# Hattic, Kassite and the half-read languages of the cuneiform archives

> Cuneiform has been readable since the nineteenth century, and Hittite since 1915, yet several languages written in it still cannot be translated. Hattic…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  
Updated: 2026-10-31T15:37:36+00:00  

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**MYS** 0DEDQYH572XF·Mystery · document

# Hattic, Kassite and the half-read languages of the cuneiform archives

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Hattic, Kassite and the half-read languages of the cuneiform archives

![Line drawing of a cuneiform tablet with two columns: Kassite words on the left, Akkadian equivalents on the right](https://mysteriesdept.com/media/folio/hattic-kassite-lost-languages-lead)

Theophilus G. Pinches · Public domain

Where

Hattusa and Šapinuwa in central Anatolia (Hattic, Kalašma); Babylonia and the Zagros (Kassite, Gutian, Lullubian)⁠[[23]]

When

Texts copied c. 1650 to 1200 BC (Hattic); Kassite dynasty c. 1595 to 1155 BC; Gutian rule c. 2150 to 2050 BC⁠[[23]]

Hattic corpus

About 359 fragments from Hattusa, 15 bilingual, plus 34 bilingual fragments from Ortaköy; CTH 725 to 745⁠[[4]]

Kassite corpus

One vocabulary of 48 entries (BM 93005), 19 translated names, about 60 loanwords, about 200 elements in names; no text⁠[[19]]

Standard editions

Schuster, Die hattisch-hethitischen Bilinguen (1974, 2002); Soysal, Hattischer Wortschatz (2004); Balkan, Kassitenstudien 1 (1954)⁠[[8]]

Script

Hittite and Babylonian cuneiform, fully deciphered; every sign has a known sound value⁠[[1]]

Known vocabulary

Hattic: a little over 100 secure meanings; Kassite: about 60 common nouns⁠[[5]]

Language

Hattic, Kassite, Gutian and Lullubian: unclassified; Kalašma: Anatolian (Luwic)⁠[[27]]

Holders

Ankara, Istanbul, Boğazköy and Çorum museums (Hattic, Kalašma); British Museum (BM 93005)⁠[[33]]

Newest find

Bo 2023/12 = KBo 71.145, the Kalašma tablet, Hattusa, 2023⁠[[27]]

Status

Unexplained

Questions

0 of 7 answered

People [**Oğuz Soysal** Turkish Hittitologist, author of the standard Hattic lexicon (2004) and co-editor of the Ortaköy bilinguals](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/people/FIG0DEDS0S2XW5T/oguz-soysal)[**Petra M. Goedegebuure** Hittitologist at the University of Chicago; argued in 2010 that Hattic is an active language with an ergative base](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/people/FIG0DEDS2BZFM4M/petra-m-goedegebuure)[**Hans-Siegfried Schuster** German Hittitologist who edited the Hattic-Hittite bilinguals (1974, 2002)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/people/FIG0DEDS1G9PXH1/hans-siegfried-schuster)[**Bedřich Hrozný** Czech orientalist who showed in 1915 that Hittite is Indo-European](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/people/FIG0DEDS0E2NZ5Y/bedrich-hrozny)[**Emil Forrer** Swiss Assyriologist who in 1919 sorted the Boğazköy tablets into eight languages and isolated Hattic](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/people/FIG0DEDRXYKY4NA/emil-forrer)

All 7 people ›

[**Elisabeth Rieken** Marburg Indo-Europeanist who identified the Kalašma language as Anatolian and co-edited the tablet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/people/FIG0DEDS3HG8QWW/elisabeth-rieken)[**Kemal Balkan** Turkish Assyriologist whose Kassitenstudien 1 (1954) collected the Kassite language](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/people/FIG0DEDS2ZA3FB2/kemal-balkan)

Places [All 6](https://mysteriesdept.com/places?mystery=hattic-kassite-lost-languages) [**Hattusa** Hittite capital; findspot of almost all Hattic texts and of the Kalašma tablet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/places/PLC0DEDR9WMCG62/hattusa-bogazkoy)[**Šapinuwa** Hittite city at Ortaköy, Çorum; the only findspot of Hattic texts outside Hattusa](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/places/PLC0DEDRA5BVW41/sapinuwa-ortakoy)[**Babylon** Seat of the Kassite dynasty, c. 1595 to 1155 BC](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/places/PLC0DEDRAJCNTYT/babylon)[**British Museum, London** museum](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/places/PLC0DEDRAR9YAE0/british-museum-london)

Concepts [All](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts)

[Bilingual text](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW026HWD1/bilingual-text)[Language isolate](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DEEBNN2HBN9/language-isolate)

Catalog key**MYS** 0DEDQYH572XF

Deciphering a script and reading a language are different tasks. Cuneiform sign values were fixed by the 1850s, and in 1915 [Bedřich Hrozný](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/people/FIG0DEDS0E2NZ5Y/bedrich-hrozny) showed that the language of the Hittite archives from Boğazköy was Indo-European, so that Hittite texts could be read with the help of Latin, Greek and Sanskrit⁠[[1]]. Within the same archives [Emil Forrer](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/people/FIG0DEDRXYKY4NA/emil-forrer) counted eight languages in 1919, and one of them, which he called Proto-Hittite and is now called Hattic, had no relatives at all⁠[[2]]. Every Hattic sign can be pronounced. Almost no Hattic sentence can be translated unless a Hittite scribe translated it first.

Hattic was the language of the cult in the Old Hittite kingdom, and the Hittites kept its recitations in their festival texts, sometimes with a Hittite version beside them⁠[[3]]⁠[[4]]. About 359 fragments survive, 15 of them bilingual, plus 34 bilingual fragments from Ortaköy, ancient [Šapinuwa](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/places/PLC0DEDRA5BVW41/sapinuwa-ortakoy)⁠[[4]]⁠[[5]]⁠[[6]]. The [bilinguals](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW026HWD1/bilingual-text) were edited by [Hans-Siegfried Schuster](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/people/FIG0DEDS1G9PXH1/hans-siegfried-schuster), the vocabulary collected by [Oğuz Soysal](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/people/FIG0DEDS0S2XW5T/oguz-soysal), and the grammar worked out by Annelies Kammenhuber, Christian Girbal, Petra [Goedegebuure](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/people/FIG0DEDS2BZFM4M/petra-m-goedegebuure), Zsolt Simon and Peter Schrijver, who agree that Hattic is a prefixing language with the verb first and disagree about how it marks subjects and objects⁠[[7]]⁠[[8]]⁠[[9]]⁠[[10]]⁠[[4]]⁠[[11]]⁠[[12]]. A little over a hundred word meanings are secure⁠[[5]]. Attempts to tie Hattic to the Northwest Caucasian languages, to a Sino-Caucasian macrofamily, to Minoan or to Uralic have not persuaded specialists, who treat it as an [isolate](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DEEBNN2HBN9/language-isolate) for practical purposes⁠[[13]]⁠[[14]]⁠[[15]]⁠[[16]]⁠[[5]].

