Hittite

Hit·tite

H0222400 (hĭt′īt′)n.1. A member of an ancient people living in Anatolia and northern Syria about 2000-1200 bc.2. The Indo-European language of the Hittites.adj. Of or relating to the Hittites, their language, or their culture.

[From Hebrew ḥittî, from Akkadian ḫatti, from Hittite Hatti, land of the Hattians (indigenous inhabitants of Anatolia), of Proto-Hattic (language of the Hattians) origin.]

Hittite

(ˈhɪtaɪt) n1. (Historical Terms) a member of an ancient people of Anatolia, who built a great empire in N Syria and Asia Minor in the second millennium bc2. (Peoples) a member of an ancient people of Anatolia, who built a great empire in N Syria and Asia Minor in the second millennium bc3. (Languages) the extinct language of this people, deciphered from cuneiform inscriptions found at Boǧazköy and elsewhere. It is clearly related to the Indo-European family of languages, although the precise relationship is disputedadj (Historical Terms) of or relating to this people, their civilization, or their language

Hit•tite

(ˈhɪt aɪt)

n. 1. a member of a people of central Anatolia who were a significant power in Anatolia and Syria from c1900 to c1200 b.c. 2. their extinct Indo-European language, written in a cuneiform syllabary. adj. 3. of the Hittites or their language. [1600–10; < Hebrew ḥitt(īm) Hittite (compare Hittite Khatti) + -ite¹]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	Hittite - a member of an ancient people who inhabited Anatolia and northern Syria about 2000 to 1200 BCdenizen, dweller, habitant, inhabitant, indweller - a person who inhabits a particular place
	2.	Hittite - the language of the Hittites and the principal language of the Anatolian group of languages; deciphered from cuneiform inscriptionsAnatolian, Anatolian language - an extinct branch of the Indo-European family of languages known from inscriptions and important in the reconstruction of Proto-Indo European
Adj.	1.	Hittite - of or relating to the Hittite people or their language or culture

Translations

хеттхеттский

Hittite

Hittite:

see Anatolian languagesAnatolian languages
, subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see The Indo-European Family of Languages, table); the term "Anatolian languages" is also used to refer to all languages, Indo-European and non-Indo-European, that were spoken in Anatolia in ancient times.
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Hittite

the language of the Hittites. Hittite is a Hittite-Luwian language. The language is attested primarily by texts from the Boğazköy archive, although some texts have been found at such sites as Ugarit and Amarna. Hittite is divided into three periods of development: Old Hittite (18th to 16th centuries B.C.), Middle Hittite (15th and early 14th centuries B.C.), and New Hittite (14th to early 12th centuries B.C.). New discoveries of Old Hittite texts are making it possible to establish a more precise chronology.

Hittite is the most fully documented and studied of the Hittite-Luwian languages. Its linguistic investigation began in 1915 when the Czech scholar B. Hrozný deciphered the cuneiform inscriptions and showed Hittite to be an Indo-European language (seeINDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE). Hittite data have proved extremely important to Indo-European linguistics and to research on general questions in Indo-European studies.

A unique archaic feature of Hittite is its retention of a laryngeal. The noun has two genders. Verbs have two sets of endings, corresponding to the Indo-European active and medium and/or perfect voice. The syntax of Hittite is extremely archaic. The language does show, however, certain innovations. The theory of some scholars that the Hittite lexicon is not Indo-European fails to explain why the numerous borrowings from such languages as Hattic and Hurrian primarily affect only the marginal areas of the lexicon; moreover, the reading of many words has been obscured by Sumarian and Akkadian ideograms. Research has been greatly hampered by the deficiencies of cuneiform writing, which was ill-suited to Hittite phonology; in particular, many questions remain unanswered regarding consonant shift and the vowel system.

REFERENCES

Ivanov, V. V. Khettskii iazyk. Moscow, 1963.
Ivanov, V. V. Obshcheindoevropeiskaia, praslavianskaia i anatoliiskaia iazykovye sistemy. Moscow, 1965.
Friedrich, J. Kratkaia grammatika khettskogo iazyka. Moscow, 1952. (Translated from German.)
Kammenhuber, A. “Zur Stellung des Hethitisch-Luvischen innerhalb der indogermanischen Gemeinsprache.” Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung, 1961, vol. 77.
Gusmani, R. II lessico ittito. Naples, 1971.

A. A. KOROLEV

Hittite

Hit·tite

Hittite

Hit•tite

Hittite

Hittite:

Hittite

REFERENCES

Hittite

Words related to Hittite

noun a member of an ancient people who inhabited Anatolia and northern Syria about 2000 to 1200 BC

Related Words

noun the language of the Hittites and the principal language of the Anatolian group of languages

Related Words