Entdecken Sie eBooks
Kategorien
Entdecken Sie Hörbücher
Kategorien
Entdecken Sie Zeitschriften
Kategorien
Entdecken Sie Dokumente
Kategorien
UGARIT-FORSCHUNGEN
Internationales Jahrbuch
fr die
Altertumskunde Syrien-Palstinas
Herausgegeben von
Manfried Dietrich Oswald Loretz
Band 41
2009
Ugarit-Verlag Mnster
2010
Anschriften der Herausgeber:
M. Dietrich / O. Loretz, Schlaunstr. 2, 48143 Mnster
Manuskripte sind an einen der Herausgeber zu senden.
Fr unverlangt eingesandte Manuskripte kann keine Gewhr bernommen werden.
Die Herausgeber sind nicht verpflichtet,
unangeforderte Rezensionsexemplare zu besprechen.
Manuskripte fr die einzelnen Jahresbnde werden jeweils
bis zum 31. 12. des vorausgehenden Jahres erbeten.
2010 Ugarit-Verlag, Mnster
(www.ugarit-verlag.de)
Alle Rechte vorbehalten
All rights preserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
Herstellung: Hubert & Co, Gttingen
Printed in Germany
ISBN 978-3-86835-042-5
Printed on acid-free paper
Inhalt
Artikel
Bojowald, Stefan
Noch einmal zum Personennamen t 6 6 ww in Urk. IV, 11, 9 ..........................1
Bretschneider, Joachim / Van Vyve, Anne-Sophie / Jans, Greta
War of the lords. The battle of chronology. Trying to recognize historical
iconography in the 3
rd
millennium glyptic art in seals of Ishqi-Mari
and from Beydar..............................................................................................5
De Backer, Fabrice
Evolution of War Chariot Tactics in the Ancient Near East..........................29
Dietrich, Manfried / Loretz, Oswald
Der ugaritische Parallelismus mn || dbb (KTU 1.4 I 3840) und die
Unterscheidung zwischen dbb I, dbb II, dbb III................................................ 47
Dietrich, Manfried / Loretz, Oswald
Ugaritisch nn (Komposit-)Bogenschtze, qt Kompositbogen,
Bogen und qt / Pfeil. Beobachtungen zu KTU 1.17 VI 1314.
18b25a .............................................................................................................. 51
Dietrich, Manfried / Loretz, Oswald
Prventiv-Beschwrung gegen Schlangen, Skorpione und Hexerei
zum Schutz des Prfekten Urtnu (KTU 1.178 = RS 92.2014) ........................ 65
Dietrich, Manfried / Loretz, Oswald
Urbild und Abbild in der Schlangenbeschwrung KTU
3
1.100.
Epigraphie, Kolometrie, Redaktion und Ritual .............................................75
Dietrich, Manfried / Loretz, Oswald
Die keilalphabetischen Briefe aus Ugarit (I). KTU 2.72, 2.76, 2.86, 2.87,
2.88, 2.89 und 2.90........................................................................................... 109
Dietrich, Manfried / Loretz, Oswald
md I Paar und md II Axt, Doppelaxt nach KTU 4.169; 4.363;
4.136; 1.65 ..................................................................................................165
Faist, Betina I. / Justel, Josu-Javier / Vita, Juan-Pablo
Bibliografa de los estudios de Emar (4) .....................................................181
iv Inhalt [UF 41
Galil, Gershon
The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa / Neaim.
Script, Language, Literature and History ....................................................193
Gillmann, Nicolas
Quelques remarques additionnelles sur le siege de Lachish........................243
Halayqa, Issam K. H.
A Supplementary Ugaritic Word List for J. Troppers
Kleines Wrterbuch des Ugaritischen (2008)................................................. 263
Halayqa, Issam K. H.
Two Middle Bronze Age Scarabs from Jabal El-Tawain
(Southern Hebron).......................................................................................303
Kassian, A.
Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language .........................................................309
Keetman, Jan
Die Triade der Laterale und ihre Vernderungen
in den lteren semitischen Sprachen............................................................449
Matoan, Valrie / Vita, Juan-Pablo
Les textiles Ougarit. Perspectives de la recherche....................................469
Mazzini, Giovanni
On the Problematic Term syr/d in the New Old Aramaic Inscription
from Zincirli ................................................................................................505
Melchiorri, Valentina
Le tophet de Sulci (S. Antioco, Sardaigne).
tat des tudes et perspectives de la recherche ...........................................509
Murphy, Kelly J.
Myth, Reality, and the Goddess Anat. Anats Violence and
Independence in the Baal Cycle .................................................................525
Nahshoni, Pirhiya / Ziffer, Irit
Caphtor, the throne of his dwelling, Memphis, the land of his
inheritance. The Pattern book of a Philistine offering stand from
a shrine at Nahal Patish. (With an appendix on the technology
of the stand by Elisheva Kamaisky) ............................................................543
Natan-Yulzary, Shirly
Divine Justice or Poetic Justice? The Transgression and Punishment
of the Goddess Anat in the Aqhat Story. A Literary Perspective...............581
Shea, William H.
The Qeiyafa Ostracon. Separation of Powers in Ancient Israel ..................601
2009] Inhalt v
Staubli, Thomas
Bull leaping and other images and rites of the Southern Levant
in the sign of Scorpius .................................................................................611
Strawn, Brent
kwrwt in Psalm 68: 7, Again. A (Small) Test Case in Relating Ugarit to
the Hebrew Bible.........................................................................................631
Sturm, Thomas Fr.
Rabbtum ein Ort der Textilmanufaktur fr den aA Fernhandel
von Assyrien nach Zentralanatolien (ca. 19301730 v.Chr.) ......................649
Zadok, Ran
Philistian Notes............................................................................................659
Buchbesprechungen und Buchanzeigen
W. BERTELMANN u. a. (Hrsg.): Alt-Jerusalem. Jerusalem und Umgebung
im 19. Jahrhundert in Bildern aus der Sammlung von Conrad Schick
und R. HARDIMAN / H. SPEELMAN: Auf den Spuren Abrahams.
Das Heilige Land in alten handkolorierten Photographien
(Wolfgang. Zwickel) ...................................................................................689
Sophie DMARE-LAFONT / A. LEMAIRE (Hrsg.): Trois millnaires de
formulaires juridiques (Oswald Loretz) ......................................................690
Manfried DIETRICH / Walter MAYER: Der hurritische Brief des Duratta
von Mttnni an Amen`otep III. Text Grammatik Kopie. Englische
bersetzung des Textes von Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst. ......................691
Jo Ann HACKETT: A Basic Introduction to Biblical Hebrew (Oswald Loretz) 692
Detlev JERICKE: Regionaler Kult und lokaler Kult. Studien zur Kult- und
Religionsgeschichte Israels und Judas im 9. und 8. Jahrhundert v. Chr.
(Oswald Loretz)...........................................................................................693
Valrie MATOAN (Hrsg.): Le Mobilier du Palais Royal dOugarit
(Alexander Ahrens) .....................................................................................694
Maciej POPKO: Arinna. Eine heilige Stadt der Hethiter (Manfred Hutter).......697
Carole ROCHE (Hrsg.): DOugarit Jrusalem. Recueil dtudes pigra-
phiques et archologiques offert Pierre Bordreuil (Oswald Loretz)........701
Benjamin D. SOMMER: The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel
(Oswald Loretz)...........................................................................................701
Rita STRAUSS: Reinigungsrituale aus Kizzuwatna. Ein Beitrag zur Erfor-
schung hethitischer Ritualtradition und Kulturgeschichte (Piotr Taracha).703
Josef TROPPER / Juan-Pablo VITA: Das Kanaano-Akkadische der
Amarnazeit (Matthias Mller) .....................................................................708
W. H. VAN SOLDT (Hrsg.): Society and Administration in Ancient Ugarit.
Papers read at a symposium in Leiden, 1314 December 2007
(Oswald Loretz)...........................................................................................713
vi Inhalt [UF 41
Jordi VIDAL (ed.): Studies on War in the Ancient Near East. Collected
Essays on Military History (Fabrice de Backer)..........................................713
Abkrzungsverzeichnis.....................................................................719
Indizes
A Stellen .........................................................................................................735
B Wrter .........................................................................................................737
C Namen .........................................................................................................742
D Sachen.........................................................................................................745
Anschriften der Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter ...................................749
Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language
A. Kassian, Moscow
1
1 On the Hattic language (Hattic vocalism, consonantism, nominal and
verbal morphosyntax).............................................................................311
1.1 Hattic vocalism...............................................................................312
1.2 Hattic consonantism.......................................................................312
1.3 Hattic morphosyntax. Nominal wordform (main slots)..................313
1.4 Hattic morphosyntax. Verbal wordform (main slots) .....................313
1.5 ........................................................................................................314
2 Previously proposed West Caucasian attribution....................................314
2.1 General remarks..............................................................................316
2.2 Structural features and morphosyntax ............................................317
2.3 HatticWCauc. root etymologies ...................................................319
2.4 Conclusions ....................................................................................320
3 Previously proposed Kartvelian attribution............................................321
4 Sino-Caucasian hypothesis.....................................................................321
4.1 Sino-Caucasian (or Dene-Sino-Caucasian) macrofamily...............321
4.2 Phonetic correspondences...............................................................322
4.2.1 Vocalism (a very preliminary schema) ................................324
4.2.2 Consonantism......................................................................324
1
I am grateful to Ouz Soysal (Chicago), who has taken pains to read my MS through
and made a number of valuable remarks, additions and corrections to the Hattic data. My
warm thanks go to the participants of the Moscow Nostratic Seminar (Center for Compa-
rative Linguistics of the Institute of Oriental Cultures and Antiquity, Russian State Uni-
versity for the Humanities) for their criticism and general discussion (Vladimir Dybo,
Anna Dybo, Alexander Militarev, Albert Davletshin and others), I am especially indebted
to George Starostin for his help in the compilation of actual lexicostatistical trees of the
Sino-Caucasian macrofamily. The tabarna-problem has been ardently discussed with
Ilya Yakubovich (Chicago/ Moscow). I am grateful to Mark Iserlis (Tel Aviv University)
for his help in archaeological matters. Naturally, all the infelicities are the authors only.
In the present paper I quote Hattic forms after HWHT unless otherwise mentioned.
All forms from Sino-Caucasian languages are generally given after the Tower of Babel
Project databases (Abadet.dbf, Caucet.dbf, Sccet.dbf, Stibet.dbf, Yenet.dbf, Basqet.dbf,
Buruet.dbfsee the list of references) unless otherwise mentioned. I adopt S. Starostins
reconstruction of the Proto-West Caucasian phonological system which is somewhat
different from Chirikbas one (see Starostin, 1997/ 2007 for the nal discussion). Some
AdygheKabardian and Ubykh forms are quoted from , 1957; ,
1977; , 1975; Vogt, 1963standardly without special references.
310 A. Kassian [UF 41
4.2.2.1 Labials ...................................................................327
4.2.2.2 Dentals..................................................................329
4.2.2.3 Alveolar, post-alveolar and palatal affricates.........331
4.2.2.4 Other front consonants...........................................332
4.2.2.5 Laterals ..................................................................333
4.2.2.6 Velar and uvular consonants ..................................334
4.2.2.7 Laryngeals .............................................................334
4.2.2.8 Clusters with *w ....................................................335
4.2.2.9 xK(w)-clusters........................................................336
4.2.2.10 ST-clusters............................................................336
4.2.2.11. lC- and rC-clusters................................................337
4.2.2.12 NC-clusters ..........................................................337
4.2.2.13 Clusters with laryngeals.......................................338
4.3 Root structure .................................................................................338
5 HatticSino-Caucasian root comparisons...............................................340
5.1 Roots with reliable SCauc. cognates ..............................................340
5.2 Loans, dubia, and roots without etymology....................................368
6 HatticSino-Caucasian auxiliary morpheme comparisons .....................397
6.1 Auxiliary morphemes with reliable SCauc. cognates .....................397
6.2 Some auxiliary morphemes with dubious or improbable SCauc.
cognates ..........................................................................................400
7 Contacts with neighboring languages.....................................................402
8 Conclusion..............................................................................................404
8.1 Linguistic afliation .......................................................................404
8.2 Geographical problem....................................................................416
9 Phonetic symbols. Language name abbreviations. References ..............433
9.1 Phonetic symbols (selectively) .......................................................433
9.2 Language name abbreviations ........................................................434
9.3 References ......................................................................................435
Abbreviations....................................................................................................446
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 311
1 On the Hattic language (Hattic vocalism, consonantism,
nominal and verbal morphosyntax)
Hattic is an ancient unwritten language spoken in Central Anatolia at the begin-
ning of the 2
nd
millennium BC and in all likelihood earlier. We have to suppose
that Hattians were Anatolian autochthons before the Hittite-Luwian migrations
in this region (more about the sociolinguistic situation see Goedegebuure,
2008).
2
The Hattic language is known only in Hittite cuneiform transmission
(ca. 16501200 BC), with the exception of some personal names from Old As-
syrian Cappadocian colonies (the early 2
nd
millennium BC).
Fig. 1. Anatolia, the second half of the 3
rd
the rst half of the 2
nd
millennia BC.
The map reects only known linguistic units
2
The Alaca Hyk royal tombs as well as the corresponding sites in the Hatti Heart-
land of the 3
rd
millennium BCKalnkaya, Resulolu and others, see, e. g., Zimmer-
mann, 2009, Yildirim/ Zimmermann, 2006require Hattic attribution. It is not clear to
me on what evidence some scholars (e. g., Bryce, 2005, 14) attribute the Alaca Hyk
tombs to the Hittito-Luwians. We know that the Hattians had institution of kingship, de-
veloped pantheon and were metal-workersit ts the Alaca Hyk culture very well.
But we cannot say the same about the prehistoric Hittito-Luwian tribes known to us. The
traditional (pre-C
14
) dating places Alaca Hyk tombs in the second half of the 3
rd
mil-
lennium BC, although . Yalin in New investigations on the royal tomb of Alacah-
yk (paper presented on May 27 at the Meeting on the Results of Archaeometryses-
sion of the 32
nd
International Symposium of Excavations, Surveys and Archaeometry, or-
ganized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Turkey, May 2428, 2010,
Istanbul) reported that the recent C-14 analysis of a wooden fragment from the old 1930s
excavations gave the date from 2 500 to 10 000 BC [sic!], but this result is not very re-
liable (I am grateful to Thomas Zimmermann, Ankara, for this reference).
