Contacts of Languages and Peoples in the Hittite and Post-Hittite World

Federico Giusfredi is associate professor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Verona. His research focuses on the languages, texts and cultures of Pre-Classical Near East.Alvise Matessi is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Verona. His research focuses on cultural and political landscapes and historical geography of the Pre-Classical Near East.Valerio Pisaniello is a postdoctoral researcher of Linguistics at the University of Verona. His main research interests focus on Indo-European studies and on linguistics and philology of the ancient Anatolian languages.

This volume is a worthwhile synthetic account of the language and cultural contacts in the complex world of Bronze Age Anatolia and its adjacent areas, which follows and builds upon recent works that go beyond traditional philological analysis. It will be of interest to experts, but undoubtedly, even less versed readers will benefit by reflecting on similarities and differences between Anatolia of the second-millennium BCE and later cases of multilingual/-cultural milieus.By Panagiotis Filos, University of Ioannina, in BMCR 2025.04.14, https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2025/2025.04.14/

• List of FiguresAbbreviations1 IntroductionF. Giusfredi1 What Is This Book?2 What This Book Is Not3 Structure of the Book4 Multi-Authored Chapters5 Chronologies6 Philological ConventionsPart 1 The Theoretical and Historical Setting and the Earlier Phases2 Contacts of Cultures and Contacts of LanguagesF. Giusfredi1 Defining ‘Contact’2 Language Study as a Historical Tool3 Types and Areas of Language Contact in the Ancient Near East4 Concluding Remarks3 Interregional Contacts and Interactions during the Fourth and Third Millennia BCEA. Matessi1 Introduction: Some Definitions2 The Fourth and Third Millennia BCE: An Age of Migrations?3 Metallurgy and Areal Interactions in Early Bronze Age Anatolia4 Concluding Remarks4 Society, Culture, and Early Language Contact in Middle Bronze Age Anatolia (Ca. 1950–1650 BCE)A. Matessi and F. Giusfredi1 Introduction2 The Old Assyrian Merchants and Their Interactions with Anatolians3 The Peoples and Languages of Anatolia during the Old Assyrian Period4 The Geography and Scope of Old Assyrian Trade5 The Late Kārum Period and the Anitta Text (CTH 1)6 Non-Old Assyrian Commercial Networks5 History, Society, and Culture in Anatolia and Neighboring Regions during the Hittite Period (Ca. 1650–1190 BCE)A. Matessi1 Introduction2 The Formative Period and the Question of Ethnicity: Hittites and Hattians3 Hatti, Luwiya, and Pala: Core-Periphery Dialectics in Hittite Anatolia4 The Empire Period: A Historical Outline5 Shaping the Cultural Landscape of Hittite Anatolia6 Concluding Remarks6 Hittite Anatolia and the Cuneiform KoinéF. Giusfredi, A. Matessi and V. Pisaniello1 The Cuneiform Koiné2 Cuneiform in Anatolia: The General Context3 Cuneiform Archives of Anatolia and the Relevant Neighboring Areas4 Concluding RemarksPart 2 The Foreign Languages of the Hittite Archives and Textual Evidence for Interference7 Sumerian Literary and Magical Texts from HattušaM. Viano1 Corpus, Scripts, and Findspots2 The Purpose of Texts3 The Reception of Sumerian Texts at Hattuša8 Akkadian and Akkadian Texts in Hittite AnatoliaF. Giusfredi and V. Pisaniello1 Previous Studies on the Akkadian of the Hattuša Archives2 The Akkadian Texts from Boğazköy: A Categorization3 The Akkadian of Politics and Administration4 The Akkadian of the Cultural Tradition5 Concluding Remarks9 Hattian Texts and Hattian in the Hittite ArchivesA. Rizza1 Denomination and Identity2 The Textual Documentation3 The Status of Hattian in Hittite Anatolia10 Hurrians and Hurrian in Hittite AnatoliaF. Giusfredi and V. Pisaniello1 Hurrians and Anatolia2 Areal Relationships of Hurrian and the Hurrians3 Hurrian Texts from the Hittite World: Chronology, Typology, and Functions4 The Status of Hurrian in Anatolia5 Concluding Remarks11 Cuneiform Luwian in the Hattuša ArchivesI. Yakubovich1 What Is (Cuneiform) Luwian and Where Is Luwiya?2 Contact-Induced Changes3 The Status of Luwian in Time and Space12 Palaic in the Hittite ArchivesF. Giusfredi1 What Is Palaic and Where Is Pala?2 Areal Relationships of Palaic3 The Status of Palaic in the Hittite World4 Concluding Remarks13 Indo-Aryans in the Ancient Near EastV. Pisaniello and P. Cotticelli-Kurras1 Indo-Iranian People in the Ancient Near East: An Overview of the Studies2 Sources3 Linguistic Analysis4 Concluding RemarksPart 3 Contact Phenomena in Late Bronze Age Anatolia14 Lexical Contact in and around Hittite AnatoliaV. Pisaniello and F. Giusfredi1 Theoretical Framework2 The Languages Involved3 The Early Northwestern Interface4 Akkadian and the Languages of Anatolia5 Hurrian, Luwian, and Hittite between Hatti and Kizzuwatna6 Luwian and Hittite at Hattuša7 Concluding Remarks15 Grammatical Interference and the Languages of the Hittite ArchivesF. Giusfredi and V. Pisaniello1 Grammatical Interference2 The Structural Levels of Grammar3 In the Languages of the Hittite Archives4 Concluding Remarks16 Conclusion to Volume 1ReferencesIndex