Kassite is poorer still. The Kassites ruled [Babylon](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/places/PLC0DEDRAJCNTYT/babylon) from about 1595 to 1155 BC, but wrote Akkadian. Their own language survives in one vocabulary tablet of 48 entries, BM 93005, a Neo-Assyrian list that translates 19 Kassite names, and some 60 loanwords plus about 200 word elements extracted from personal, divine and horse names⁠[[17]]⁠[[18]]⁠[[19]]. No grammar can be written from that, and the proposed Indo-Aryan, Elamite and Hurro-Urartian affiliations rest on a few words each⁠[[20]]⁠[[21]]⁠[[19]]. Gutian, the language of the Zagros people who ruled Mesopotamia for about a century after the Akkadian empire, is known from the names of its kings and one god⁠[[22]]⁠[[23]]. Lullubian is in the same position.

Two recent finds show how the picture changes. In 2022 Andrew George and Manfred Krebernik published two Old Babylonian tablets with Amorite phrases translated into Akkadian, the first connected Amorite ever read after a century in which the language was known only from names⁠[[24]]⁠[[25]]. In 2023 the Boğazköy excavation found a Hittite ritual tablet whose recitation is in the language of Kalašma, a previously unknown Anatolian language of the Luwic branch, now provisionally read by comparison with Luwian⁠[[26]]⁠[[27]]. One is a names-only language turned readable by a bilingual; the other is a new half-read language added to the list. Hurrian and Urartian, which have relatives in each other and long texts, sit at the readable end of the same scale⁠[[28]]⁠[[29]]⁠[[30]]. Of the 7 questions on this site, 0 are answered.

### Key questionsset by the editors

[**Can anything of Gutian and Lullubian be recovered from names alone?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWKF82K3C/can-anything-of-gutian-and-lullubian-be-recovered-from-names)No answer ahead yet

[**How much of the Hattic corpus can be read, and how far can the bilinguals and quasi-bilinguals be extended?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWK15WAZY/how-much-of-the-hattic-corpus-can-be-read-and-how-far-can)No answer ahead yet

[**What language family, if any, does Hattic belong to?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWJQ8EC4K/what-language-family-if-any-does-hattic-belong-to)No answer ahead yet

[**What was the Kassite language, and can it be classified from a 48-entry vocabulary and a few hundred names?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWK5SV6E1/what-was-the-kassite-language-and-can-it-be-classified-from)No answer ahead yet

[**Which Anatolian language is written on the Kalašma tablet, and can its recitation be translated?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWKB75KT7/which-anatolian-language-is-written-on-the-kalasma-tablet)No answer ahead yet

 [All 7 questions ](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=hattic-kassite-lost-languages)

## The object

The mystery is a set of languages, not one artifact, and each has a different kind of remains. Hattic is the best served. It was the language of central Anatolia before Hittite, and the Hittites kept it as the language of parts of their cult, so their festival and ritual tablets contain Hattic recitations, sometimes followed by a Hittite translation⁠[[3]]. Goedegebuure counts 359 Hattic fragments from [Hattusa](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/places/PLC0DEDR9WMCG62/hattusa-bogazkoy) against about 30,000 Hittite ones; only 15 are bilingual⁠[[4]]. Michalowski gives close to 360 texts from Hattusa and Šapinuwa together⁠[[23]]. Excavations at Ortaköy, ancient Šapinuwa, since 1990 have added 34 bilingual fragments of foundation rituals, published from 2007⁠[[6]]⁠[[5]]. The texts are catalogued as CTH 725 to 745 in the Catalogue des textes hittites, kept online by the Hethitologie-Portal Mainz with a concordance of every fragment⁠[[31]]. The two best-preserved bilinguals are a building ritual, KBo 37.1, and the myth of the Moon that fell from the sky, KUB 28.3 to 5⁠[[32]]. The tablets are in the [Museum of Anatolian Civilizations](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/places/PLC0DEDRAZJ1WK4/museum-of-anatolian-civilizations-ankara) in Ankara, the Istanbul Archaeological Museums and the museums of Boğazköy and Çorum.

Kassite has no text. The dynasty that ruled Babylon from about 1595 to 1155 BC wrote Akkadian⁠[[19]]. What survives of its own language is a Babylonian school tablet, BM 93005 in the [British Museum](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/places/PLC0DEDRAR9YAE0/british-museum-london), with 48 Kassite words and their Akkadian equivalents; a Neo-Assyrian list that translates 19 Kassite personal names; and Kassite words scattered through Akkadian texts, mostly terms of horse breeding and chariotry, colours and titles⁠[[17]]⁠[[18]]⁠[[33]]. Gutian and Lullubian, languages of the Zagros, are known from royal and personal names and a divine name or two in Sumerian and Akkadian sources⁠[[22]]⁠[[23]]. The language of Kalašma is known from one tablet, the lower half of a single-column ritual text found in 2023 on the slope of Büyükkale at Hattusa, 109 by 98 mm as preserved⁠[[27]].

### Timeline

**Timeline**

Squeezed where little happened. Each mark is a published claim, by how it stands:AcceptedMost likelyStill possibleDisputedRuled out

## What is known

Hattic can be pronounced because it is written in the same syllabic cuneiform as Hittite, though Hittite scribes had no signs for sounds Hattic may have had, and spellings of the same word vary⁠[[8]]. Its structure is clear in outline. It is a prefixing language: grammatical relations are marked by chains of prefixes on nouns and verbs, with a few suffixes such as a genitive in -(u)n⁠[[9]]⁠[[10]]. Nouns take prefixes for possession and for a collective plural, as in fa-shaf, "the gods"⁠[[8]]. The verb comes first in the clause⁠[[4]]. How the verb marks its subject and object is disputed. Goedegebuure reads the prefix an- as marking the agent of a transitive verb and a zero prefix as marking the patient, with intransitive subjects taking either according to whether they act deliberately, which makes Hattic an active language built on an ergative base⁠[[4]]. Schrijver's 2018 analysis of the same prefix chain reaches a different account of the verb, and Simon's grammar of 2012 reviews the whole system⁠[[12]]⁠[[11]]. The vocabulary is small. Soysal sorts the known words into five classes by certainty and counts a little over a hundred with secure meaning, nearly all from the bilinguals; new ones are still found by matching Hattic recitations to Hittite paraphrases, as Bischoff did for the words for sea, prosper and eat in 2023⁠[[5]]⁠[[34]]⁠[[35]].

Of Kassite, about 60 common nouns are known from the vocabulary and the loanwords, and about 200 further elements can be isolated in names⁠[[19]]. Two Kassite gods, Šuqamuna and Šumaliya, had temples in Babylonia⁠[[19]]. A few names contain Indo-Iranian words, such as šuriaš, "sun god", and Abirattaš with the word for chariot⁠[[36]]. The language was not Semitic, and nothing of its grammar can be stated⁠[[18]]⁠[[19]]. Of Gutian, there are the names of about twenty kings in the Sumerian King List, with a recurring ending that may be a case marker, and one divine name⁠[[22]]. The Kalašma recitation is Anatolian: its endings and vocabulary match the Luwic branch, but not Luwian itself, and a provisional reading has the speaker offer meat, bread and drink to a storm god and ask for favour in return⁠[[27]].