312 A. Kassian [UF 41
The modern state of research in the Hattic language is reected in the
publications of O. Soysal, especially in his brilliant monograph HWHT. Now we
can postulate ca. 300 Hattic roots and stems; the meanings of ca. 200 of them
are established with different degrees of reliability (for the list of Hattic lexemes
see Soysal, HWHT, 274 ff.).
For a short sketch of the Hattic grammar, which is based mostly on HWHT,
see , 2010.
1.1 Hattic vocalism
i
u
e (?)
a
Signs of the E-series can reect the phoneme /e/ or be a mere graphical
phenomenon, since there are a lot of examples where I- and E-signs freely alter-
nate.
1.2 Hattic consonantism
p t
k
/
f s
h
m n
w l, r j
Consonants can be graphically geminated and non-geminated in the intervocalic
position (a-ta vs. at-ta), but it seems that this graphical phenomenon is signi-
cantly less regular than the same opposition in Hittite (where Hitt. -t- < IE *d,
*dh; Hitt. -tt- < IE *t). It is very likely that Hattic had two or more consonant se-
ries (e. g., voiceless ~ voiced, lax ~ tense or ejective ~ aspirate ~ plain), but this
opposition differed phonetically from the analogous opposition in Hittite and
Hittite scribes met with difculties in transferring their graphical method onto
Hattic texts.
/f/ is postulated for the ligatures wa
a
, we
e
, wi
i
, wu
u
, wu
, pu
u
, wi
p
, wu
pu
and
for the cases where we see an alternation of W- and P-signs. Such an alternation
is very frequent in known Hattic texts. Since the Hattic corpus is too small, it is
unclear whether every p may alternate with w or w-ligature (and vice versa:
whether every w may alternate with p and w-ligature). From the formal view-
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 313
point we should postulate only two labial phonemes in Hattic/m/ and /f/and
eliminate /p/ and /w/ from the table above. In the etymological studies below I
am impelled to treat p, w and f as one phoneme.
// is expressed by the signs of Z-series.
/s/ is written by the signs of -series. Sporadical usage of S-signs (OS+) may
reect the second sibilant (e. g., //), but the available data are too scant.
In some morphemes (both root and auxiliary) we see a free alternation of T-
and -signs. I postulate something like // for these cases, but, e. g., interdental
fricative // is, of course, an equivalent solution here.
/h/velar or post-velar (e. g., laryngeal) fricative, expressed by the -signs.
In Akkadian -series reects a phoneme, which originates from the Semitic
voiceless uvular fricative *; in Hittite graphical h covers velar/uvular spirant
(Patri, 2009, 107 ff.).
1.3 Hattic morphosyntax. Nominal wordform (main slots)
5
particles
4
(?)
3
locative
preposition
2
possessive
pronoun
1
number
0
root
1
case
2
particles
ma/ fa a, i fe, ha, ka,
zi
u
le, e/ te
ai?
up (uf?)
if(a)
fa/
a/ i
u/ tu
n
i
1.4 Hattic morphosyntax. Verbal wordform (main slots)
9
negation
8
opta-
tive
7
subject
6
?
5
direct
object
4
locus
3
locus
2
locus
1
?
0
root
1
tense,
mode,
aspect
2
particles
ta/
a/
te/
e
ta/ te fa
u, un
a?
ai, e, i
tu/ u h, k,
m, n
p, , t,
w(a),
wa
a
ta, za,
e, te,
tu
h(a),
ha,
ka,
za?,
pi, wa
k(a),
zi
f(a) u
e
a
ma, fa,
pi
(=?),
a/ at
314 A. Kassian [UF 41
1.5 The genetic attribution of Hattic is debatable. There are two main
theories, advocated by various scholars: West Caucasian and Kartvelian.
3
2 Previously proposed West Caucasian attribution
The West Caucasian family consists of a relatively small number of languages:
1) Abkhaz, Abaza; 2) Adyghe, Kabardian; 3) Ubykh.
The modern West Caucasian reconstruction was made by S. Starostin (see
NCED, Caucet.dbf, Abadet.dbf), later it was veried and partly modied by
V. Chirikba (Chirikba, 1996). Some important details were more explicitly stated
in Starostin, 1997/ 2007.
According to the glottochronological procedure, the North Caucasian proto-
language split into East Caucasian and West Caucasian branches ca. 3800 BC. In
its turn West Caucasian split into Abkhaz-Abaza, Ubykh and Adyghe-Kabardian
ca. 640 BC.
The following tree of the NCauc. family (g. 2) is based on 50-wordlists of
the majority of modern NCauc. languages. The 50-wordlist includes the 50 most
stable items from the classical Swadesh 100-wordlist. The procedure consists
of the subsequent reconstruction of corresponding wordlists for intermediate
proto-languages and screening of synonyms at every stage.
4
The primary
lexicographic data which were used can mostly be found in the database section
of the Tower of Babel Project. The tree has been compiled by the author as part
of the ongoing research on the Preliminary Lexicostatistical Tree of the worlds
languages (within the Evolution of Human Language project, supported by the
Santa Fe Institute). The tree on g. 2 is preliminary, maybe some nodes will be
corrected as a result of further researches, but it gives the general frame of the
NCauc. family.
The next tree (g. 3) represents the WCauc. branch. The tree is based on
classic 100-wordlists and compiled according the standard procedure.
5
3
Sometimes more exotic attributions are proposed. E. g., Fhnrich, 1980 tries to show
the specic relationship between Hattic and Cassite or Hurrian, but I must accede to Soy-
sals criticism of Fhnrichs comparisons (see HWHT, 34 ff.).
4
For this kind of glottochronological procedure see detailed in Starostin G., 2010. For
the general principles of the Swadesh wordlist compilation process now see Kassian et
al., 2010.
5
For this kind of glottochronological procedure see Starostin, 1989/ 1999.
2
0
0
9
]
H
a
t
t
i
c
a
s
a
S
i
n
o
-
C
a
u
c
a
s
i
a
n
L
a
n
g
u
a
g
e
3
1
5
Fig. 2. Glottochronological tree of the North Caucasian family (50-item wordlist-based)
Fig. 3. Glottochronological tree of the West Caucasian branch (100-item wordlist-based)
316 A. Kassian [UF 41
For the rst time the structural similarity between Hattic and West Caucasian
languages was noted by E. Forrer (1921, 25; 1922, 229). Later J. von Mszros
(1934, 27 ff.) gave the list of grammatical and lexical isoglosses between Hattic
and Ubykh. Further the idea of the West Caucasian attribution of Hattic was sup-
ported by I. Dunaevskaja (, 1960; , 1961, 134 f.gram-
matical features), I. Diakonoff (, 1967, 172 ff.Hattic afxes),
Vl. Ardzinba (, 1979grammatical features), Vja. Ivanov (in a num-
ber of publications; see , 1985 for the summed up list of Hattic roots and
auxiliary morphemes with WCauc. cognates), Viach. Chirikba (Chirikba, 1996,
406Hattic roots and afxes, structural features), and Jan Braun (,
1994Hattic roots; , 2002Hattic local prexes). It must be noted that
after the outdated von Mszros list of cognates it was Ivanov, who for the rst
time made an attempt to prove the West Caucasian hypothesis by a scientic ap-
proach. Despite the fact that I do not agree with the West Caucasian attribution
of Hattic, Ivanovs publications denitely got the problem of Hattic etymology
off the ground and serve as a good start point for subsequent studies.
The following difculties arise when one attempts to compare Hattic with
WCauc. languages.
2.1 General remarks
2.1.1 Attested Hattic chronologically is more ancient than the late Proto-
WCauc. language by almost 1000 years. Therefore it is possible to compare Hat-
tic forms only with the WCauc. forms, which can be assuredly reconstructed for
the Proto-WCauc. level.
An example. Chirikba, 1996, 414 compares Hattic zi- (a nominal prex with
ablative semantics, e. g., from top-down) with AbkhazAbaza *(a- under,
*(- from down. As a matter of fact AbkhazAbaza *(a-/ *(- has doubtless
cognates in the other WCauc. languages: AdygheKabardian *ca- under,
Ubykh -(a bottom, lower part, etc., so we must reconstruct WCauc. *\V bot-
tom, lower part ; under (preverb) here (< NCauc. *H\n bottom), and
immediately the comparison with Hattic zi- becomes phonetically unlikely (for
regular NCauc. *\ ~ Hatt. l see below).
2.1.2 As is known, the rst Indo-Europeanists of the XVIII c. used to pro-
pose etymological comparisons like follows (e. g., RussianGerman): pri-nes-i
bring! (2 sg.) ~ bringen Sie or u-bi-l he has killed ~ bel and so on. Un-
fortunately some of the authors mentioned above get caught in the same pitfall.
An example. The Hattic well-attested lexeme (a)haf god has a regular
plural form fa-haf deities. Von Mszros, 1934, 32, , 1985, 37 and
Chirikba, 1996, 425 compare fa-haf with the AdygheKabardian and Ubykh
compounds of WCauc. *wa sky; god + *a grey; powder: AdygheKa-
bardian *wa-a sky (< grey sky), Ubykh wa-a thunder and lightning
6
6
Not god, see , 1977 2, 89 f.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 317
(< heavenly blasting powder). Such a comparison can hardly be accepted.
2.1.3 There is an old comparison of Slav. *medv-d bear (< one who
eats honey) and OInd. madhv-d- Ses essend (said of birds in Rig-Veda).
But despite the exact phonetic regularity it is hard to reconstruct such a
compound for the Proto-IE level, since tatpurua madhv-d- is formed after a
synchronically regular and very productive model and there are not any reasons
to suspect a Proto-Indic stem here rather than an occasional word-forming in a
poetic text. We see the same situation with some previously proposed Hattic
WCauc. etymologies.
An example. Hatt. verb tuh to take is compared by Chirikba, 1996, 419
with Abkhaz *t- to take from inside, where *t is a standard locative pre-
verb and * means to take (< WCauc. *x to take). This comparison is not
reliable, since Hattic is almost 3000 years distant from the split of the Common
AbkhazAbaza proto-language (see g. 3 above) and we know that local prever-
bation is a living and productive model of forming verbal stems in the modern
AbkhazAbaza dialects.
2.1.4 A great part of previously proposed comparisons must be rejected now
with certainty, since they were based on erroneous and out-of-date interpretation
of the Hattic data. On the other hand, sometimes scholars operate with incorrect
WCauc. forms.
Examples. , 1967, 173 compares Hatt. fa-/ - (plural of the nomina-
tive and oblique cases) with Abkhaz -wa (a plural marker of the animate class),
but in reality Abkhaz -wa forms the names of races (both in singular and plural),
see Hewitt, 1979, 149. In his turn , 1994, 20 compares Hatt. malhip good,
favorable with Adyghe mk property, fortune, which in fact is a recent
Arabic loanword (Arab. mulk ownership, property, see , 1977 1,
272).
2.2 Structural features and morphosyntax
2.2.1 All the authors mentioned above note the similarity between the Hattic
polysynthetic verbal wordform, where prexation prevails, and the same pheno-
menon in WCauc. languages (cf., e. g., Abzakh verbal scheme in Paris, 1989,
196 ff.). As a matter of fact, the reconstruction of Proto-WCauc. morphosyntax
is the task of future research, today we can operate with modern Abkhaz
Adyghe paradigms only.
2.2.2 Second, it is clear that the Hattic verbal wordform does not coincide
directly with attested WCauc. schemas. We can speak about typological similari-
ty only and suggest monophonemic comparisons between some Hattic and
WCauc. afxes.
2.2.3 Third, polysynthetic verbal morphosyntax is characteristic of some
other branches of Sino-Caucasian macrofamily, not only of the WCauc. sub-
branch. See , 1999 for the Proto-Yenisseian verbal reconstruction,
318 A. Kassian [UF 41
Berger, 1998 1, 104 for the Burushaski verbal wordform (Hunza-Nager dialect)
and, e. g., Holton, 2000, 163 ff. for Tanacross, which possesses verb structure
typical of Na-Dene languages. Yenisseian, Burushaski and Na-Dene schemas are
also rather similar to the known Hattic verbal wordforms, therefore we cannot
speak about exclusive HatticWCauc. connection in this case. On the contrary,
we must suppose that polysynthetic verbal morphosyntax with prexation was
characteristic of the Sino-Caucasian proto-language (this feature was almost
completely destroyed in the Sino-Tibetan family due to contacts with isolating
Austric languages,
7
and was seriously rebuilt in the East Caucasian sub-
branch
8
).
2.2.4 Fourth, we cannot say that the most part of Hattic auxiliary mor-
phemes nds its counterparts in WCauc. languages. On the contrary, the authors
mentioned above operate with individual afxal comparisons and fail to
reconstruct hypothetical Proto-HatticWCauc. sets of grammatical morphemes.
9
An appreciable part of HatticWCauc. afxal comparisons, which were pre-
viously proposed, must be rejected now, since they are based on the incorrect
interpretation of the Hattic grammatical system. On the other hand, the majority
of reliable HatticWCauc. afxal comparisons possesses cognates in East Cau-
casian sub-branch of the NCauc. family or in other families of SCauc. macro-
family, and it is impossible to speak about exclusive HatticWCauc. isoglosses
in these cases.
An example. The Hattic genitive marker -n is standardly compared with
WCauc. *-n (ergative and general indirect case; possessive case; transforma-
tive case). As a matter of fact WCauc. *-n goes back to the Common NCauc.
genitive sufx *-nV: Nakh *-n (genitive; adjective and participial sufx; inni-
tive), Av.-And. *-nV (ablative; translative), Lak -n (dative I, lative, innitive),
Lezgh. *-n (genitive; elative; temporal ; suff. of adjectives and participles;
7
See Benedict, 1972 for morphological relicts in the languages of the Sino-Tibetan
family.
