZ] | 𒊻 | -s | |
š- | ŠA | 𒊭 | ŠE | 𒊺 | ŠI | 𒅆 | ŠU | 𒋗 | ŠU | 𒋗 | AŠ | 𒀸 | EŠ | 𒌍 | IŠ | 𒅖 | UŠ | 𒍑 | UŠ | 𒍑 | -š | |
z- | ZA | 𒍝 | [ZI] [ZE₂?] |
𒍣 𒍢 |
ZI | 𒍣 | ZU | 𒍪 | ZU | 𒍪 | AZ | 𒊍 | IZ | 𒄑 | IZ | 𒄑 | UZ | 𒊻 | UZ | 𒊻 | -z | |
w- | PI | 𒉿 | PI | 𒉿 | PI | 𒉿 | PI | 𒉿 | PI | 𒉿 | [AB] | 𒀊 | IB | 𒅁 | IB | 𒅁 | UB | 𒌒 | UB | 𒌒 | -w |
Sample text
From the Mitanni-Letter, Column IV, Lines 30–32
Untomān
unto=mān
now=but
iyallēnīn
iya=llē=nīn
REL.PRO=3.PL.ABS=truly
tiwēna
tiwē-na-Ø
thing-ART.PL-ABS
šūallamān
šū-a=lla=mān
every-LOC=3.PL.ABS=but
šēniffuš
šēn-iffu-š
brother-my-ERG.SG
katōšāššena
kat-ōš-ā-šše-na-Ø
say-PRT.TR-3.SG.SUBJ-NMZ-ART.PL-ABS
ūriāššena,
ūr-i-ā-šše-na-Ø
want-TR-3.SG.SUBJ-NMZ-ART.PL-ABS
antillān
anti=lla=an
those=PL.ABS=and
ēmanāmḫa
ēman-āmḫa
ten-MUL
tānōšau.
tān-ōš-au
do-PRT.TR-1.SG.SUBJ
"Those things, which my brother truly said and wanted as a whole, now I have done them, but tenfold."
Hurrian literature
Texts in the Hurrian language itself have been found at Hattusa, Ugarit (Ras Shamra), and Sapinuwa (but unpublished). Also, one of the longest of the Amarna letters is Hurrian; written by King Tushratta of Mitanni to Pharaoh Amenhotep III. It was the only long Hurrian text known until a multi-tablet collection of literature in Hurrian with a Hittite translation was discovered at Hattusa in 1983.
Important finds were made at Ortaköy (Sapinuwa) in the 1990s, including several bilinguals. Most of them remain unedited as of 2007.
No Hurrian texts are attested from the first millennium BC (unless considering Urartian a late Hurrian dialect), but scattered loanwords persist in Assyrian, such as the goddess Savuska mentioned by Sargon II.[23]
See also
References
- ^ Kassian 2010, p. 206
- ^ Wilhelm 2008, p. 81
- Musée du Louvre. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ^ Owen 2000, p. 618.
- ^ Nathanson 2013, p. 72.
- ^ Kupper 1973, p. 41.
- ^ "Royal inscriptions". urkesh.org.
- ^ Wilhelm 2008, p. 85
- ^ Wegner 2000, pp. 46–65
- ^ Wilhelm 2008, p. 88
- ^ Wilhelm 2008, pp. 88, 90–91
- ^ Wilhelm 2008, p. 94
- ^ a b Wegner 2000, pp. 56–57
- ^ Wegner 2000, pp. 54–55P.54-55
- ^ Wegner 2000, pp. 75–79
- ^ a b Wegner 2000, pp. 110–113
- ^ Wilhelm 2008, p. 98
- Igor Diakonoff cites the suffix as -ido-, but also located it before the slot of the transitivity vowel -o- – an interpretation which is also justified by the place of the corresponding suffix in the related Urartian language.
- ^ Speiser 1941, pp. 205–206
- ^ Pullum 1977, pp. 262–264
- ^ Polinsky 1995, p. 190
- ^ Van Soldt 2009
- ^ Wegner 2000, p. 25
Bibliography
- Дьяконов, Игорь Михайлович (1967). Языки древней Передней Азии [The Languages of Ancient Asia Minor] (in Russian). Moskow: Наука.
- Kassian, Alexei (2010). "Review of The Indo-European Elements in Hurrian". Journal of Language Relationship • Вопросы языкового родства (4): 199–211. ISSN 1998-6769.
- Kupper, J. R. (1973). "Northern Mesopotamia and Syria: Hurrian elements in art and religion". In Edwards, Iorwerth E. S.; Gadd, Cyril John; Hammond, Nicholas G. L.; Sollberger, Edmond (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–41. ISBN 978-0-521-08230-3.
- Nathanson, Michael (2013). Between Myth & Mandate. Author House. ISBN 978-1-4918-2310-1.
- Owen, David I. (2000). "Hurrians". In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. (eds.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 978-90-5356-503-2.
- .
- Pullum, Geoffrey K. (1977). "Word order universals and grammatical relations". In Cole, Peter; Sadock, Jerrold M. (eds.). Grammatical Relations. Syntax and Semantics. Vol. 8. Brill. pp. 249–277. ISBN 9789004368866.
- Speiser, E. A. (1941). Introduction to Hurrian. The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Vol. 20. New Haven: The American Schools of Oriental Research.
- Van Soldt, Wilfred H. (2009). "The Adaptation Of The Cuneiform Script To Foreign Languages". In de Voogt, Alex; Finkel, Irving L. (eds.). The Idea of Writing: Play and Complexity. Brill. pp. 117–127. ISBN 978-90-47-42792-6.
- Wegner, Ilse (2000). Einführung in die hurritische Sprache [Introduction to the Hurrian Language] (in German). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 9783447042628.
- Wilhelm, Gernot (2008). "Hurrian". In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.). The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 81–104. ISBN 978-0-521-68496-5.
Further reading
- Andrason, Alexander; Vita, Juan-Pablo (2016). "Contact Languages of the Ancient Near East – Three more Case Studies (Ugaritic-Hurrian, Hurro-Akkadian and Canaano-Akkadian)". Journal of Language Contact. 9 (2): 293–334. hdl:10261/193367.
- Campbell, Dennis R. M (2020). "Hurrian". In Hasselbach-Andee, Rebecca (ed.). A Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Languages. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 203–219. ISBN 9781119193296.
- Goetze, Albrecht (1948). "Enclitic Pronouns in Hurrian". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 2 (4): 255–69.
- Goetze, Albrecht (1940). "The Ḫurrian Verbal System". Language. 16 (2): 125–40.
- Laroche, Emmanuel (1980). Glossaire de la langue Hourrite. Revue hittite et asianique (in French). Vol. 34/35. Paris: Éditions Klincksieck. ISBN 2-252-01984-0.
- Purves, Pierre M (1941). "Hurrian Consonantal Pattern". The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures. 58 (4): 378–404.
- Vita, Juan-Pablo (2007). "Two Hurrian Loanwords in Ugaritic Texts". Altorientalische Forschungen. 34 (1–2): 181–184. .
- Wegner, Ilse (2007). Hurritisch, eine Einführung [Hurrian, an Introduction] (in German) (2nd ed.). Wiesbaden: Harassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-05394-5.