## What has been tested

The oldest proposal about Hattic was that it belonged with the old "Asianic" languages of Anatolia, a label Sayce used in 1924 for what was then an unanalysed prefixing language⁠[[37]]. The serious comparisons began in Soviet scholarship. Dunaevskaja in 1960 and Ardzinba in 1974 noted that Hattic shares with the Northwest Caucasian languages, Abkhaz and Circassian, a prefixing verb and a small inventory of vowels; Ivanov in 1985 and Chirikba in 1996 added lists of word matches⁠[[13]]⁠[[38]]. The comparison has never been turned into regular sound correspondences, and Soysal in 2018 judged it premature, because fewer than a hundred Hattic meanings are secure and many of the matched words belong to his less certain classes⁠[[5]]. Kassian in 2010 placed Hattic in the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily with North Caucasian, Yeniseian, Burushaski and Sino-Tibetan, on lexical matches such as the word for mountain⁠[[14]]; Soysal objected that the material is too thin to carry so wide a claim⁠[[5]]. Schrijver's 2019 proposal that Hattic, Minoan and Sumerian are related, and Revesz's 2017 claim that Hattic, Minoan and Hungarian form a "West-Ugric" family, have no following among Anatolianists⁠[[15]]⁠[[16]].

The productive work has been philological. Schuster's editions and Soysal's lexicon fixed what the bilinguals actually say⁠[[7]]⁠[[8]]. Goedegebuure's alignment study, Simon's grammar and Schrijver's verbal syntax each re-read the prefix chain, and their disagreement is the live grammatical question⁠[[4]]⁠[[11]]⁠[[12]]. Steitler showed in 2018 that the Hethitologie-Portal Mainz search tools can locate Hittite passages that paraphrase Hattic recitations without being formal translations, and Bischoff used that route in 2023 to propose new words and retract old ones⁠[[34]]⁠[[35]].

For Kassite, Ancillotti argued in 1981 that the language was Indo-Aryan, Eilers in 1957 that it was related to Elamite, and Schneider in 2003 listed possible Hurro-Urartian matches; Zadok finds the first two unconvincing and no relationship demonstrated⁠[[20]]⁠[[21]]⁠[[19]]. For Gutian, Henning's posthumous 1978 paper read the king names as Tocharian and equated Guti with Kuči; most scholars rejected a comparison across two millennia⁠[[39]]⁠[[40]]. No computational or machine-learning study of any of these languages has been published; the corpora are too small for the methods that have been tried on Linear A.

## The readings

For Hattic, five positions are live. The first holds that Hattic is a relative of the Northwest Caucasian languages, on typological likeness and a few dozen lexical matches⁠[[13]]⁠[[38]]. The second widens this into the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily⁠[[14]]. The third ties Hattic to Minoan and Sumerian as survivals of Neolithic Anatolian speech⁠[[15]]. The fourth, the Uralic claim, stands alone⁠[[16]]. The fifth, held by most Hittitologists, is that Hattic is an isolate for all practical purposes and that progress will come from inside the corpus, by reading more bilinguals and quasi-bilinguals, not from outside comparison⁠[[4]]⁠[[5]]. These positions are not all exclusive: a language can be an isolate today and a Caucasian relative if a correspondence set is ever found.

For Kassite, the candidates are Hurro-Urartian, Indo-Aryan and Elamite, each resting on a handful of words, and the default that the language is unclassifiable from what survives⁠[[21]]⁠[[20]]⁠[[19]]. The Indo-Iranian words in Kassite names are agreed to be loans or the names of an Indo-Iranian element among the Kassites, not evidence of what Kassite itself was⁠[[36]]. For Gutian, there is the Tocharian reading and nothing else⁠[[39]].

The Kalašma tablet is in a different position. Its language is Anatolian and Luwic beyond reasonable doubt, because the inflections match Luwian ones; what is open is the translation, which its editors call provisional and built by combining the Hittite frame, the ritual context and comparison with Luwian⁠[[27]]. Hurrian and Urartian, which have each other as relatives and long texts, the Mittani letter and the Hattusa bilingual for Hurrian and several hundred royal inscriptions for Urartian, show the readable end of the scale that Hattic and Kassite sit at the far end of⁠[[28]]⁠[[29]]⁠[[30]].