8
See Bengtson, 2008, 97 ff. for similar conclusions about this ECauc. innovation. Cf.,
e. g., , 1960 for the rests of the verbal prexal polysynthetism in the ECauc.
languages. Quite differently Chirikba, forthc. a and forthc. b, who claims that Proto-
North Caucasian was an analytic language, while Pre-Proto-West Caucasian developed
into an isolating (Chinese-like) formation, but I do not understand on which positive evi-
dence Chirikbas syntactical theory is based.
9
Chirikba, 1996, 412 ff. and , 2002 make attempts to etymologize the system of
Hattic local prexes integratedly. In reality the only reliable exclusive Hatt.WCauc. iso-
gloss in their lists is the Hatt. verbal local prex ta- ~ WCauc. preverb *tV- in; super.
On the contrary, Common NCauc. etymologies for Hatt. ha- and ka- are not less probable
than Narrow WCauc. ones. The meaning and function of Hattic ni- / nu- are unknown
(see HWHT, 232 f.). Verbal li- does not exist. Nominal zi- / za- and fe- cannot be com-
pared with WCauc. *\V- and *a- on phonetical grounds. The morpheme ta- is found
only in the totally opaque compound itarrazil earth [22] ; the same concerns the mor-
pheme kil, which has been arbitrarily singled out from kiluh runner-spy [33] by
J. Braun.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 319
terminative; ergative).
2.2.5 Chirikba, 1996, 407 ff. lists structural parallels between Hattic and
WCauc. languages, but unfortunately almost all of them do not seem persuasive.
a) The grammatical system of Hattic is debatable. It is an open question
whether Hattic was a nominative-accusative, ergative (e. g., Taracha, 1988) or
active language (for split activity theory see Goedegebuure, 2010). Although an
ergative pattern seems most probable for Hattic, it cannot prove genetic relation-
ship, but rather represent an areal feature (cf., e. g., the neighboring Hurrian lan-
guage).
b) The Hattic case system is not so rudimentary from the typological view-
point (cf. the schema above).
c) The role of word formation compounding in Hattic is comparable rather
with East Cauc. languages and some other Sino-Caucasian languages
10
than with
WCauc. dialects.
d) For verbal polysynthetism with prevailing prexation see above, 2.2.3.
e) Unmarked nominal plural forms which are sometimes attested in Hattic
texts is the same case as verbal polysynthetismit is not an exclusive Hattic
WCauc. isogloss. The phenomenon of unmarking plural in nouns is known from
other Sino-Caucasian languages: for the Yenisseian family see Castrn, 1858,
16 ff., / , 1968, 235 ff. ; for Na-Dene Holton, 2000, 157 ff. (the
Tanacross language).
f) The restriction on initial r- is a common areal feature, known at that epoch
from East Caucasian languages to Ancient Greek dialects.
g) Some listed Hattic phonetic features cannot be included in the compari-
son, since the Hittite cuneiform gives no reliable data for such an analysis and,
second, we know too little about the Hattic morphonology and phonetic sandhi.
2.3 HatticWCauc. root etymologies
As is known, the normal Proto-NCauc. nominal root had the shape CVCV,
where C is a consonant or a combination of consonants; the standard Proto-
NCauc. verbal root looked like =VCV(R), where = is a class marker, Can
obstruent consonant or a combination of consonants, Ra sonorant (see NCED,
82 ff.). These structures were seriously rebuilt in the WCauc. proto-language,
where the prevailing shape of nominal and verbal roots became CV.
In its turn the standard Hattic root (both nominal and verbal) is CVC, where
C can be a combination of consonants.
Thus, there are three hypothetical ways to compare Hattic with Proto-
WCauc.
2.3.1 We may assume that the reduction of the root structure in Proto-
WCauc. language took place after Hattic had set apart. But in this case we must
compare Hattic directly with the NCauc. proto-language, not with the WCauc.
10
E. g., with Yenisseian (see , 1968).
320 A. Kassian [UF 41
proto-language as it is today reconstructed on the basis of known WCauc. dia-
lects.
2.3.2 We can divide Hattic roots into C- or CV- root nucleus with some
consonant extensions of unknown nature. This method is accepted in a number
of Vja. Ivanovs and J. Brauns etymologies (e. g., , 1985, 11, 20, 22,
50, 58, and so on; , 1994), but it is clear that it is the way to nowhere.
2.3.3 Finally we can compare Hattic roots with compounds or inected
forms from the modern WCauc. dialects. Of course, with such approach we
immediately get caught in bringen-Sie- or madhvad-pitfalls, for which see
2.1.22.1.3 above.
An example. , 1985, 45 compares Hatt. ul to let, to let in with
Ubykh ca-w-la to let, release exhaustively, where ca- is a preverb used with
verbs of motion (Vogt, 1963, 104), w is a frequent verbal root to enter, go
(< WCauc. *V to enter < NCauc. *=or to go, walk, enter), while -la is a
regular exhaustive sufx.
2.4 Conclusions
2.4.1 Hattic cannot be directly compared with WCauc. due to the fundamental
difference in root structure. Grammatical Hatt.WCauc. isoglosses are also
rather weak.
2.4.2 Indeed, Hattic possesses a number of monoconsonantal roots which
can be compared with WCauc. data, but in almost all these cases proposed
WCauc. roots have reliable NCauc. cognates, therefore such comparisons cannot
prove an exclusive HatticWCauc. relationship.
An example. , 1994, 19 compares Hatt. root zuwa- in sufxed zuwa-tu
wife with WCauc. *p-zV female; bitch (AbkhazAbaza *ps, Adyghe
Kabardian *bz, Ubykh bza, with the frequent Proto-WCauc. prex *p-). In
reality WCauc. *-zV is not an isolated form, but goes back to NCauc. *
wjV
(~ -I-) woman, female (further to SCauc. *wjV (~ s-, ~ -I-) female), and
the direct HatticNCauc. or HatticSCauc. comparison is self-suggesting.
2.4.3. Even if we undertake a monophonemic etymologization of Hattic
CVC-roots, the genetic relationship to the WCauc. sub-branch cannot be proved,
since the regularity of phonemic correspondences in monophonemic compari-
sons must be established by a solid corpus of cognates that is not the case.
2.4.4. A great part of HatticWCauc. isoglosses which were previously
proposed need to be left out, since they are based on incorrect and out-of-date
Hattic data.
2.4.5. It is worth noting, however, a small number of probable WCauc. loan-
words in Hattic, for which see Section 7 below.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 321
3 Previously proposed Kartvelian attribution
Girbal, 1986, 160163 proposes four HatticKartvelian root etymologies, two of
them are striking: Hatt. tumil rain ~ Kartv. *wim- to rain and Hatt. am(a)
to hear (vel sim.) ~ Kartv. *sem- to hear. Of course, genetic relationship can-
not be established by a couple of comparisons (even if they belong to the
Swadesh wordlist), and we must treat these etymologies as chance coincidences.
Note that Hatt. tumil and am(a) possess reliable SCauc. cognates. Gabeskiria,
1998 attempted to add some new Kartvelian cognates of Hattic lexemes, but
without much successfor the criticism of Gabeskirias studies see HWHT,
33 f.
4 Sino-Caucasian hypothesis
Although the WCauc. attribution of Hattic is improbable, it is very likely that
Hattic represents a separate branch of the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily. Below I
list a number of Hattic root and auxiliary morphemes with probable SCauc. cog-
nates. It is important that the percentage of the so called basic vocabulary in my
list is relatively high. Of course, the regularity of the assumed phonemic corre-
spondences between Hattic and Proto-SCauc. cannot be proved due to the
scantiness of Hattic lexical data, but it should be noted that :
a) the main part of the proposed phonemic correspondences are trivial (e. g.,
SCauc. *p ~ Hatt. f, SCauc. *( ~ Hatt. t, SCauc. * ~ Hatt. t~ (//?), SCauc. * ~
Hatt. l, SCauc. *k ~ Hatt. k and so on);
b) some special types of phonetic developments (e. g., consonant cluster
simplication) are very typical of the other daughter proto-languages of the
SCauc. macrofamily, and therefore can be regarded as common innovations.
4.1 Sino-Caucasian (or Dene-Sino-Caucasian) macrofamily
For the rst time the genetic relationship between three proto-familiesNorth
Caucasian, Yenisseian and Sino-Tibetanwas partially substantiated on the
ground of regular phonetic correspondences in , 1982/ 2007. Some
other papers by the same author, dedicated to the Sino-Caucasian problem, can
be found in , 2007 (both in Russian and English). For the preliminary
comparative phonetics of the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily see SCC (this work
was not nished and therefore remains unpublished). The highly preliminary
Sino-Caucasian etymological dictionary is available as Sccet.dbf.
As in the case of the NCauc. family (g. 2) the following preliminary Sino-
Caucasian tree is based on 50-wordlists (see com. on g. 2 above for detail). The
tree has been compiled by G. Starostin (pers. comm.) as part of the ongoing re-
search on the Preliminary Lexicostatistical Tree of the worlds languages (within
the Evolution of Human Language project, supported by the Santa Fe Insti-
322 A. Kassian [UF 41
tute): g. 4.
11
The tree gives the general frame of the SCauc. macrofamily, but it must be
stressed that the tree cannot be regarded as a nal solution. During the continu-
ing studies of SCauc. daughter families this schema will probably be improved.
Three main proto-languages are the basis of the SCauc. reconstruction:
North Caucasian, Sino-Tibetan and Yenisseian. They possess relatively well-
done comparative grammars (especially phonetics) and etymological dictionaies.
NCauc. familyCaucet.dbf, which has been published as NCED (w. lit.). STib.
familyStibet.dbf, based on Peiros/ Starostin, 1996 (w. lit.), but seriously im-
proved. Yen. family, 1982/ 2007 and Yenet.dbf, based on -
, 1995 and Werner, 2002 with additions and corrections.
The Proto-Na-Dene reconstruction is not done (or not published) yet, there-
fore I do not use Na-Dene data in my paper. Isolated Burushaski and Basque
also do not provide considerable help due to natural reasons.
4.2 Phonetic correspondences
Below I quote phonetic charts from SCC, 24 ff. and add the Hattic column with
suggested Hattic counterparts. As it was said above, unfortunately S. Starostin
did not manage to nish SCCin particular it concerns the phonetic charts,
whose cells are sometimes incomplete or, on the contrary, redundant. Despite
this fact, the tables are quoted as they have been compiled by S. Starostin with
the exception of few cells important to us, which I corrected,these cells are
marked by footnotes.
The correspondences are illustrated by the Hattic examples taken from sec-
tions 5.1 and 6.1.
11
Position of the Hurro-Urartian proto-language is not quite clear. Pace the work Diako-
noff / Starostin, 1986, where Hurro-Urartian is traditionally included into the ECauc.
stock of the NCauc. family, it is very likely that this cluster represents a separate branch
of the SCauc. macro-family (at the beginning of the 2000s S. Starostin himself tended to
lean towards the same conclusion). Because of many lacunae in the Hurrian 50-wordlist
it is impossible to process Hurrian using the formal algorithm (Hurrian is not included in
the tree on g. 4), but it is clear that Hurro-Urartian belongs to the NCauc.Yen. branch,
not to the STib.Na-Dene one, and some isoglosses may prove the specic relationship
between the Hurro-Urartian and Yen.Burush. stocks. See Kassian, 2010 for some
details. The Na-Dene branch on g. 4 does not include the Haida language.
2
0
0
9
]
H
a
t
t
i
c
a
s
a
S
i
n
o
-
C
a
u
c
a
s
i
a
n
L
a
n
g
u
a
g
e
3
2
3
Fig. 4. Glottochronological tree of the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily (50-item wordlist-based)
324 A. Kassian [UF 41
4.2.1 Vocalism (a very preliminary schema)
SCauc. NCauc. STib. Yen. Burush. Hattic
*i i, e e, i () i i
*e e, i a, a, e (), a, e
i / e,
(ae, a)
* a, i, e e (), i, a, e a, (i / e)
* , , i i, i i / e
* , a, , e a, , o o, a a, i / e
*a a e, a,
a (), e (),
a, e (i) a, (u)
*u o, u u, o o (), u u, o
*o o, u , a u, , o a, o (u)
u
Consonant cluster simplications may cause a preceding vowel change:
SCauc. *\npV tongue; lip; to lick > alef tongue [1]
SCauc. *xlw forelock; horn > kai horn [14]
Yen. *t[e]mb-V- root ~ tup root [63]
4.2.2 Consonantism
Below for Hattic I use cuneiform notation: for /s/, z for //, t~ for //.
SCauc. NCauc. STib. Yen. Burush. Hattic
*p p ph, -p p ph-, p
* , b p-, -p b p
*b b p, ph, -p p b
f / p/ w
*m m m b- / p- / w-, m m f- / p- / w-, m
*w w () w/ 0 0-, w/ 0 b-, 0(u)
w-, -u-, -f-,
(-m-)
*t t th, -t d th
* t, -t d t, ()
*d d t, th, -t t t, ()
t, z (_i)
*n n n d-, n n n
*r r r - / t-, r, r
1
d-, r -, -r-, (-l-)
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 325
SCauc. NCauc. STib. Yen. Burush. Hattic
*c c ch/ s, -t s s
* ( C, -t c, s - ~ -, s
t-, z- (_i / e), z-,
--
* ch, h , s s
*s s s ( / ch), -0 s, d-(V) d-, s -
*z z ,
* , ,h, -t -, s s/ , / (, -
* ( , ,h, , -t s, c (h), ,/
, -
t-, -t-, -z- (_i)
*j , , -t -, s
12
,- /
-, s/ ( / )
* s ( / ch), -0 s, d-(V) d-, / (V)
* ?
* , ,h -( / -), s / , / (, -
* ( , ,h , / , / (, -
-~t-, t-, z- (_i),
--
* , , / (, , t
* -, -0 s, d-(V) s/ /
* r rj
1
, r d-, r
* n -, , n n
*j j j j, 0 j, 0 -0-
* r(..L), -k j-, lt-, lt / l
*\ \
, l, r(..L),
-k/ -
j-, l, lt-, lt / l
* , l, -k r, r
1
lt-, lt / l
l
* l, j-, l, lt- (l-), ld
* l-, -, -l d-, l, r
1
, r
13
l r, (l)
*l l r d-, l ~ r, r
1
l l
12
Updated cell.
13
Updated cell.
326 A. Kassian [UF 41
SCauc. NCauc. STib. Yen. Burush. Hattic
*k k k-, -k g, -k- k(h)
* kh, gh, -k g-, -k, -g- k
k
*g g k-, -k k g
*x x -, -0 x, ~ G h h
* g q ~
* n b-, 0-, f-, n
*q q
qh-, G-, x-,
- ; -k/ -
q-, q/ G q(h),
*q q Gh-, q; -k, - q-, q/ G q(h),
k
*G G
q, qh-,
[G(h)-], k/ -
x-/-, q/G q(h),
* , , qh-, -0 , x h h
* G-, q-, , -j / -w , G 0/
*
0 () ; w >
- ~ -
-, j ; w >
h/ x
0/ h/ j
* 0; w > ()-
-, j, 0; w >
h/x
0/ h/ j
* 0; w > - ; w > h/x 0/ h/ j
*h h
0; hw >
(/ -, w-)
-, j ; hw >
h/ x
0/ h/ j 0
*
0; w > j-,
w- (/-)
-, j,
14
0/h/j h, (0)
* 0; w > ?
-, j ; w >
h/ x
0/ h/ j (0)
*xm ? f m w-
*x ? x
*w m b-, m-, -n/ -m
*xw f b-, h-
14
Updated cell.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 327
SCauc. NCauc. STib. Yen. Burush. Hattic
*xg g k~q, -, -k q, x, g k, h
*xk k-,-k q-, q/ G () h-,-q-,-
*x
k-, kh- ~ gh-
~ qh-, -k
q, G, qh, , -q k, h
*xq q k, g, -k q, , x
15
qh, , -q h
*xqw qw k, g, -k x, g k, g k
*xq q gh, (k) q, , x qh, h
*xqw qw k, kh x, g k, g k
*xG G, () g, kh q, , x qh, , q
*xG*w Gw ghw, kw k k, g
*sd c(h) t c (~ ch, (h)
*st c ch/ s, -t(s), -s t c
*s ( ch/ s t c ( ~ () t
*d ~ ,h ? ch
*t c ? ?
* ( , h t ?
*d t (h), ,
*t , t ? t-, -z- (_i)
* ( ? t h
4.2.2.1 Labials
SCauc. *p, *, *b merge in Hatt. f / p/ win all likelihood more than one pho-
neme, but can hardly be distinguished due to the imperfect and inconsistent
cuneiform transcription:
SCauc. *\npV tongue; lip; to lick > alef tongue [1]
SCauc. *q[]pV to cover > kip to protect [18]
SCauc. *[p]r lightning; brilliance > paru bright [33]
SCauc. *aplxqwE leaf > puluku leaves [39]
SCauc. *[p]HV to blow (STib. *bt) > pu-an to blow on [43]
15
Updated cell.
328 A. Kassian [UF 41
SCauc. *[]VrV to speak, pray > fara-ya priest [32]
NCauc. *bV cattle-shed ~ fael house [30]
STib. *bhr abundant, numerous ~ far thousand [31]
SCauc. *br a k. of predator > pra leopard [37]
SCauc. *[
Vr ~ STib. *hi-oH ~
Hatt. (a)nti to stand, stay [28]
SCauc. VCV > Hatt. VC:
SCauc. *= to put > NCauc. *=i ~ Yen. *es- ~ Basque *ecan ~ Hatt.
e to put [4]
SCauc. =V-CV > Hatt. CV:
SCauc. *=tV to put, leave > NCauc. *=tV-r ~ STib. *dhH ~ Yen. *di(j)
~ Hatt. ti to lie, put [55]
SCauc. *=VV to eat, drink > NCauc. *=V
V-n ( ~ -j
r (~ w-?) to
wash, Tib. skjur-ba to throw, throw into water, cast, Lushai vor to
scatter, throw up, toss.
STib. *q(h)- originates from SCauc. *qw, Gw-, w-, w- and so on (SCC,
8993), while *-r- < SCauc. *-l- and *-r-.
11. hel, hil to grow, ripen
= Hitt. mai-.
SCauc. *xq(w)VrV old, ripe >
NCauc. *=rqw to ripen > Av.-And. *=iq-, Tsez. *=iq-, Lak =ija-, Dar-
gwa *=iqur-, Lezgh. *i(r)qV, WCauc. *a- (~ -G-).
STib. *gr old, large > Chin. *grij old, *grij great, large, Tib. bgre
344 A. Kassian [UF 41
to grow old, Burm. krih to be old; be big.
The correspondence Hatt. l ~ SCauc. *r is strange, cf., however, Yen. *r/ r
1
as
reexes of SCauc. *r with unknown rules of distribution (Yen. *r
1
yields
l-like phonemes in the majority of daughter languages).
12. her (also hert?) to hide, conceal
= Hitt. munnai-.
SCauc. *=gwV (*gwVV) (~ xgw-) to lose, hide >
NCauc. *=igwV to lose, get lost ; to steal > Av.-And. *golV (~ -a-) thief,
Tsez. *gVl- thief, Lezgh. *ik:l- to lose; to get lost ; hidden, secret,
Khin. dugun- to lose.
STib. *koj (~ -l) to hide > Burm. kwaj to conceal, keep out of sight, Ka-
chin mkoi
1
hide, conceal.
Basque *gal- to lose, corrupt, spoil.
Sccet.dbf reconstructs the SCauc. stem with *gw, but in fact we cannot
distinguish *gw and *xgw without Yen. cognates. For SCauc. * ~ Hatt. r,
cf. SCauc. * > Yen. *r/ r
1
with unknown rules of distribution.
The Hattic meaning is closer to STib., rather than to NCauc.
, 1985, 7 compares Hatt. her(t
?
) with an isolated WCauc. form:
Ubykh qarda- tre assis, cach (Vogt, 1963, 164).
13. hukur to see, look, notice
= Hitt. au-.
SCauc. *HkV to look, search >
NCauc. *H[o]kV to look, search > Tsez. *hak- (~ -), Lak uI=i-, Lezgh.
*akV-/ *okV-.
STib. *ku (~ g-) to seek, choose, understand > Chin. *gu to seek, ask
for, Tib. sko, bsko to choose, go to know, understand, Burm. (Naxi)
*kh[ua] hear.
Yen. *b-[o]k- (~ w-) to nd > Ket b:
4
, b
4
, Yug b:hk, Kott. bapuk.
The (verbal) sufx -rV is rather common in SCauc. languages, especially in
the NCauc. sub-branch. In synchronic Hattic the r-onset is prohibited for
any morphemes (both root and auxiliary) and huku-r seems the only ver-
bal stem known to us, where we can suspect an r-sufx. Some nominal
stems, however, contain a similar fossilized morpheme: zeha-r building
wood [64]. On the hypothetical Hatt. **tafa-r to rule see tafarna [52].
Girbal, 1986 compares the Hattic stem with Georgian qur- to lookan iso-
lated Georg. root, which theoretically may be related to Kartv. qur- ear;
to hear, see Schmidt, 1962, 141.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 345
14. kai horn (anatomic
18
)
= Hitt. SI.
SCauc. *xlw forelock; horn >
NCauc. *lwi forelock, plait ; horn > Nakh *u( forelock, tuft of hair;
mountain top, Av.-And. *i( (~ *i() forelock, Lezgh. *al/ *kal
horn; plait, womans hair.
STib. *khaj horn, a pair of horns > Chin. khaj one horn turning up and
one down, Lushai ki horn.
Burush. *uy hair.
The loss of l in combination with an affricate is regular for all SCauc. sub-
branches except the NCauc. one (SCC, 87 f.). Hattic probably shows an
interesting development *l > j here.
15. kap moon
= Hitt.
D
SN.
Yen. *q[e]p (~ -) moon > Ket qp, pl. qi:
3
, Yug xep, pl. xejfn
1
.
For the meaning of the Hattic term see HHB2, 173, 412 f., 416 ff., 464
fn. 948 and Soysal, 2004, 364.
An important HatticYen. isogloss. The second Yenisseian word for moon
is *(V)suj (Kott., Arin, Pump.), which probably possesses an external
etymology (SCauc. *w moon), whereas *q[e]p (~ -) seems an in-
ner Yenisseian innovation.
16. ka, ki head, Kopf, Haupt
= Hitt. haran-, SAG.DU
Yen. *aKsV- (~ x-) temple (part of head) > Kott. axei, further see
Yenet.dbf #11 and , 1995, 180 with possible KetYug cognates
and the general discussion.
An exclusive HatticYen. isogloss.
Yen. *a- appears to be a fossilized class prex, causing a secondary reduc-
tion of the root vowel, as, e. g., in Yen. *saq- ~ *a-sq- guilty (< SCauc.
*cVrqV).
An alternative, semantically more persuasive etymology is SCauc. *VqV
head (NCauc. [only WCauc. *SqIa head] ~ Yen. *c[]G- head ~ Bu-
rush. *-anes back of head), if one assumes a consonant metathesis
in the Hattic root. Cf. Sum. SAG head (an unclear coincidence?).
17. katte king, katta-h queen
= Hitt. LUGAL, MUNUS.LUGAL.
Yen. *kat (~ g-, -c) old (attr.) > Ket kat, pl. kate
5
, Yug kat, pl. kate
5
.
An exclusive HatticYen. isogloss. Hattic shows a very common semantic
18
O. Soysal, pers. comm.
346 A. Kassian [UF 41
shift old > elder.
Chirikba, 1996, 424 compares Hatt. katte with AbkhazAbaza compound
*qa-da chief (adj.), whose elements are unclear.
18. kip to protect
= Hitt. pah-.
SCauc. *q[]pV to cover (reconstructed as *qHpE in Sccet.dbf)>
STib. *Gp to cover > Chin. *kts (< *kps) to cover, conceal ; a cover
(of a car), *gp to thatch, to cover, Tib. bkab to cover, gab to hide,
Kachin mgap
2
to cover, Lushai hup (hu) to cover, put over, Lepcha
kap to cover over, to envelop, to wrap round as garment, Kiranti *kop
cover.
Yen. *qepVn- (~ -) to close (door) > Ket qegej
6
, Yug di-fnbdi ich
mache es zu, imper. fne.
Sccet.dbf adds NCauc. *q
wV to hold, catch
(> Av.-And. *=ik:-, Tsez. *=o:-, Dargwa *=ujk:-, Lezgh. *iq-,
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 347
WCauc. *q:Ia (~q-, q-)), but this comparison does not explain the Hat-
tic u-vocalism.
, 1985, 23, and Chirikba, 1996, 421 (Hattic + WCauc. *q:Ia).
, 1994, 21 (Hatt. + WCauc. *).
20. ku (or aku) soldier, escort (vel sim.) or rather subject(s of the king).
Attested only in pl. form: faku (paku, wa
a
ku).
SCauc. *Hxqw to preserve, guard >
NCauc. *Hqw to graze, guard, preserve > Tsez. *=o- (~ -:-) to graze,
feed, Lezgh. *oI to guard, preserve, WCauc. *IV to graze (intr.
and trans.).
STib. *k to help; friend, companion > Chin. *gu mate, companion,
*kus to help, save, relieve, Burm. ku help, Kachin khu
2
to become
friends, (H) mkhu friend, lkhu to guard, protect, Lushai *ku help,
Kiranti *ku look after.
Semantically the Hatt. root is closer to the STib. forms rather than to the
NCauc. ones.
21. kun to see
= Hitt. au-.
SCauc. *=axgwV(n) to look, see >
NCauc. *=agwV to see > Nakh *gu-/ *=ag-, Av.-And. *-Vg-, Tsez.
*=[e]g- A, Lak k:a=k:a-, Dargwa *g-/ *=irg()-, Lezgh. *ak:-.
STib. *kn (~ g-) to glance at ; to regard > Chin. *kn to glance at,
Lushai khon to regard, pay attention to.
Yen. *qo (~ -) to see > Ket d-ba--s-, Yug di-ba--s-, Pump. ja-xa-ldi
I see.
Morphologically the Hattic form is close to the STib. attestations.
, 1985, 21 compares Hatt. kun with unclear AdygheKabardian
*- (found in some compounds like mirror) with the possible meaning
to look/ see.
22. le or ale to envy (vel sim.), neidisch sein, beneiden (vel sim.)
= Hitt. araniya- to be angry (at); to envy.
STib. *re to dislike > Kachin nri
4
to be annoyed, displeased, (H) gri to
regard as undesirable, Lushai hre to dislike, object to.
A HatticSTib. isogloss (STib. *r goes back to SCauc. *r or *l).
23. *leli in leliyah or leliyahu source of light; lustre, brilliance. An epithet
of the Sun-goddess
= Hitt. lalukkima-.
STib. *roH light > Chin. *ron to be beautiful, handsome, Tib. khrol-
khrol bright, shining, khrol-po sparkling, glistening, dazzling, Burm.
348 A. Kassian [UF 41
hrwanh to be clear, bright, shining.
Apparently the Hattic stem contains the sufx -ya, which forms nomina
agentis, and female sufx -ah [125]. The same sufxal chain -ya-ah is
seen in the quasi-synonymous kaparuyah source of light [33] (= Hitt.
lalukkima-)another epithet of the Sun-goddess. Alternatively it is
possible to single out the morpheme yah here: thus , 1985, 15
(proposing *yah bright) and O. Soysal, pers. comm. (comparing it with
yah heaven, sky).
The vocalic correspondence between Hattic and STib. is not clear, however.
Sccet.dbf #570 tentatively includes the STib. stem into SCauc. *li skin,
colour (> NCauc. *li colour; to paint, Yen. *o hull, suffusion,
Basque *laru skin) which seems lame semantically.
24. li, le year
= Hitt. MU(.KAM).
SCauc. *jV time, year, season >
NCauc. *jV year, day > Av.-And. *aji- (*aHi-) year; in the daytime;
today, WCauc. *\V year; day.