### Published claims

**Published claims and their status**

| Year | Who | Claimed | Status | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1915 | Bedřich Hrozný⁠[1] | Hittite is an Indo-European language and can be read by comparison with its relatives. | Accepted | A century of Hittite philology rests on it and it is what makes the Hittite side of the Hattic bilinguals readable⁠[9] |
| 1919 | Emil Forrer⁠[2] | The Boğazköy tablets contain eight languages, among them a prefixing non-Indo-European one, Proto-Hittite (Hattic). | Accepted | The separation of Hattic from Hittite, Luwian, Palaic, Hurrian, Akkadian and Sumerian has held⁠[23] |
| 1924 | Archibald H. Sayce⁠[37] | Proto-Hittite is an old Asianic language on which the mixed language of the Hittite scribes was built. | Ruled out | Hittite was shown to be Indo-European, not a mixture, and "Asianic" names no family⁠[1] |
| 1969 | Annelies Kammenhuber⁠[9] | Hattic is a prefixing language whose nominal and verbal morphology can be described from the bilinguals. | Accepted | Every later grammar builds on it, though the analysis of the verbal prefixes has been revised⁠[10] |
| 1974 | Hans-Siegfried Schuster⁠[7] | The Hattic-Hittite bilinguals can be edited line by line so that each Hattic phrase is matched to its Hittite rendering. | Accepted | The editions remain the basis of the lexicon, with corrections from new joins and fragments⁠[8] |
| 1985 | Vyacheslav V. Ivanov⁠[13] | Hattic is related to the Northwest Caucasian languages, as shared prefixing structure and word matches show. | Disputed | No regular sound correspondences have been established and the secure Hattic lexicon is too small to test them⁠[5] |
| 1986 | Christian Girbal⁠[10] | The Hattic prefix system can be analysed into a fixed order of nominal and verbal slots. | Accepted | The slot analysis is used by all later grammars, with disagreement only about the function of some verbal prefixes⁠[4] |
| 1996 | Viacheslav A. Chirikba⁠[38] | Reconstructed Common West Caucasian shows lexical and morphological matches with Hattic. | Disputed | Many matched Hattic words fall in Soysal's uncertain classes, and specialists judge the comparison premature⁠[5] |
| 2004 | Oğuz Soysal⁠[8] | Every attested Hattic word can be collected with its contexts and graded by how securely its meaning is known. | Accepted | It is the standard lexicon; the count of secure meanings has since passed one hundred⁠[5] |
| 2010 | Petra M. Goedegebuure⁠[4] | Hattic is an active language with an ergative base: an- marks agents, zero marks patients, and intransitive subjects take either. | Still possible | It is the most detailed account of the verb but rests on 15 bilinguals and is contested by Schrijver's analysis⁠[12] |
| 2010 | Alexei Kassian⁠[14] | Hattic belongs to the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily with North Caucasian, Yeniseian, Burushaski and Sino-Tibetan. | Disputed | Soysal objects that too few Hattic meanings are secure to carry a long-range comparison⁠[5] |
| 2012 | Zsolt Simon⁠[11] | A systematic grammar of Hattic phonology, morphology and syntax can be written from the present corpus. | Still possible | The grammar exists as a thesis and differs from Goedegebuure and Schrijver on the verb; the three have not been reconciled⁠[12] |
| 2017 | Peter Revesz⁠[16] | Hattic, Minoan and Hungarian form a "West-Ugric" family. | Disputed | No Anatolianist has accepted it and it uses Hattic words whose meanings are not secure⁠[5] |
| 2018 | Charles W. Steitler⁠[34] | Hittite passages that paraphrase Hattic recitations can be found with the Hethitologie-Portal Mainz tools and yield new word meanings. | Accepted | Bischoff's 2023 results from CTH 733 came by this route⁠[35] |
| 2019 | Peter Schrijver⁠[15] | Hattic and Minoan are related and both connected to Sumerian. | Disputed | Minoan is itself unread, so the comparison rests on Linear A values and has not been tested by specialists in either field⁠[5] |
| 2018 | Oğuz Soysal⁠[5] | Hattic is becoming understandable through philology, and external comparisons are premature until the lexicon is firmer. | Accepted | It states the working consensus of Hittitologists and matches Goedegebuure's judgement that Hattic is an isolate in practice⁠[4] |
| 1954 | Kemal Balkan⁠[18] | The Kassite language can be collected from the vocabulary, the name list and the names, but no grammar can be written from it. | Accepted | Zadok's 2013 survey reaches the same conclusion with the same material⁠[19] |
| 1981 | Augusto Ancillotti⁠[20] | Kassite is an Indo-Aryan language. | Disputed | Zadok judges the argument unconvincing; the Indo-Iranian words in Kassite names are loans or a foreign element⁠[19] |
| 2003 | Thomas Schneider⁠[21] | A set of lexical isoglosses links Kassite to Hurro-Urartian. | Disputed | The matches are few and Zadok finds no genetic relationship demonstrated⁠[19] |
| 2013 | Ran Zadok⁠[19] | Kassite shows no demonstrable genetic relationship to any known language. | Accepted | The standard assessment; no new Kassite text has appeared to change it⁠[23] |
| 1978 | Walter B. Henning⁠[39] | The Gutian king names show Tocharian endings and Guti is the name Kuči. | Ruled out | Most scholars rejected a comparison between names of about 2100 BC and a language attested from the sixth century AD⁠[40] |
| 2022 | Andrew R. George and Manfred Krebernik⁠[24] | Two Old Babylonian tablets translate Amorite phrases into Akkadian, so Amorite can now be read as a Northwest Semitic language. | Accepted | The identification follows from the Akkadian column and from Semitic parallels; the tablets' provenance is undocumented⁠[24] |
| 2024 | Elisabeth Rieken, Ilya Yakubovich and Daniel Schwemer⁠[27] | The recitation on Bo 2023/12 is in a previously unknown Luwic Anatolian language, the language of Kalašma, and can be provisionally read. | Most likely | The Anatolian inflections are secure, but the translation rests on one broken tablet and the editors call it preliminary⁠[27] |

## What would settle it

For Hattic the answer is more bilinguals, and they exist. The Ortaköy fragments are still being published, and the Hattusa archives, about 30,000 fragments, contain Hittite ritual passages that paraphrase Hattic recitations and have not all been matched to them⁠[[6]]⁠[[34]]. Soysal's call for a digital Hattic text corpus, with every fragment in transliteration and every word tagged by certainty class, would make the matching systematic⁠[[5]]. The Hittite side already exists in machine-readable form: the Hethitologie-Portal Mainz corpus, and a 2024 open export of 7,099 Hittite texts that includes the Hittite frames of CTH 733 to 745⁠[[31]]⁠[[41]]. On the grammar, the three competing accounts of the verbal prefix chain make different predictions about which prefixes appear with which Hittite translations; a tabulation of every verb form in the bilinguals against its translation would test them⁠[[4]]⁠[[12]]. On affiliation, the Caucasian and Sino-Caucasian claims should be re-run using only Soysal's first class of secure words and stated as sound correspondences, so that they can fail⁠[[5]]⁠[[14]].

For Kassite, nothing short of a Kassite text or a longer vocabulary would allow a grammar, and the Amorite case shows that such tablets can sit unrecognised in collections: the two Amorite vocabularies were unprovenanced Old Babylonian school tablets⁠[[24]]. Short of that, a full collation of BM 93005 and a prosopography of Kassite names from Babylonia and Nuzi would at least fix the sound shape of the language⁠[[33]]⁠[[19]]. For Gutian and Lullubian only a text would do. For Kalašma, a second tablet or a longer Hittite paraphrase would turn a provisional reading into a translation⁠[[27]].

## Questions

0 of 7 questions are answered.

**Key questions** [All 7](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=hattic-kassite-lost-languages)

 **0**

[Can anything of Gutian and Lullubian be recovered from names alone?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWKF82K3C/can-anything-of-gutian-and-lullubian-be-recovered-from-names)

0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0

Open: 3 answers, none ahead



 **0**

[How much of the Hattic corpus can be read, and how far can the bilinguals and quasi-bilinguals be extended?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWK15WAZY/how-much-of-the-hattic-corpus-can-be-read-and-how-far-can)

0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0

No evidence yet

 **0**

[What language family, if any, does Hattic belong to?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWJQ8EC4K/what-language-family-if-any-does-hattic-belong-to)

0 of 1 sub-questions answered·0

Open: 6 answers, none ahead



 **0**

[What was the Kassite language, and can it be classified from a 48-entry vocabulary and a few hundred names?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWK5SV6E1/what-was-the-kassite-language-and-can-it-be-classified-from)

0 of 1 sub-questions answered·0

Open: 5 answers, none ahead



 **0**

[Which Anatolian language is written on the Kalašma tablet, and can its recitation be translated?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWKB75KT7/which-anatolian-language-is-written-on-the-kalasma-tablet)

0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0

Open: 3 answers, none ahead



## Evidence 27 findings

[What language family, if any, does Hattic belong to?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWJQ8EC4K/what-language-family-if-any-does-hattic-belong-to)10 findings

[Hattic is related to the Northwest Caucasian languages (Abkhaz-Adyghe).](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDY4HDNR25/hattic-is-related-to-the-northwest-caucasian-languages)Still possible