STib. *lH year, season > Chin. *lh sacricial cycle, year, Tib. lo
year, Kachin khra
1
time, season, Kiranti *l[o] time.
The element - is apparently a sufx known from some other Hattic nominal
stems.
25. lu to be able, imstande sein; knnen
?
= Hitt. -za tarh-.
STib. *lw to be able > Tib. blo mind, intellect ; to be able, Kachin lu
2
-na
3
to can, (H) lu, thu to be able, can, Kiranti *l to feel, be affected, pre-
sent, be experienceable.
An exclusive HatticSTib. isogloss.
Sccet.dbf #705 adds here Chin. *los to understand; to instruct, enlighten
(if not to STib. *jw to understand, consider) and unites this STib. stem
with NCauc. *olwA to think. Apparently two different proto-roots, to
think and to be able, merged in some languages.
26.
L
luizzi-l runner, messenger,
= Hitt.
L
KA
4
.E.
SCauc. *hiltw to run (away) >
NCauc. *hilw to run (away) > Tsez. *=[]- to run (away), Lak liI=a-
to run, Lezgh. *hi- to run (away), Khin. =p- to run away,
WCauc. *c:a to run; to walk uncertainly.
STib. > Chin. *ho, *h to run, drive, * to run, make run, gallop.
Yen. *tut- to ee, hide > Ket tut
5
/ tuti
5
.
The Hattic stem shows the well-attested masculine sufx -l.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 349
The shape of the Hattic stem (u-epenthesis between *l and obstruent cluster)
resembles the Yen. proto-form.
27. nimhu-t (or nimhu-tu), nimhu- woman
NCauc. *nV (~ --) woman, female > Dargwa *x:unul woman,
Lezgh. *:n:(ol) woman; female.
-t(u)/ -(u) is a female sufx. Although Hattic shows assimilated n- for ex-
pected **l-, the comparison seems reliable. Note Hatt. -m- for *-n- before
labialized h.
Untenably , 1994, 19 (Hatt. + WCauc. *p-A- woman, where
*p- is a fossilized class prex and - is a diminutive sufx).
28. (a)nti to stand; to stay
= Hitt. ar-.
SCauc. *=VmV(r) to stand, stay >
NCauc. *=Vm
kakatipa- gatehouse,
portal is a reduplicated formation *kas(k)-kas(k)-tipa with the sufx -tipa (known as
-epa/ -zipa from other Hittite stems), but I think that we deal with a compound word-
forming here: kaku gate building [29] + tip gate, although the binding vowel
change u > a remains unclear.
20
In many compounds this verbal root has the meaning to split, hack, make notches,
etc. among the Yenisseian languages, but the basic meaning of the plain stem is to
shave (see Yenet.dbf #836; Werner, 2002 1, 205).
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 357
actly matches the Yen. root. Sccet.dbf reconstructs the SCauc. proto-form
as *VqV (~ -xq-) which seems unjustied.
, 1985, 50 compares Hattic ta-ha-ya with WCauc. *V to comb;
to scrape (< NCauc. *hrg
ombi god; mercy > Nakh *(bV idol, god; heathen deity;
priest, Av.-And. *(:VbV mercy, grace, Lak (imi grace, mercy, pity,
Dargwa *(um pity.
STib. *m honour, authority > Chin. * to honour, go to pay court ;
ancestor; master, Tib. gom, bom pride, haughtiness, arrogance, Ka-
chin um authority.
Widely discussed Hattic words, see now Soysal, 2005 w. lit. and EDHIL w.
lit. (both scholars advocate non-IE, scil. Hattic origin of tabarna) vs.
Yakubovich, 2009, 229 ff. w. lit. and Melchert, 2003a, 18 ff. (for the Ana-
tolian origin of tabarna and tawananna).
The theory of borrowing such regal terms from Luwian or Hittite into Hattic
(and Palaic) is not very probable proceeding from general reasons. We
know several dozens of Hattic loanwords in Hittite
21
(especially concern-
21
For the list see now Goedegebuure, 2008, 146 f. w. previous lit.
358 A. Kassian [UF 41
ing cultic and regal terminology), but not a single HittiteLuwian loan-
word in Hattic is revealed up to now.
22
If the term tabarna functioned in Hattic as a Hittito-Luwian Exotismus refer-
ring just to the Hittite king (like refers to the Roman emperors in
Ancient Greek texts), it is strange that we nd this term in Hattic archaic
formulaic passages. The formal difculties associated with the Hittito-Lu-
wian origin of the term tabarna are more serious.
1) The Luwian athematic verb tabar- to rule lacks IE etymology. The com-
parison with Germ. adjective *apraz heavy; sad, downcast (Orel,
2003, 68) or with Slav. adjective dobr good ( 5, 45) is untenable
both semantically and morphologically
23
. An analysis of tawananna ac-
cepted by Melchert, 2003a, 18 ff. (to IE *st-, *st- to stand) is not
persuasive either.
2) The Luwian morphological pattern of nomen actoris in -na (tabar- to
rule > tabar-na- one who rules) is unique. A postulation of a hypotheti-
cal Luw. adjective **tabra- mighty (cf. the previous paragraph), from
which the adjective tabar-na- mighty has been derived (as per Melchert,
2003a, 18 ff.), and an explanation of athematic tabar- to rule as a back-
formation are totally unprovable. Slightly differently Yakubovich (2002;
2009, 229 ff.), who proposes not an adjective, but a Luw. substantive
**tabara- /daara/ or /aara/ power as a starting point of t/labarna
which seems ad hoc also.
24
Note that Yakubovich is compelled to postu-
late two unique Luwian phonemes (//, //) in order to explain the forms
in question. Further Yakubovich refers to early second millennium Cappa-
docian onomastics in an attempt to nd some evidence for Luwian **ta-
bara- /daara/ or /aara/ power. He quotes four PN-sWa-dapra-,
Wa-lapra-, Waa-tapra, upi-lapra- and attributes them to Luwian. As
a matter of fact the rst element of Wa-dapra-, Wa-lapra- is inexplicable
within Luwian (as was correctly noted by Yakubovich himself: 2009,
216). There are two ways to analyze Cappadocian Wa-dapra-, Wa-lapra-.
First, they can be Hattic names with the frequent Hatt. prex wa-. The
second and more probable solution is to divide these forms as Wada-pra-,
Wala-pra- (for their second element cf., e. g., morphologically doubtless
Cappadocian PN upi-pra, Garelli, 1963, 146). The third name Waa-
tapra may be either Luwian or not, since waa seems unetymologizable
within Luwian; equally well it can be, e. g., Hurrian: cf. Hurr. tabri atri-
22
The only candidate is the widespread cultural term zinar [118] lyre which could in-
deed be identied as a Luw. loanword (for the discussion see sub v.).
23
Note that Luw. tabar- per se does not look like a normal Anatolian verbal stem.
24
Yakubovich inserts an epenthesis between labial and r because of the Lyc. A perso-
nal name dapara = Grk. (PN is known from some other Grk.
sources, see Neumann, 2007, 36). But the meaning, origin and morphology of Lyc. A da-
para are unknown, and I really doubt whether this form can prove anything.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 359
but de divinits (GLH, 247). Finally, the fourth name upi-lapra- seems
Hittite, since the element upi well attested in Cappadocian onomastics
can be rather assuredly identied with Hitt. (not Luw. !) adj. uppi-
clear. To sum up the onomastic discussion. With some difculties in
Cappadocian personal names we can reveal morphemes tapra and lapra,
whose origin and meaning are vague. Note that we do not have any posi-
tive evidence that tapra and labra represent a single morpheme. Of
course, one can attempt to connect lapra to the Mediterranean morpheme
-, which is known in some divine epithets of the rst millennium BC
or later,
25
or even to the more archaic term = Myc. da-
pu/pu
2
-ri-to- (see Yakubovich, 2002).
26
On the other hand tapra can be
identied with Luw. tabar- to rule, but it is not obligatory due to the ab-
sence of a vowel between labial and r in tapra (cf. also possible Hurr.
cognate of tapra above). In any case, postulating of Luw. /aar/ with a
unique phoneme //, which was rendered by t- in Luw. tabar- to rule
(with various Hitt.-Luw. derivates), but by l in the title labarna and the
onomastic element lapra, can hardly be justied from my point of view.
The same concerns the idea that []when conjectural []apra became a
Mediterranean wandering onomastic rootcould preserve its unique pho-
netic characteristics in the course of millennium and continue to be
spelled either as l or as d in non-cuneiform traditions (cf. Yakubovichs
examples: Myc. da-pu/pu
2
-ri-to- = Grk. ; Lyc. A PN dapara
= Grk. ).
3) The Luwian verbal stem tabar- with derivates as well as their Hittite
counterparts (tabarija- order, injunction, etc.) never show t/l-alternation,
while t/labarna is uniformly spelled as labarna in CLuw. texts, not
**tabarna.
4) The alternation tabarna ~ labarna can hardly be explained within Hittito-
Luwian phonology. A hypothetical one-example scenario proposed by
Melchert, 2003a, 18 ff. for Hitt. l- < Luw. t- in Luwian loanwords in
Hittite is not supported by any positive evidence and looks too compli-
cated and factitious (note that the CLuw. stable spelling labarna clearly
contradicts Melcherts phonetic theory). On the contrary, we know an
opposite occasional process Anat. *T- > Luw. l-, for which see below.
5) /f/ (wa
a
) in Hatt. tafarna can hardly be explained if one assumes a loan
nature of this lexeme in Hattic.
27
25
The Carian city and Zeus shrine Labraunda, known from some ancient Greek authors
like Herodotus or Strabo (, ) or the epithet of Zeus in Cyprus -
.
26
For the latter cf. also hypothetical Linear A -du-pu
2
-re master, as proposed in
Valrio, 2007.
27
Yakubovich, 2009, 230 fn. 29, advocating the Luwian origin of Hattic tafarna, postu-
lates the new Luwian phoneme // for this case (/daarna/), which was being transcribed
360 A. Kassian [UF 41
Almost all these difculties are avoided if we treat tafarna and tawananna as
proper Hattic stems. Despite the fact that tawananna never occurs with
the spelling wa
a
or pa, I suppose that we can regard Hattic tafarna and
tawananna as paronymous words and single out the Hattic root tafa-
/ tawa-, whose SCauc. etymology (see above) is exact both phonetically
and semantically. Note that even if we discard tawananna from the com-
parison, it does not seriously affect my conclusions. A morpheme -r- in
tafa-r-na is a rather common SCauc. sufx known from some other Hat-
tic stems, both verbal (huku-r to see [13] < SCauc. *HkV id.) and
nominal (zeha-r building wood [64] ~ NCauc. *
wV stick; timber).
The nominal sufx -na is also attested in Hattic: cf. zipi-na sour [66]
(~ STib. *cVp bitter) and probably kurkupal [39] ~ kurkufen-na [40]
(if nna < lna).
Meanwhile the lambdacized form labarna, which is unknown to Hattic, but
attested in Hittite texts, where it competes with the proper variant tabarna
(see Soysal, 2005, 191 ff. for statistics), may be a result of false ety-
mologization. One can propose that the Hittites and the Luwians under-
stood ta- in tafarna as a feminine morpheme and attempted to replace it
by the masculine la- after the model
D
halipinu (a male deity of the
HatticHittite pantheon) vs.
D
hatipinu (a female deity of the Hattic
Hittite pantheon)see Soysal, 2005, 199 ff., but with different conclu-
sions. Certainly the queen title tawananna (never attested in a lamb-
dacized form) has not been affected by such etymologization.
There is an alternative phonetic explanation of the lambdacized form
labarna, since we know that in some cases Anat. *T- yields Luw. l-. The
conditions of this phonetic change are unknown, but the correspondence
Hitt. ta- to take ~ CLuw. la- id. can hardly be rejected.
28
Further and
less obligatory examples are: Hitt. tuhhuessar smoke-substance, in-
cense(-resin) ~ Luwoid
?
lu(y)essar incense(-wood) and Hitt. tuwarna-
to break ~ Luwism :lawarriya- id..
29
On the ground of this phonetic
as the sign BA by the Hittites in the Hittite word and as WA
A
by the Hittites in the Hattic
word. I do not understand, on which positive evidence Yakubovichs theory is based. The
function of the sign BA in the Hittite cuneiform tradition is the task of further research,
but as far as I can judge, BA was being used by Hittite scribes merely as an occasional
graphical indicator of loanwords (Hurrian, Luwian, Akkadian, Hattic, etc.).
28
Despite Yakubovich, 2008, 21, fn. 24.
29
Melchert, 2003b, 181 claims that the Hittites can render initial t- by l- in Luwian
loanwords. His examples are: Hitt. allappahh- to spite ~ CLuw. tappa- id. (maybe <
IE *lap- to lap, lick, but note that the Hittite term used in archaic rites of Hattic origin
also resembles Hatt. alef tongue) and the personal name Hitt.
m
alalimi ~ HLuw. ta/i
5
-
ta/i
4
-mi. Firstly, it is unclear to me why Hitt. allappahh- is a Luwian loanword. Secondly,
HLuw. PN ta/i
5
-ta/i
4
-mi must be read as ala-ali-mi (see Hawkins, 2005, 28990; Rie-
ken/ Yakubovich, 2010; Yakubovich, 2009a). Thirdly, even if we accept these examples,
the form in question is labarna, not **alabarna.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 361
phenomenon the only consistent scenario is the following one: Hattic
tafarna was borrowed into Hittite and Palaic as tabarna and into Luwian
as *tabarna > labarna (labarna is the only variant known from Luwian
texts); thereupon the Hittites borrowed labarna from Luwian and began
to use it equally with the proper form tabarna. Of course both explana-
tions (morphological and phonetical) of the t/l-alternations in Hittite are
not self-evident,
30
but they seem much more probable than Melcherts one
(for which see above).
As for the second element of tawa-nanna, in all likelihood nanna reects the
universally spread nursery word mother, cf., e. g., SCauc. *nnV fe-
male breast ; mother. An assumed compound honoured/ powerful
mother as a queen title ts Hattic matriarchal culture very well.