+[Hattic and the Northwest Caucasian languages share a prefixing verb with long person-marking chains and an early verb position.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEE9HS0KFYP/hattic-and-the-northwest-caucasian-languages-share-a)Suggestive

−[No regular sound correspondences have been established, and many matched Hattic words lie outside the small class whose meanings are secure.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEE9JP4XTXB/no-regular-sound-correspondences-have-been-established-and)Supported

[Hattic belongs to a Sino-Caucasian macrofamily with North Caucasian, Yeniseian, Burushaski and Sino-Tibetan.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDY6HQ0KNZ/hattic-belongs-to-a-sino-caucasian-macrofamily-with-north)Still possible

+[Kassian lists lexical matches between Hattic and Yeniseian, Burushaski and North Caucasian, such as the word for mountain.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEE9K50S1RA/kassian-lists-lexical-matches-between-hattic-and-yeniseian)Speculative

−[Soysal objects that too few Hattic meanings are secure to carry a comparison spanning several continents.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEE9KT6FT9T/soysal-objects-that-too-few-hattic-meanings-are-secure-to)Supported

[Hattic is related to Minoan (the language of Linear A) and both to Sumerian, as survivals of Neolithic Anatolian speech.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDY7G36C51/hattic-is-related-to-minoan-the-language-of-linear-a-and)Still possible

+[Schrijver proposes shared vocabulary and morphology between Hattic and Linear A words read with Linear B values, and links both to Sumerian.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEE9MDGTQ7H/schrijver-proposes-shared-vocabulary-and-morphology-between)Speculative

−[Minoan is itself unread, so the comparison rests on two uncertain lexicons at once.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEE9MY26D6Z/minoan-is-itself-unread-so-the-comparison-rests-on-two)Suggestive

[Hattic is a Uralic language in a "West-Ugric" family with Minoan and Hungarian.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDY8A9656Q/hattic-is-a-uralic-language-in-a-west-ugric-family-with)Still possible

+[Revesz offers sign comparisons and word matches linking Linear A, Hattic and Hungarian.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEE9P6SHE6R/revesz-offers-sign-comparisons-and-word-matches-linking)Speculative

−[The West-Ugric proposal has no following among Anatolianists or Aegean epigraphers and uses Hattic words whose meanings are not secure.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEE9NHJW977/the-west-ugric-proposal-has-no-following-among-anatolianists)Supported

[Hattic is an isolate for the present corpus: no relationship can be demonstrated from about a hundred secure words…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDY8X06GF7/hattic-is-an-isolate-for-the-present-corpus-no-relationship)Still possible

+[A century of comparison since Forrer isolated Hattic in 1919 has produced no accepted correspondence set with any family.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEE9PYSWA8B/a-century-of-comparison-since-forrer-isolated-hattic-in-1919)Supported

+[New Hattic word meanings keep coming from bilinguals and quasi-bilinguals, not from external comparison.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEE9VFJNN9Y/new-hattic-word-meanings-keep-coming-from-bilinguals-and)Supported

[What was the Kassite language, and can it be classified from a 48-entry vocabulary and a few hundred names?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWK5SV6E1/what-was-the-kassite-language-and-can-it-be-classified-from)6 findings

[Kassite is related to Hurrian and Urartian.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDYPFYA2Y9/kassite-is-related-to-hurrian-and-urartian)Still possible

+[Schneider lists possible lexical isoglosses between Kassite and Hurro-Urartian.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEAYF459P8/schneider-lists-possible-lexical-isoglosses-between-kassite)Speculative

−[Zadok's survey of the Kassite lexical remains finds no demonstrable genetic relationship to any language, Hurrian included.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEB05TEJ28/zadoks-survey-of-the-kassite-lexical-remains-finds-no)Suggestive

[Kassite is an Indo-Aryan (Indo-Iranian) language.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDYPVXP6AK/kassite-is-an-indo-aryan-indo-iranian-language)Still possible

+[A few Kassite divine and personal names contain Indo-Iranian words, such as šuriaš, sun god, and Abirattaš, with the word for chariot.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEB1DNE0A4/a-few-kassite-divine-and-personal-names-contain-indo-iranian)Suggestive

−[The Indo-Iranian words are confined to a handful of names, while the common nouns of the vocabulary show no Indo-Iranian character; Zadok calls Ancillotti's argument unconvincing.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEB2JA2QEA/the-indo-iranian-words-are-confined-to-a-handful-of-names)Supported

[Kassite is related to Elamite.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDYQA1HR2R/kassite-is-related-to-elamite)Still possible

−[Zadok describes Eilers's suggested Elamite relationship as unlikely.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEB3A7YPAC/zadok-describes-eilerss-suggested-elamite-relationship-as)Suggestive

[Kassite cannot be classified from what survives: it is an unclassified language, probably an isolate, until a text is…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDYR03ETZP/kassite-cannot-be-classified-from-what-survives-it-is-an)Still possible

+[Kassite survives as one 48-entry vocabulary, 19 translated names, about 60 loanwords and about 200 name elements, with no sentence.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEB4DK6R1W/kassite-survives-as-one-48-entry-vocabulary-19-translated)Supported

[Which Anatolian language is written on the Kalašma tablet, and can its recitation be translated?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWKB75KT7/which-anatolian-language-is-written-on-the-kalasma-tablet)4 findings

[The Kalašma recitation is in a previously unknown Luwic Anatolian language, distinct from Luwian, and can be…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDZ9QXTJ33/the-kalasma-recitation-is-in-a-previously-unknown-luwic)Still possible

+[The inflectional endings and vocabulary of the Kalašma recitation match the Luwic branch of Anatolian but exclude identification with Luwian.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEB5DNGG4G/the-inflectional-endings-and-vocabulary-of-the-kalasma)Supported

−[The language is known from the lower half of a single tablet, so the translation cannot yet be checked against any second text.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEB6463EFJ/the-language-is-known-from-the-lower-half-of-a-single-tablet)Suggestive

[The recitation is a local dialect of Luwian or Palaic, not a separate language.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDZ9XRA0B8/the-recitation-is-a-local-dialect-of-luwian-or-palaic-not-a)Still possible

−[The editors found features that set the Kalašma text apart from Luwian and judged it closer to Luwian than to Palaic, despite Kalašma's location near Pala.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEB6FKNYN6/the-editors-found-features-that-set-the-kalasma-text-apart)Suggestive

[None of these.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDZA2T5FWD/none-of-these)Still possible

−[The recitation's inflections are recognisably Anatolian and Luwic, which leaves little room for a non-Anatolian or non-Luwic identification.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEB7DNBA2Z/the-recitations-inflections-are-recognisably-anatolian-and)Supported

[Can anything of Gutian and Lullubian be recovered from names alone?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDWKF82K3C/can-anything-of-gutian-and-lullubian-be-recovered-from-names)3 findings