The fact that tabarna/ labarna was the throne name of the rst Hittite king
(the founder of the dynasty) is unhelpful, since both solutions are equal.
First, we can assume that originally tabarna/ labarna was a proper name
and thereupon became a regal title in Anatolia (cf. the linguistic fate of
Lat. Caesar). But the second scenario is not less probable: tafarna was a
Hattic regal term, which has been adopted by Hittite king as a throne
name, typologically cf. German family names Kaiser, Herzog etc. (note
that the most part of the throne names of the Old Hittite kingdom was
Hattic and only two or three of them permit Luwian attribution, see Goe-
degebuure, 2008, 165; Yakubovich, 2009, 251).
Thus, from my point of view the derivation of tabarna/ labarna from Luw.
tabar- to rule looks like a modern folk etymology. On the other hand, I
cannot exclude that the Hattic stem tafa-r with the probable meaning to
have honour/ authority/ power might have been borrowed into Hittite
Luwian dialects as tabar- to rule together with other Hattic terms of
government and kingship. The second hypothetical source of the Luw.
verb could be the WSem. verbal root *dbr to lead, force to walk (Ugar.,
Hebr., Off. Aram., etc., probably Arab. ; see DUL, 263; HJ, 239). The na-
ture and the origin of the Mediterranean scarcely attested onomastic ele-
ment laB(a)r/ TaB(a)r remain vague. A rather satisfactory etymology of
Myc. da-pu/pu
2
-ri-to- = Grk. has been recently briefly pro-
posed by , 2009, 110: Hsch. hole,
trench, or pit dug in the ground.
31
30
Cf. Yakubovichs (2009, 231) criticism of Soysals morphological scenario. Yakubo-
vich is right that in the case of the morphological reanalysis of a loanword this process is
standardly based on the grammatical patterns of the target language. But reanalysis
according to the grammatical patterns of the source language is also sometimes observed.
E. g., the name of the USA company Keds has been borrowed into Russian as sg. ked,
pl. kedy sneaker(s), where -s has been understood as the English plural ending and
loped off.
31
For the Greek substrate sufxes - and - see Beekes, 2007 (C.2). Except for -
, there are no clear examples for the sufx - (cf., however, / -
362 A. Kassian [UF 41
Quite differently Soysal, 2005 (following H.-S. Schusters idea): ta-far-na
from the Hattic roots far thousand [31] and na ?, i. e. tafarna as (lord
of) thousand na-s. Such an analysis is rather factitious from my point of
view. First, the elliptical construction (lord of) appears unparalleled
by known Hattic data. Second, the virtual collocation ta-far-na lacks the
expected plural sufx fa- found in the similar collocation far-fa-haf / ta-
far-fa-haf thousand deities (from haf god).
32
Third, the root na is not
attested elsewhere in Hattic (except for Soysals theoretical ta-wanan-na
(lady of) wanan na-s) which makes this monoconsonantal analysis
doubtful.
, 1985, 53 analyzes Hattic tawananna as a compound tawa-nanna,
comparing Hatt. tafa with Adyghe and Kabardian n-wa, n-wa- (,
, ) old woman and Hatt. nanna with WCauc. *nanV
mother, mummy; old woman, granny (< NCauc. *nnV female breast ;
mother). Although the elements of the Adyghe compound n-wa are not
entirely clear, Ivanovs etymology of Hatt. tawa- is improbable both pho-
netically and morphologically.
53. tafa (tauwa
a
) fear, fright
= Hitt. weridema-.
STib. *tp (~ d-) fear, to be confused > Chin. *tep, *tip scared stiff,
stupeed, *tep to fear, Tib. rtab to be confused, frightened; to be in
a hurry.
A HatticSTib. isogloss. The connection between Hattic tafa fear and tu
/ [Arist.] a kind of carp and [Hsch.] a bird ~ -
[Suid.], the examples by S. Yatsemirsky, pers. comm.), but one can draw here a
parallel with the Pre-Greek sufxes -/ - or -/ - which are well-attested in their
both variants: cf. especially the doublets like ~ hartwort, Tordylium
ofcinale and maybe ~ crust of bread scooped out to the form of a
spoon (the examples by S. Yatsemirsky, pers. comm.).
As for the uctuation d~l in the Pre-Greek (scil. Minoan) vocabulary, this pheno-
menon does not seem an exclusive feature of . Cf. other Furnes examples
in Beekes, 2007 (B.5.7): Myc. ka-da-mi-ta ~ Grk. name of a good-smell-
ing plant, (Hom.+) ~ Pergaean (Hsch.) sweet bay (Laurus nobilis),
(Hsch.) wood; tree ~ (Hsch.) tree, ~ , also
(Hom.+) ~ (Hsch.) quoit. It is possible that the primary function of the
Linear B voiced series (i.e. d-series) was rendering of some special phoneme of the
Minoan language (e. g., the lateral affricate).
32
O. Soysal (pers. comm.) points, however, to the fact that auxiliary morphemes can
sometimes be dropped out in Hattic compound proper names like, e. g., in fur-un-katte
king of the land (land-GEN king) for *fur-un-te-katte (land-GEN POSS-king). But I
suspect that in the case of possessive exponent omission we deal with the general prin-
ciple of the Hattic compound word-forming, cf. without possessive proclitics zihar-tail
carpenter (wood-master), huzza-ai smith (hearth-master), fur-ail lord of the land
(land-master) etc.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 363
fear [102] is unclear.
, 1985, 52 compares the Hattic compound tafa-tu fear (and) hor-
ror with WCauc. *x cold; to get cold, freeze > AbkhazAbaza *x-ta
cold (adj.), AdygheKabardian *st- to get cold with a further seman-
tic development into fear in some WCauc. forms, e. g., Kabard. -t
frightened. The comparison in not persuasive.
54. *te, *ti great, big in te-li (masc.) and te-te, te-ti (fem.)
SCauc. *dVHV to grow; big >
NCauc. > WCauc. *dA big; most, at all ; much, very.
STib. *tajH big, much > Chin. *tj much, many, *thaj, *thiaj,
*trj, *thrj be great, Burm. taj very, ti sign of the plural, Kachin
the
2
and, Lushai te (< *tei ?) much, very much, -te sufx denoting
plurality, Lepcha t, ti-m to be great, large, big, Kiranti *dV big.
Yen. *tj- to grow > Ket tji
5
, -tij, Yug tji, -tj.
Phonetically the Hattic form is close to the STib. and Yen. attestations.
Similarly , 1994, 20, and Chirikba, 1996, 428 (Hatt. + WCauc.). Gir-
bal, 1986 compares the Hattic fem. form tete with Kartv. *did- big
(South Kartv. only: Georg., Megrel, Laz), which can be a WCauc. loan-
word (cf. a reduplicated stem in AdygheKabardian *do-da / *d-d
most, at all).
55. ti, te, also zi
?
to lie; to lay
?
= Hitt. ki-.
SCauc. *=tV to put, leave >
NCauc. *=tV-r to let, leave; to stay > Nakh *=it- to leave, Av.-And.
*=it- to leave, let ; to stay, be there, Lak =ita- to leave, Dargwa
*=atVr- to leave, Lezgh. *jatr- to let, leave, Khin. at- to be there, be
available, WCauc. *tV to be inside; to stand; to be (Abkhaz -ta-/ -t()-,
etc.).
STib. *dhH (/ *thH) to put, place > Chin. *a()s to place, position,
*tha dwell, stay, place, Tib. gda to be, to be there, gtad to lean
upon, deliver up, stad to put on, lay on, Burm. thah to put, place, Ka-
chin da
3
to put, place, Lushai da to put, place, set, Lepcha tho-m to
place.
Yen. *di(j) to lie down, put down > Ket dij to put, load, Yug di / di to put,
load.
Burush. *-t- to do, make, set up.
Hattic matches Yen. phonetically.
Chirikba, 1996, 421 compares Hatt. ti with WCauc. *:A to sleep (<
NCauc. *=HVw\
rs affair, Tib.
ha to make, prepare, Kachin (H) a to pile or lay, as stones; to build,
as stone-wall, to build, as scaffold, ? Lushai sa (sak) to build or erect (as
house etc.)
A HatticSTib. isogloss (for the semantics cf. the Kachin and probably
Lushai cognates). STib. *- can originate from SCauc. */ (/ , and */ (/ .
The phonetic similarity with Hurr. teh- to grow up (of children) seems acci-
dental.
57. *tefu to pour in tefu-ne libation, offering
= Hitt. ipantuzzi-, malt[ear].
SCauc. *VwV to pour; wet >
NCauc. *=w to emit, pour; to vomit > Nakh *l-b- to bathe; to be
scattered about, Av.-And. *=a- (~ -o-) to splash; to rinse; to wash; to
bathe; to ow; liquid, Tsez. *e- to vomit, Lak =i=i- to to pour,
strew; to throw, Lezgh. *a- to ow, pour; to jump, y; to vomit,
WCauc. * to vomit.
STib. *w (-t) water, wet ; to scoop > Tib. hu water, bud moisture,
juice, sap, hu to ladle or scoop (water), Burm. w to be wet, moist,
Kachin o
3
to pour into, o
2
spoon, Lushai iau wet and dirty, Kiran-
ti Limbu cwal water
Yen. *a-- to pour > Ket tij, Yug atej / aej.
Burush. *ao to wash.
Hattic tefu-ne should be analyzed as a compound, where ne [89] means
offering (cf. fula-ne bread offering [38]).
Phonetically and morphologically the Hattic stem is close to the STib. and
Burush. forms, while semanticallyto the NCauc. and Yen. ones.
Cf. also Hurr. tab/w- to found (metal), whose similarity with the Hattic root
can be a chance coincidence (, 1995/ 2007, 632 connects the
Hurrian term to NCauc. *=VwV to pour, to soak, further to SCauc.
*=V[]wV water).
58. tera-h (probably not tera-h) leather covering, fell-cloak
= Hitt.
KU
NG.BR.
SCauc. *torV crust, incrustation, skin, shell >
NCauc. *orV skin, shell > Nakh *(r skin, envelope; shell, peel, Tsez.
*rV (~ :-) lambs skin (for making hats); a k. of Tsez. shoes, Lezgh.
*:ar(a) (milk) skin; sour cream; cream; mould, Khin. ar sour
cream.
Yen. *tlap- (~ -r-) bread crust > Ket tla:
3
, pl. ta
5
, Yug tlap
5
/ tla:p
3
,
pl. tlafn
5
.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 365
Note the simplication *t- > t- in Hattic, the same process as in Yen. For
the Hattic sufx -(a)h see HWHT, 216.
Yen. shows a further semantic development, while NCauc. and Hattic retain
the primary meaning leather covering, envelope.
, 1985, 41 compares terah with NCauc. *rq carpet ; coverlet
which is less satisfactory both semantically and phonetically.
59. tu to eat
= Hitt. ed-.
SCauc. *=VV to eat, drink >
NCauc. *=V
w sour + *=qwVn to
be sufcient, enough) smart is not persuasive phonetically.
Untenably , 1994, 20 (Hatt. + WCauc.).
The Hattic word might have been borrowed into Hurrian as a cultic term, cf.
Hurr. (Bogh.)
NINDA
zippinni (a k. of pastry used in rites) (GLH, 305).
368 A. Kassian [UF 41
67. zi mountain
= Hitt. HUR.SAG.
SCauc. *V (~ -) stone, mountain >
Yen. *s stone, pl. *- rock > Ket t, pl. t / ta:n
3
, Yug s, pl.
, a:n
3
rock, Kott. , pl. e, Arin kes, Pump. kit.
Burush. *hi mountain.
A HatticYen.Burush. isogloss.
Synchronically *-s in Yen. *s may be a singulative sufx (cf. the proto-
form of plural), but probably the Yen. paradigm is the result of a secon-
dary morphological reanalysis.
Sccet.dbf #140 unites Yen. and Burush. forms with NCauc. *wV small
stone (reconstructing the SCauc. root as *wV stone) which seems
theoretically possible, but not very apt either semantically or phonetically.
68. zuwa-tu wife or rather concubine
= Hitt. DAM.
SCauc. *wjV (~ s-, ~ -I-) female >
NCauc. *
V sweet).
Untenably , 1994, 20 (Hatt. + WCauc. *-A clean; good).
24. yah sky
= Hitt. nebi.
Cf. Yen. *a-j[a]k (~ x-, -g) thunder > Ket k
1
/ kki
5
/ k
5
, Yug ek
1
,
Kott. ajak, pl. ajakan. The comparison is phonetically acceptable (Yen.
*-g should originate from SCauc. *xQw-claster), but semantically too far.
A more plausible cognate could be Na-Dene (Eyak, Athabaskan) *j sky.
, 1985, 15 compares Hatt. yah sky with WCauc. *(mV)-ra
sun (< NCauc. *wiroq
VwV
(~ -) rake].
Hitt. hah(ha)r(a)- rake cannot be kept apart from these forms either. Proba-
bly a Wanderwort of unknown origin. , 1985, 61 proposes a
borrowing Proto-Av.-And. > Hitt.
Cf. Ugar. krk, ku-re-ku a k. of instrument, pick
?
(DUL, 455).
37
The migratory way of this term might be longer. Cf. Pre-Greek - roast barley
( barley-roasting [Poll.], / vessel for roasting barley
[Poll., Hsch., Suid.], one who roasts barley [Hsch. ; -, Poll., Phot.],
to roast barley [Hsch.]) or Hsch. . Despite
, 1978, 158 f., obscure Lyc. A - can hardly be related here, cf. Neumann,
2007, 135 f. w. lit. and discussion.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 377
29.
(D)
kaku (deied) gate building, gatehouse
= Hitt. KI.LAM.
For the new translation gate-building (not Moon god, cf. kap moon [15]
above) see Soysal, 2004, 370.
38
30. katakumi witchcraft, sorcery; magical
?
= Hitt. alwanzena-.
An unclear compound?
31. kazza blood red
?
, red
?
=
?
Hitt. iharwekiya-.