[The Gutian king names show Tocharian case endings, so Gutian was an early Indo-European language related to Tocharian.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDZAW1VW86/the-gutian-king-names-show-tocharian-case-endings-so-gutian)Still possible

+[Henning noted recurring endings on the Gutian king names that resemble Tocharian case endings, and a likeness between Guti and Kuči.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEBD4EAE65/henning-noted-recurring-endings-on-the-gutian-king-names)Speculative

−[Most scholars rejected Henning's comparison because it links names of about 2100 BC with a language first written in the sixth century AD.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEBBP6JE62/most-scholars-rejected-hennings-comparison-because-it-links)Supported

[Nothing beyond the sound shape of a few names can be recovered; Gutian and Lullubian are unclassifiable without a text.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDZBBSZE5P/nothing-beyond-the-sound-shape-of-a-few-names-can-be)Still possible

+[Gutian is known from about twenty royal names and one divine name, and Lullubian from personal names only.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEBEF049W8/gutian-is-known-from-about-twenty-royal-names-and-one-divine)Supported

[Is the Hattic verb aligned actively, ergatively or accusatively, and what does each verbal prefix mark?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/questions/QST0DEDX2TX7CR0/is-the-hattic-verb-aligned-actively-ergatively-or)4 findings

[Hattic is an active language with an ergative base: an- marks the agent of a transitive verb, zero marks the patient…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDZAC8MVBC/hattic-is-an-active-language-with-an-ergative-base-an-marks)Still possible

+[In the bilinguals both an- and zero occur with intransitive verbs, and Goedegebuure ties the choice to whether the subject acts.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEB8JANVD5/in-the-bilinguals-both-an-and-zero-occur-with-intransitive)Suggestive

−[Schrijver's 2018 analysis of the same prefix chain and Simon's 2012 grammar reach different accounts of the Hattic verb.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEB9462HQP/schrijvers-2018-analysis-of-the-same-prefix-chain-and-simons)Suggestive

[Hattic is nominative-accusative, and the variation between an- and zero reflects other categories (tense, aspect or…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/answers/ANS0DEDZAM7YX8B/hattic-is-nominative-accusative-and-the-variation-between-an)Still possible

+[The earlier grammars of Kammenhuber and Girbal describe the prefix slots without an active or ergative alignment.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEB9QDY2NC/the-earlier-grammars-of-kammenhuber-and-girbal-describe-the)Speculative

−[Goedegebuure rejects scribal error as the explanation for an- and zero with intransitive verbs and finds a semantic pattern instead.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/evidence/EVD0DEEBAKSVBYG/goedegebuure-rejects-scribal-error-as-the-explanation-for-an)Suggestive

## Artifacts

The films, photos, papers and objects this mystery rests on, each with its own key and its distance from the original.

**Artifacts** [See all 6](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/artifacts)

Scan1 step from object

[The Hattic-Hittite bilinguals from Hattusa (CTH 725 to 745)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/artifacts/ART0DEDTSESAFZK/the-hattic-hittite-bilinguals-from-hattusa-cth-725-to-745)

Hans-Siegfried Schuster (edition); NYU Libraries (scan) · Copyright Koninklijke Brill NV; viewable online, no reuse licence

Document1 step from object

[The Kassite-Akkadian vocabulary BM 93005](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/artifacts/ART0DEDTSVZ818A/the-kassite-akkadian-vocabulary-bm-93005)

Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative · CDLI terms of use: catalogue data freely reusable with attribution

Transcription1 step from object

[The Kalašma tablet, Bo 2023/12 (KBo 71.145)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/artifacts/ART0DEDTTZCQSRB/the-kalasma-tablet-bo-2023-12-kbo-71-145)

Elisabeth Rieken, Ilya Yakubovich, Daniel Schwemer · Open access, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut; licence as stated on the article page

Document1 step from object

[The Ortaköy (Šapinuwa) Hattic-Hittite bilingual fragments](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/artifacts/ART0DEDTVWB0JMP/the-ortakoy-sapinuwa-hattic-hittite-bilingual-fragments)

Çorum Museum and the Ortaköy excavation

Document1 step from object

[The Amorite-Akkadian bilingual vocabularies (George and Krebernik 2022)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/artifacts/ART0DEDTX5HB725/the-amorite-akkadian-bilingual-vocabularies-george-and)

Private collection (undocumented provenance)

 [See all 6 artifacts](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages/artifacts)

## See also

 [

**Linear A** The script of Minoan Crete, 1800 to 1450 BC, whose signs can be sounded but not read.

](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/linear-a) [

**Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk** The oldest writing, 3350 to 3000 BC: numbers and goods are read, the language is not.

](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform) [

**Eteocretan and Eteocypriot** Two Iron Age languages, from Crete and Cyprus, written in scripts we can read and languages we cannot.

](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot) [

**Unread cuneiform: half a million tablets and the limits of Sumerian** More than 500,000 cuneiform tablets survive; most have never been read, and machines are being tried on the rest.

](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform)

## References

1. 1.[Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 56 (1915), pp. 17-50. Hrozný's announcement that Hittite is an Indo-European language, which made the Hittite side of the Hattic bilinguals readable. Digitised by Tübingen University Library. Used for the deciphered relative that gives Hattic its foothold.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKPAYTBP7/die-losung-des-hethitischen-problems-ein-vorlaufiger-bericht)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDKPAYTBP7
1. 2.[Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1919, pp. 1029-1041. Forrer's sorting of the Boğazköy tablets into eight languages, which first isolated the prefixing language he called "Proto-Hittite" (now Hattic). Used for the discovery of Hattic as a separate language.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKNZKFADB/die-acht-sprachen-der-boghazkoi-inschriften)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDKNZKFADB
1. 3.[Studien zu den Boğazköy-Texten 37, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 916 pp. Reconstructs the Hattic layer of Hittite cult from the festival texts and edits many of the Hattic recitations in their Hittite setting. Used for the religious setting of the Hattic corpus.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDM07QMPJZ/untersuchungen-zur-rekonstruktion-der-hattischen-kultschicht)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDM07QMPJZ
1. 4.[Babel und Bibel 4 (2010), pp. 949-981. Argues from the verbal prefix chain in the bilinguals that Hattic has active (semantic) alignment on an ergative base; counts 359 Hattic fragments of which 15 are bilingual. Author's PDF on her Chicago page. Used for the grammar and the corpus count.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK11B08GB/the-alignment-of-hattian-an-active-language-with-an-ergative)cited 10 times here**SRC** 0DEDK11B08GB
1. 5.[Archivum Anatolicum 12/2 (2018), pp. 157-178, open access. A review of Hattic studies: over one hundred word meanings now known, most from bilinguals; the 34 Ortaköy bilingual fragments; a call for a digital Hattic corpus; scepticism about Caucasian and Sino-Caucasian links. Used for the state of the field.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKBP35V6C/zu-den-rezenten-studien-im-hattischen-eine-zwischenbilanz)cited 11 times here**SRC** 0DEDKBP35V6C
1. 6.[Anatolica 33, pp. 1-22. First edition of Hattic-Hittite bilingual fragments from Ortaköy (Šapinuwa), the only Hattic texts found outside Hattusa. Used for the Ortaköy bilinguals.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDNADGYMEP/the-hattian-hittite-foundation-rituals-from-ortakoy-i)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2143/ana.33.0.2021753)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDNADGYMEP
1. 7.[First volume of the edition of the Hattic-Hittite bilinguals (Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui 17/1, Brill). Readable online in NYU's Ancient World Digital Library (Brill copyright, no open licence). Used for the bilingual corpus and the method of reading Hattic through its Hittite translations.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK0J1B27R/die-hattisch-hethitischen-bilinguen-i-einleitung-texte-und)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004670303)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDK0J1B27R
1. 8.[The standard Hattic lexicon (Handbuch der Orientalistik I/74, Brill): every Hattic word and name attested in the Hittite archives, with attestations and the degree of certainty of each meaning. Used for the corpus, the lexicon and the limits of what is known.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK05AN1KR/hattischer-wortschatz-in-hethitischer-textuberlieferung)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047412465)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDK05AN1KR
1. 9.[In Altkleinasiatische Sprachen, Handbuch der Orientalistik I/2.1-2.2, Brill, pp. 428-546. The first full grammatical description of Hattic, the reference point for all later work. Used for the mid-century baseline of what was known.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKZPPSSF4/das-hattische)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDKZPPSSF4
1. 10.[Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main (Europäische Hochschulschriften XXI/50), 201 pp. A grammar of Hattic from the bilinguals that fixed much of the nominal and verbal prefix system used since. Used for the grammatical state of the art before Goedegebuure and Schrijver.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDM0038762/beitrage-zur-grammatik-des-hattischen)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDM0038762
1. 11.[PhD thesis, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. A systematic grammar of Hattic (phonology, morphology, syntax) that re-examines the prefix system and the proposed Caucasian parallels. Used for the current grammatical descriptions.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDNB765Y0E/untersuchungen-zur-hattischen-grammatik-phonologie)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDNB765Y0E
1. 12.[Altorientalische Forschungen 45(2), pp. 213-245. A fresh analysis of the Hattic verb from the bilinguals. Used for the state of grammatical analysis and the disagreements over the prefix chain.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKB262QQ9/the-verbal-syntax-of-hattian)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1515/aofo-2018-0019)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDKB262QQ9
1. 13.[In Drevnyaya Anatoliya (Ancient Anatolia), Nauka, Moscow, pp. 26-59, in Russian. The fullest statement of the hypothesis that Hattic is related to the Northwest Caucasian (Abkhaz-Adyghe) languages, building on Dunaevskaja (1960) and Ardzinba (1974, 1979). Bibliographic details taken from the Wikipedia reference list; the chapter itself was not read. Used for the Caucasian hypothesis.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDM0G2Z5MV/on-the-relationship-of-hattic-to-the-northwest-caucasian)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDM0G2Z5MV
1. 14.[Ugarit-Forschungen 41 (2009, published 2010), pp. 309-447. A grammatical sketch and glossary of Hattic with a proposed long-range relationship to the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily (North Caucasian, Yeniseian, Burushaski, Sino-Tibetan). Used for the long-range hypothesis and as a second compilation of the lexicon.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK1BNABS6/hattic-as-a-sino-caucasian-language)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDK1BNABS6
1. 15.[In Kroonen, Mallory and Comrie (eds.), Talking Neolithic: Proceedings of the Workshop on Indo-European Origins, Leipzig 2013, Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph 65, Institute for the Study of Man, Washington DC, pp. 336-374. Proposes that Hattic and the Minoan language of Linear A are related and both connected to Sumerian. Bibliographic details from the Wikipedia reference list. Used for the long-range hypotheses.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDNAWHDVF5/talking-neolithic-the-case-for-hatto-minoan-and-its)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDNAWHDVF5
1. 16.[Revesz, P. 2017. Establishing the West-Ugric Language Family with Minoan, Hattic and Hungarian by a Decipherment of Linear A. WSEAS Transactions on Information Science and Applications.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQHK01A7HPE/establishing-the-west-ugric-language-family-with-minoan)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0CQHK01A7HPE
1. 17.[Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 49(1), pp. 101-114. First publication, with hand copy, of the Kassite-Akkadian vocabulary tablet BM 93005 (48 entries). The hand copy is the lead image of this mystery. Used for the single Kassite "text".](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDM9M4S763/the-language-of-the-kassites)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00049947)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0DEDM9M4S763
1. 18.[American Oriental Series 37, American Oriental Society, New Haven. The standard collection of everything known of the Kassite language: the vocabulary tablet, the name list, the loanwords and the personal and divine names. Used for the Kassite corpus.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDM9H689GS/kassitenstudien-1-die-sprache-der-kassiten)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDM9H689GS
1. 19.[Encyclopaedia Iranica, online edition, 31 May 2013. Summarises the Kassite lexical remains (about 60 common nouns, about 200 further elements from names), rejects Ancillotti's Indo-Aryan and Eilers's Elamite affiliations, and concludes that no genetic relationship is demonstrable. Used for the Kassite assessment.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDM9RMPXSA/kassites)cited 8 times here**SRC** 0DEDM9RMPXSA
1. 20.[Unicopli, Milan. Argues that Kassite is an Indo-Aryan language; the argument is judged unconvincing by Zadok (2013), whose entry is the source for this reference. Not read directly. Used for the Indo-Iranian hypothesis for Kassite.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMKATEHCY/la-lingua-dei-cassiti)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDMKATEHCY
1. 21.[Altorientalische Forschungen 30(2), pp. 372-381. Proposes a set of possible lexical matches between Kassite and Hurro-Urartian. Used for the Hurro-Urartian hypothesis for Kassite.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMA7WKRMM/kassitisch-und-hurro-urartaisch-ein-diskussionsbeitrag-zu)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1524/aofo.2003.30.2.372)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDMA7WKRMM