32. kazue goblet, cup
A long ago recognized Semitic loanword: Akkad. ksu goblet, cup, Ugar.
ks id. etc. (see AHw, 454; DUL, 459). Cf. also Hurr. (Bogh.) kaz-
(z)i / kai goblet (Catsanicos, 1996, 242 f.), which is tentatively com-
pared with NCauc. *gainV jar, jug by , 1995/ 2007, 632,
but in reality should represent the same areal cultural term (further see
Soysal, 1999, 164165, fn. 7).
33.
L
kiluh courier-spy, Lufer-Kundschafter
= Hitt.
L
N.ZU
L
KA
4
.E.
Resembles WSem. forms with similar semantics: Ugar. l courier, messen-
ger, Hebr. (Bibl.) al light, nimble, rapid (said of messengers); some-
thing speedy, fast riding animal, racer from the Sem. root *ll to be
quick, rapid (see DUL, 700; HALOT). Hence it might be a WSem. loan-
word with the (Hattic?) h-sufx.
, 1994, 22 proposes a typical bringen-Sie-etymology: Abkhaz a-ol--
ra to take off, carry away, which probably contains the root a (-a-
ra) to pull, drag with the frequent preverb l. AbkhazAbaza *qV- to
pull, drag originates from NCauc. *=Hq
i below, down (an adverbial stem) > Nakh *a-l(e) down, be-
low, Av.-And. *-\:i locative sufx (series Sub), Tsez. *-, *- down,
below; locative sufx (series Sub), Lak luw, -l- down, below, Dargwa
*-(u)- sub series, Lezgh. *\:i-, *-\: below, down; locative sufx (Sub
series).
Note the similarity between Hatt. ka-la- and Proto-Nakh *a-l(e).
For alternative locative preverbal cognates in WCauc. (Ubykh and/ or Ab-
khazAbaza) see Chirikba, 1996, 414, , 2002, 55. Note that Chirik-
ba and Braun propose their etymologies not for nominal la-, but for ver-
57
An example. Ivanov (, 1985, 34) postulates the Hatt. causative prex ka-,
found in Hatt. hakazuel drinker, toaster (according to Ivanov: ha-ga-zu-el from the root
zu to drink which is not attested elsewhere), and compares it with the AbkhazAbaza
Ubykh causative prex *a-. As a matter of fact, hakazuel drinker, toaster [6] is
derived from the Hatt. noun kazue bowl [32], which in its turn is borrowed from Se-
mitic (Akkad. ksu bowl with reliable Semitic cognates). Phonetically the comparison
of Hatt. k with WCauc. * is unpersuasive also.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 401
bal **li- (uncritically following old Forrers analysis), which does not
exist.
128. fe-, nominal prex with allative/ illative semantics
Chirikba, 1996, 414 compares Hatt. fe- with the Ubykh preverb wa- in(to)
the mass, amidst smth. to smbd., but the Ubykh morpheme has reliable
cognates in AbkhazAbaza *la-/ *l- < WCauc. *a- preverb inter <
NCauc. *-- in lled series which makes the Hatt.WCauc. comparison
phonetically impossible.
, 2002, 56 compares Hatt. fe- with WCauc. *pA nose (< NCauc.
*prV part of face under the nose; nose), which has an additional
meaning front in some WCauc. languages and may function as a preverb
before, in front of. Improbable semantically and morphologically.
129. t-, could be an exponent of the plural(?) direct object in the verbal
wordforms (slot 5), but in reality the status and function of this mor-
pheme is opaque
WCauc. *d-, anim. sing. obj. marker (reconstructed for AbkhazAbaza level
only).
130. ta- ~ a- and te- ~ e-, verbal prohibitive morpheme (slot 9)
NCauc. *j/ *, negative particle >
SCauc. *j/ *, negative particle > Nakh *ca not (used as a separate
word), Av.-And. *-(i, Tsez. *-(, Lezgh. *:V (the basic Proto-NCauc.
particle of the negative of assertion).
Basque *es not (the basic particle of the negative of assertion).
The origin of the second element (-) of the Hatt. morpheme is unclear. The
phonetic correspondence SCauc. *,/ *( ~ Hatt. // seems slightly strange.
131. tu- ~ u-, verbal morpheme, theoretically can be the indirect object re-
exive exponent (for oneself). Slot 6
SCauc. *[]V (~ t-) self >
NCauc. *[] self, oneself (3
rd
4
th
class) > Lak cu self, oneself, Dargwa
*e-/ u- (one)self (reex. pronoun), Lezgh. *-i() self, oneself (re-
exive pronoun), WCauc. *- for oneself (prex of the subject ver-
sion).
STib. *j private, oneself > Chin. *sj private, oneself, Tib. e, e-
dag, a-sdag for oneself only, only, privately.
132. zi-, nominal morpheme with ablative semantics (e. g., from top-
down), za- verbal morpheme (slot 4) with some locative semantics
Cf. WCauc. *\V bottom, lower part ; under (preverb) (> AbkhazAbaza
*(a- under, *(- from down, AdygheKabardian *ca- under, Ubykh
402 A. Kassian [UF 41
-(a bottom, lower part, etc.), originating from NCauc. *H\n bot-
tom. The comparison was proposed by , 2002, 55 and Chirikba,
1996, 414, but phonetically unacceptable.
7 Contacts with neighboring languages
As is well known, Hattic was a donor of several dozens of cultic, regal and
technical terms into Hittite (see Goedegebuure, 2008, 146 f. w previous lit.) and
into Palaic, but not into known Luwian. On the contrary, not a single doubtless
Anatolian loanwords in Hattic is revealed up to now: the most appropriate
candidate here is Hattic zinar a k. of lyre [118], which theoretically might
have been borrowed from an unattested Central or North Anatolian Luwian dia-
ect. The second candidate the is widely discussed Hattic word tafarna lord (vel
sim.) [52] together with the parallel female title tawananna lady [52], but I
claim that there is no positive evidence that these terms represent inherited
Luwian or Hittite forms.
Besides lexical borrowings one should note two phonetic processes shared
by Hattic and Hittite. The rst Hatt.Hitt. phonetic isogloss is assibilation /ti/ >
/i/, for which see 4.2.2.23 above. The second one is dissimilation /u/ > /um/,
see 4.2.2.1 above.
As opposed to the Indo-European languages of Anatolia, Hurrian shows
rather sparse traces of linguistic contacts with Hattic which is somewhat surpris-
ing. Cf. Hatt. hapalki iron [12] > Hurr. habalgi / abalgi iron; Hatt. hamuruwa
beam, rafter [7] > Akkad. (OB, Nuzi) amr beam, timber (in construction of
house, ship) probably via Hurrian; and maybe Hatt. zipina sour [66] >
?
Hurr.
(Bogh.)
NINDA
zippinni (a k. of pastry used in rites). In the opposite direction:
Hurr. kade grain, barley > Hatt. kait grain, corn [26].
Hattic has a number of borrowings from Semitic languages. It is noteworthy
that West Semitic, not Akkadian loanwords prevail in the list.
An Akkadian or West Semitic loanword:
kazue goblet, cup [32] < Akkad. ksu-m goblet, cup, Ugar. ks id. etc.
An Akkadian loanword:
kusim, kuim throne [42] < Akkad. kuss-m, kussiu-m chair, throne (fur-
ther to Ugar. ks seat, throne etc.), where Hattic -m probably reects
Akkadian mimation.
West Semitic loanwords:
karam wine [27] < WSem. *karm vineyard, vine.
mael cult performer, chanter, clown
?
[51] < Ugar. ml cymbal player,
Ugaritic Akkad. milu (a musician, performer).
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 403
?
L
kiluh courier-spy [33] < Ugar. l courier, messenger, Hebr. (Bibl.) al
light, nimble, rapid (said of messengers) with the (Hattic?) h-sufx.
?
(D)
aru,
(D)
taru Storm-god [84] < Hebr. (Bibl.) aar heavy gale, r
high wind, r to be stormy (further to Akkad. ru wind; air;
breath).
? ep footwear [87] < Syr. p scapus (caligae); mucro nasi and Arab.
abt- chaque ct de la chaussure (further probably to Akkad. pu
foot ~ Soqotri ab, af foot).
? tahalai[n] liver
?
[92] < WSem. *il spleen.
Despite Vja. Vs. Ivanov, the Semitic origin of the two following Hattic words
does not seem probable for some reasons: milup bull, ox [52] ~ Sem. *alp
cattle and n child, son [72] ~ Sem. *bin son. A phonetic similarity be-
tween Hatt. am(a) to hear, listen (vel sim.) [48] ~ Sem. *Vma- to hear and
Hatt. uf ox [91] ~ Akkad. uppu white sheep, Ugar. p white sheep in all
likelihood is accidental also.
No good examples of the contrary direction of borrowing (Hattic > Semitic)
are known. Akkad. (MAss.) habalginnu a k. of metal and (OB, Nuzi) amr
beam were borrowed probably via the Hurrian intermediation (see hapalki
iron [12] and hamuruwa beam, rafter [7] above). Akkad. zannaru (almost
exclusively in OB/ NB lex. lists only) a k. of lyre might have been borrowed
not from Hattic, but from some Luwian dialect.
A very important fact is the presence of lexical contacts between Hattic and
the Proto-West Caucasian language. At least two Hattic stems can be assuredly
recognized as WCauc. loanwords:
hapalki iron [12] < WCauc. *I-\V iron or rather *I-p\
copper.
malhip good, favorable [49] < WCauc. *ma\V good, luck.
? pau-n breath
?
[71] < WCauc. *pA to breathe.
? hamuruwa beam, rafter [7] < AbkhazAbaza *q(m)blra cross-
beam.
In one case we must suspect a borrowing of a Hattic term into WCauc. :
zinar a k. of lyre [118] > AdygheKabardian *p-c:na non-percussion
musical instrument (in general).
The fact of HatticWCauc. contacts, which may be supported also by some ar-
chaeological evidence, is rather interesting, since all known WCauc. languages
belong to the syntactic SOV type and the same feature should be reconstructed
for the WCauc. proto-language. Although I generally agree with P. Goedege-
buures (2008) schema of HatticLuwianHittite interferences at the beginning
of the 2
nd
millennium BC (with some remarks), HatticWCauc. contacts add new
404 A. Kassian [UF 41
options in the sociolinguistic scenarios discussed by Goedegebuure.
58
The similarity between Hatt. muh(al) hearth [55] and Sumerian muhal-dim
cook seems unsupported by additional positive evidence (except for a surpris-
ing isogloss Hatt. aki ~ Sum. AG heart) and should be regarded today as a
chance coincidence.
Ancient Greek dialects possess a number of North Caucasian loanwords, see
, 1985 (some Nikolaevs connections are highly questionable, but
some seem probative). In view of this one should note the Hattic term kinawar
copper [34], whose phonetic similarity with Grk. cinnabar (a
bright red or brownish-red mineral form of mercuric sulphide) can hardly be
fortuitous. Unfortunately kinawar is unetymologizable within Hattic, so it may
be treated as a common HatticGreek wandering word (red mineral) of
unknown origin.
8 Conclusion
8.1 Linguistic afliation
Above I list ca. 70 reliable HatticSino-Caucasian root comparisons and ca. 10
reliable HatticSino-Caucasian auxiliary morpheme comparisons (note that we
know in sum less than 200 Hattic words whose meaning is established). The
most part of Hattic etymologized lexemes belongs to the basic vocabulary. The
system of HatticSino-Caucasian phonetical correspondences is rather simple
and logical. Thus, according to the general comparative procedure (see Camp-
bell / Poser, 2008, 4; / , 2005, 724) I suppose that the hypo-
thesis of Sino-Caucasian attribution of the Hattic language can be considered
very probable.
The location of the Hattic branch within the Sino-Caucasian tree is a more
difcult question. Two points should be stressed before we start to discuss
genealogical trees.
1) Due to the relict nature of the Yenisseian family (the Proto-Yen.
reconstruction is generally based on the three languages: Ket, Yug and to a
lesser degree Kottish), its proto-vocabulary is relatively small. The current ver-
ion of Yenet.dbf includes ca. 1050 entries as opposed to 2300 entries in the
NCauc. database (Caucet.dbf) and ca. 2800(!) entries in the STib. database
(Stibet.dbf). It means that in the general case the Yen. proto-language must show
a smaller number of lexical isoglosses with Hattic than the NCauc. and STib.
proto-languages do.
2) I assume that some of the aforementioned Sino-Tibetan etymologies of
Hattic lexemes may turn out false in the future, since, rst, the Sino-Tibetan
58
malhip seems the default Hattic word for good, i.e. it belongs to the most basic and
stable part of vocabulary (the Swadesh 100-wordlist). If malhip is really a borrowing <
WCauc. *ma\V good, luck, it suggests that HatticProto-West Caucasian interferences
were much more intensive than we can judge today from the available Hattic data.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 405
reconstruction as it is presented today is somewhat preliminary (work in this
eld is in progress) as opposed to the North Caucasian and Yenisseian ones;
next, the reduction of root structure in Proto-Sino-Tibetan opens an additional
space for external etymologization. A relatively high number of HatticSino-
Tibetan isoglosses (see below) should be explained by these factors.
As mentioned in 4.1, the core lexicostatistical schema of Sino-Caucasian
macrofamily looks as following:
Sino-Caucasian
/ \
Sino-TibetanNa-Dene North Cauc.Yen.
/ \ / \
STib. Na-Dene North Cauc. Yenisseian
The question is whether the Hattic language is closer to the Sino-Tibetan
Na-Dene branch or to the North CaucasianYenisseian one. The root compari-
sons from 5.1 can be summarized in the following statistic chart.
Hatt. ~ NCauc. and STib. and Yen. : 15 etymologies.
alef tongue [1] ~ NCauc. *\npV lip ~ STib. *ep tongue, to lick ~ Yen.