1. 22.[Encyclopaedia Iranica, 15 December 2002. The Gutian language is known mainly from personal names, chiefly the rulers in the Sumerian King List, and one divine name. Used for the Gutian evidence.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMMQSVE12/gutians)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDMMQSVE12
1. 23.[In Lyle Campbell (ed.), Language Isolates, Routledge, pp. 19-58. A survey of the isolates of the cuneiform record (Sumerian, Hattic, Kassite, Gutian, Hurro-Urartian and others) and how unevenly they are documented; counts close to 360 Hattic texts from Hattusa and Sapinuwa. Used for the framing of the whole mystery.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKNW19JHY/ancient-near-eastern-and-european-isolates)[doi](https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315750026-2)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDKNW19JHY
1. 24.[Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale 116, pp. 113-166. Edition of two Old Babylonian tablets with Amorite phrases in the left column and Akkadian translations in the right: the first connected Amorite ever read. Provenance undocumented. Used as the recent case where a bilingual turned a names-only language into a readable one.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMNHWQ189/two-remarkable-vocabularies-amorite-akkadian-bilinguals)[doi](https://doi.org/10.3917/assy.116.0113)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDMNHWQ189
1. 25.[Alter Orient und Altes Testament 271, Ugarit-Verlag, Münster. The reference grammar of Amorite as reconstructed from thousands of personal names in Akkadian documents, before any Amorite sentence was known. Used for the state of Amorite before the 2022 bilinguals.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMZCZ0T92/das-amurritische-onomastikon-der-altbabylonischen-zeit-band)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDMZCZ0T92
1. 26.[Announcement of the Kalašma tablet by the Würzburg Hittitology chair: find in the 2023 Boğazköy campaign under Andreas Schachner, identification by Daniel Schwemer and Elisabeth Rieken. Used for the discovery date and the first public identification.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKNR46FZV/new-indo-european-language-discovered-press-release)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDKNR46FZV
1. 27.[Archäologischer Anzeiger 2024/1, pp. 1-59, open access. First edition of the tablet found in 2023 on the north-west slope of Büyükkale at Boğazköy: a Hittite ritual frame around a recitation in the language of Kalašma, identified as a Luwic Anatolian language distinct from Luwian. Used for the newest half-read language of the archive.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKC20ZP70/eine-neue-sprache-im-hethiterreich-der-fund-der-kalasma)[doi](https://doi.org/10.34780/v669-8p6f)cited 11 times here**SRC** 0DEDKC20ZP70
1. 28.[Second edition, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2007. The standard grammar of Hurrian; used for the state of knowledge of the language (agglutinative, ergative, read mainly through the Mittani letter and the Hittite-Hurrian bilinguals from Boğazköy). URL is a locator.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDM05JPBGB/einfuhrung-in-die-hurritische-sprache)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDM05JPBGB
1. 29.[Studien zu den Boğazköy-Texten 32, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. Edition of the Hurrian-Hittite bilingual "Song of Release" found at Hattusa in 1983, the text that transformed Hurrian grammar. The URL is to Stefano de Martino's JAOS review (1999). Used for the Hurrian comparison.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMZM9FJ8A/das-hurritische-epos-der-freilassung-i-untersuchungen-zu)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0DEDMZM9FJ8A
1. 30.[LMU Munich (Munich Open-access Cuneiform Corpus Initiative) and ORACC, 2016-2020. Lemmatised transliterations, English translations and a glossary of the Urartian royal inscriptions, based on Salvini's Corpus dei testi urartei I-V (2008-2018); served at oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ecut. Used for the Urartian comparison and as a dataset.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDN03RAHYD/ecut-electronic-corpus-of-urartian-texts)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0DEDN03RAHYD
1. 31.[Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz, Universität Würzburg 2026. Hethitologie-Portal Mainz (HPM). hethport.uni-wuerzburg.de.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D464DPG68XB/hethitologie-portal-mainz-hpm)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0D464DPG68XB
1. 32.[Second volume of the bilingual edition (Brill): the building ritual KBo 37.1 and the myth of the Moon that fell from the sky, KUB 28.3-5. Used for the two best-preserved bilinguals.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK0RMP1Q2/die-hattisch-hethitischen-bilinguen-ii-and-iii)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004493308)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDK0RMP1Q2
1. 33.[CDLI catalogue record for the vocabulary tablet: British Museum 1882-09-18, 05637 (BM 93005), clay, lexical, provenience not recorded, Neo-Babylonian date uncertain; primary publications Pinches 1917 and Balkan 1954, collation Brinkman NABU 1997/109. No transliteration or image is served. Used for the holder and shelfmark.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMM62NN46/cdli-p585279-bm-093005-the-kassite-akkadian-vocabulary-jras)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDMM62NN46
1. 34.[Altorientalische Forschungen 45(2), pp. 246-257. Shows how the Hethitologie-Portal Mainz corpus tools can find Hittite ritual passages that paraphrase Hattic recitations ("quasi-bilinguals"), the main route to new Hattic word meanings. Used for the method and the digital tools.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKBE85CY9/searching-for-hattian-hittite-quasi-bilingual-texts-new)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1515/aofo-2018-0020)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDKBE85CY9
1. 35.[Hungarian Assyriological Review 4 (2023), pp. 95-109, open access. Proposes new Hattic word meanings (an "sea", il "to prosper", e "to eat") from the Zalpa text group CTH 733 and corrects earlier ones. Used as the most recent example of how the lexicon grows.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKBGZYZW8/some-new-hattian-hittite-correspondences-from-the-quasi)[doi](https://doi.org/10.52093/hara-202302-00036-000)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDKBGZYZW8
1. 36.[Encyclopaedia Iranica, 15 December 2006. Notes the few sources (one vocabulary fragment, one name list), the couple of hundred Kassite words in Akkadian of which about a tenth are divine names, and the handful of Indo-Iranian elements such as šuriaš "sun god". Used for the Indo-Iranian elements in Kassite names.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDM9ZQ0V5T/iran-vii-non-iranian-languages-5-kassite)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDM9ZQ0V5T
1. 37.[Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 56(2), pp. 245-255. An early attempt to characterise Forrer's prefixing "Proto-Hittite" and relate it to the older languages of Anatolia. Used as an example of the first, speculative phase of Hattic study.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKP67XMRK/proto-hittite)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00064042)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0DEDKP67XMRK
1. 38.[CNWS Publications, Leiden, 452 pp. Chapter XI (pp. 406-432) compares reconstructed West Caucasian with Hattic and lists the proposed lexical and morphological matches. Used for the most detailed form of the Caucasian hypothesis.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDM0SVQYE9/common-west-caucasian-the-reconstruction-of-its-phonological)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDM0SVQYE9
1. 39.[In G. L. Ulmen (ed.), Society and History: Essays in Honour of Karl August Wittfogel, Mouton, The Hague, pp. 215-230. Posthumous paper proposing that the Gutian king names show Tocharian-like endings and that Guti is the name Kuči. Bibliographic details from the Wikipedia reference list; not read directly. Used for the Tocharian hypothesis.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMN8NFRQ4/the-first-indo-europeans-in-history)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDMN8NFRQ4
1. 40.[Mallory, J., Mair, V. 2000. The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West. Thames & Hudson, London.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D90DX6W1D16/the-tarim-mummies-ancient-china-and-the-mystery-of-the)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0D90DX6W1D16
1. 41.[Zenodo, CC BY 4.0, 12.8 MB CSV: 7,099 Hittite texts from 143 CTH numbers exported with permission from the Hethitologie-Portal Mainz, word by word with transliteration, gloss and German translation. Includes the Hittite frames of the Hattic ritual groups CTH 733-745. Used as the open machine-readable entry point to the Hattic bilingual contexts.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDN9TDFBK9/glossed-hittite-texts-with-german-translation-for-machine)[doi](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14266302)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDN9TDFBK9

Last edited 31 Oct 2026