*alVp tongue. The primary meaning of the proto-root was probably to
lick.
anna when [2] ~ NCauc. *h[]nV now ~ STib. *n[] time or place of,
when ~ Yen. *en now.
etan sun [5] ~ NCauc. *=Hu
V-n ( ~ -j
wVn to open
nimhu- woman [27] ~ NCauc. *nV (~ --) woman, female
fel house [30] ~ NCauc. *bV cattle-shed
ahhu/ tahhu ground, bottom [45] ~ NCauc. *Hu/ *Hu earth,
ground, sand ~ Basque *orho meadow; eld.
am(a) to hear, listen [48] ~ NCauc. *=a(m)sV to be silent, listen
zehar, zihar (building) wood, timber [64] ~ NCauc. *
wV stick, chip;
piece of wood, beam; timber
Hatt. ~ STib. : 16 etymologies.
hel to strew, pour [10] ~ STib. *q(h)r throw (into water), scatter
(a)le to envy (vel sim.) [22] ~ STib. *re to dislike
leli source of light [23] ~ STib. *roH light
lu to be able [25] ~ STib. *lw to be able
nu to come, go [29] ~ STib. *n to tread, trace
far thousand [31] ~ STib. *bhr abundant, numerous
pnu to observe, look [36] ~ STib. *mVn to perceive; to think
fula bread [38] ~ STib. *mor grain
fur country; population [41] ~ STib. *PrV country
pu to devour, swallow [42] ~ STib. *mVt to eat, swallow
pu- to fan (a re or burning materials) [42] ~ STib. *b, bt to blow; to
fan (further to onomatopoeic NCauc. *pHV to blow, blowing ~ Yen.
*pV(j) to blow ~ Burush. *phu to blow).
ai-l / tai-l lord, master [46] ~ STib. *IH to govern; lord
408 A. Kassian [UF 41
tafa fear [53] ~ STib. *tp fear, to be confused
teh to build [56] ~ STib. *H to work; to build
tuh to take [60] ~ STib. *H to seize (further to NCauc. *=wV to
take, carry ~ Basque *eui to take, hold, seize, grasp).
zipi-na sour [66] ~ STib. *cVp bitter, pungent
Hatt. ~ Yen. : 9 etymologies.
a to come (here) [3] ~ Yen. *- to let come, let enter
ka head [16] ~ Yen. *a-KsV- temple (part of head)
katte king [17] ~ Yen. *kat old (attr.)
fute long (in temporal meaning) [44] ~ Yen. *bot- often
tip gate [49] ~ Yen. *p to cover; to plug; to close
tup root [63] ~ Yen. *t[e]mb-V- root
zik to fall [65] ~ Yen. *d()q- to fall
zi mountain [67] ~ Yen. *s stone ~ Burush. *hi mountain
kap moon [15] ~ Yen. *q[e]p (~ -) moon
A high number of exclusive HatticSino-Tibetan isoglosses (16 entries) is note-
worthy, even through some of these Hatt.STib. etymologies do not look obliga-
tory.
59
The situation changes if one tries to analyze Hattic words from the
Swadesh list.
The table below includes the standard Swadesh 100-wordlist (as it is ac-
cepted, e. g., in various publications by S. Starostin, see , 2007) with
10 additional words from S. Yakhontovs 100-wordlist, taken from the second
part of the Swadesh 200-wordlist (see / 2005, 1213 for
detail). Yakhontovs items are marked by the + sign. For the general principles
of the compilation process now see Kassian et al., 2010.
No. ENG Hattic Sino-Caucasian
1. all (omnis)
2. ashes
3. bark
4. belly
5. big, large
te great, big [54] NCauc. (WCauc. *dA big) ~
STib. *tajH big, much ~
Yen. *tj- to grow.
6. bird ati or ti bird [3]
59
Cf., e. g., Hatt. (a)le to envy (vel sim.) [22] ~ STib. *re to dislike or Hatt. leli
source of light [23] ~ STib. *roH light which are formally acceptable, but can hardly
prove some specic relationship.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 409
No. ENG Hattic Sino-Caucasian
7. to bite
8. black
9. blood
10. bone
11. breast
12. to burn
(trans.)
13. cloud
14. cold
15. to come
a to come (here) [3] Yen. *- to let come, let
enter
an to come (here
?
) [2]
16. to die
17. dog
18. to drink ? lin to drink
?
(vel sim.) [46]
19. dry
20. ear
21. earth
Cf. ahhu/ tahhu ground [45] NCauc. *Hu/ *Hu
earth, ground, sand ~
Basque *orho meadow;
eld.
Cf. itarrazi-l (dark/ black)
earth, soil ; terrestrial,
earthly(?) [22]
22. to eat
tu to eat [59] NCauc. *=V
V to drink; to
gulp, to eat ~ STib. *haH to
eat ~ Yen. *s- to eat ~ Bu-
rush. *i / *i / *u to eat.
Cf. pu to devour, swallow [42] STib. *mVt to eat, swallow
23. egg
24. eye nimah, lmah eye(s) [58]
25. fat
26. feather
410 A. Kassian [UF 41
No. ENG Hattic Sino-Caucasian
27. re
28. sh
29. to y
30. foot
31. full
32. to give yay to give [25]
33. to go
nu to come, go [29] STib. *n to tread, trace
34. good
malhip good, favorable [49] (a WCauc. loan)
35. green
36. hair
37. hand
38. head
ka head [16] Yen. *a-KsV- temple (part
of head)
39. to hear
am(a) to hear, listen [48] NCauc. *=a(m)sV to be si-
lent, listen
40. heart
aki- heart [47] NCauc. *j-rw heart ~
STib. *r/ *rk breast ~
Yen. *t()ga breast ~ Bu-
rush. *dak hope, belief.
41. horn
kai horn [14] NCauc. *lwi forelock,
plait ; horn ~ STib. *khaj
horn, a pair of horns ~ Bu-
rush. *uy hair.
42. I
fa- I [75] NCauc. *nI I ~ STib. *- I,
we ~ Yen. *b- (*ab-) / *a
my (attr.) ~ Burush. *a- I ~
Basque *ni I.
43. to kill
44. knee
45. to know
46. leaf
puluku foliage [39] NCauc. *aplqw burdock;
leaf(?) ~ STib. *phak leaf ~
Burush. *bilgur a k. of
weed
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 411
No. ENG Hattic Sino-Caucasian
47. to lie
ti to lie; to lay
?
[55] NCauc. *=tV-r to let, leave;
to stay ~ STib. *dhH to put,
place ~ Yen. *di(j) to lie
down, put down ~ Burush.
*-t- to do, make, set up.
48. liver
? tahalai[n] liver
?
[92] (a Sem. loan??)
49. long
50. louse
51. man (male)
52. man (per-
son)
53. many, a lot
of
54. meat
55. moon
kap moon [15] Yen. *q[e]p (~ -) moon
56. mountain
zi mountain [67] Yen. *s stone ~ Burush.
*hi mountain.
57. mouth
58. nail
59. name
60. neck
61. new tataet or taet new [97]
62. night
63. nose
64. not Cf. the prohibitive morpheme
ta- ~ a-, te- ~ e-
65. one
66. rain
tumil rain [62] NCauc. *cjwIlV rainy sea-
son ~ STib. (Chin. *hiw au-
tumn) ~ Yen. *sir
1
- summer
~ Basque *asaro November;
autumn.
67. red Cf. kazza blood red
?
, red
?
[31]
412 A. Kassian [UF 41
No. ENG Hattic Sino-Caucasian
68. road
69. root
tup root [63] Yen. *t[e]mb-V- root
70. round
71. sand
72. to say Cf. hu to exclaim, pronounce
[15]
73. to see
hukur to see, look [13] NCauc. *H[o]kV to look,
search ~ STib. *ku to seek,
choose, understand ~ Yen.
*b-[o]k- to nd
kun to see [21] NCauc. *=agwV to see ~
STib. *kn to glance at ;
to regard ~ Yen. *qo to see.
Cf. pnu to observe, look [36] STib. *mVn to perceive;
to think
74. seed
75. to sit nif or nifa to sit [59]
76. skin
Cf. tera-h leather covering [58] NCauc. *orV skin, shell ~
Yen. *trap- bread crust.
77. to sleep
78. small, little
79. smoke
80. to stand
(a)nti to stand; to stay [28] NCauc. *=Vm
Vr to stand
(up) ~ STib. *hioH be at,
sit, stay.
81. star
82. stone pip stone [74]
83. sun
etan sun [5] NCauc. *=Hu
V-n ( ~ -j
-) to
clear up (of weather) ~ STib.
*oj (~ -l) clear (of weather)
~ Yen. *- clear (of
weather), *in bright day ~
Burush. * clear (of sky).
84. to swim
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 413
No. ENG Hattic Sino-Caucasian
85. tail
86. that
87. this imallen, imallin this [18]
88. tongue
alef tongue [1] NCauc. *\npV lip ~ STib.
*ep tongue, to lick ~ Yen.
*alVp tongue.
89. tooth
90. tree
91. two
92. warm
93. water
94. we
95. what
96. white
97. who
98. woman
nimhu- woman [27] NCauc. *nV (~ --)
woman, female (not a default
NCauc. root for woman)
99. yellow
100. you (thou)
we thou [77] NCauc. *u thou ~ Yen.
*aw (/ *u) thou ~ Burush.
*u-n thou.
101. far +
102. heavy +
103. near +
104. salt +
105. short +
106. snake +
107. thin +
108. wind +
pezi-l wind [35] NCauc. *mIlwV wind ~
STib. *mt to blow
109. worm +
414 A. Kassian [UF 41
No. ENG Hattic Sino-Caucasian
110. year +
li- year [24] NCauc. *jV year, day ~
STib. *lH year, season
The exclusive lexical isoglosses between Hattic and the North Caucasian-Yenis-
seian branch and between Hattic and the Sino-Tibetan branch can be sum-
marized as follows:
Hatt. ~ NCauc.Yen.
tera-h leather covering [58] ~ NCauc. *orV skin, shell ~ Yen. *trap-
bread crust.
we thou [77] ~ NCauc. *u thou ~ Yen. *aw (/ *u) thou ~ Burush. *u-n
thou.
Hatt. ~ Yen.
a to come (here) [3] ~ Yen. *- to let come, let enter
ka head [16] ~ Yen. *a-KsV- temple (part of head)
zi mountain [67] ~ Yen. *s stone ~ Burush. *hi mountain
tup root [63] ~ Yen. *t[e]mb-V- root
kap moon [15] ~ Yen. *q[e]p (~ -) moon
Hatt. ~ NCauc.
ahhu/ tahhu ground, bottom [45] ~ NCauc. *Hu/ *Hu earth,
ground, sand ~ Basque *orho meadow; eld.
am(a) to hear, listen [48] ~ NCauc. *=a(m)sV to be silent, listen
nimhu- woman [27] ~ NCauc. *nV (~ --) woman, female
Hatt. ~ STib.
pu to devour, swallow [42] ~ STib. *mVt to eat, swallow
nu to come, go [29] ~ STib. *n to tread, trace
pnu to observe, look [36] ~ STib. *mVn to perceive; to think
As one can see, the exclusive Hatt.STib. isoglosses are rather weak. Generally
speaking, Hatt. pu to devour, swallow and pnu to observe, look should be
excluded from the Hattic list of Swadeshs lexemes. In turn, Hatt. nu to come,
go [29] does not coincide semantically with its STib. counterpart.
On the contrary, the Yenisseian and North Caucasian proto-languages possess
a number of reliable cognates of Hattic basic lexemes. The most striking of them
are Hatt. we thou [77] ~ NCauc. *u thou ~ Yen. *aw (/*u) thou ~ Bu-
rush. *u-n thou, Hatt. zi mountain [67] ~ Yen. *s stone ~ Burush. *hi
mountain and Hatt. kap moon [15] ~ Yen. *q[e]p (~ -) moon.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 415
I believe that the statistic data above speak for a specic HatticNorth
CaucasianYenisseian relationship, but the supposition of a specic Hattic
North Caucasian relationship is not likely due to a minimal number of exclusive
Hatt.-NCauc. lexical comparisons (6 entries only, see the list above).
In such a situation two trees are possible:
(a) Sino-Caucasian
/ \
STib.Na-Dene North Cauc.Yen.
/ | \
North Cauc. Hattic Yenisseian
(b) Sino-Caucasian
/ \
STib.Na-Dene North Cauc.Yen.
/ \
North Cauc. HatticYen.
/ \
Hattic Yenisseian
The Schema (b) might be more realistic in view of some specic phonetic proc-
esses that Hattic shares with Proto-Yenisseian (see 4.2.2 above for detail):
1) Denasalization of initial m- (*m- > P-).
2) Initial *- > *m- > P-.
3) Fricativization of sibilant affricates in the non-initial position.
4) Etymological ST-clusters > t.
5) Loss and retention of laryngeal phonemes in the same roots.
60
6) Loss of a sonorant in the combinations *l + sibilant affricate, *n/ *m + la-
bial stop, *n/ *m + velar/ uvular stop (common STib.Yen. features).
Of course in some points Hattic (the rst half of the 2
nd
millennium BC) is more
archaic then Proto-Yenisseian (its split : the rst half of the 1
st
millennium BC).
As opposed to Proto-Yenisseian, Hattic shows:
1) Retention of *w.
2) Retention of initial laterals and *n-.
3) Retention of sonorants in the combinations *r/ *l + velar/ uvular, *m +
sibilant affricate.
Some particular cases of semantic development, shared both by Hattic and
Proto-Yenisseian, may also speak in favour of the theory of the common Hattic-
Yenisseian proto-language. Cf. :
60
Loss: anna when [2] ~ Yen. *en < SCauc. *hVnV; pra leopard [37] ~ Yen.
*pe()s-tap < SCauc. *br ; etan sun [5] ~ Yen. *-, *in < SCauc.
*=HVV(-n) ; te big [54] ~ Yen. *tj- < SCauc. *dVHV; fun mortality [40] ~ Yen.
*bo < SCauc. *HmoV; han sea [7] ~ Yen. *x < SCauc. *xnI, and so on.
Retention: harki- wide [9] ~ Yen. *iGV- wide < SCauc. *Vrqw.
A possible exception: ur(i) spring, well [109] ~ Yen. *xur
1
water < SCauc.
*wir water, lake.
416 A. Kassian [UF 41
alef tongue [1] ~ Yen. *alVp tongue vs. NCauc. *\npV lip.
han sea [7] ~ Yen. *x (~ -) wave vs. NCauc. *xnI water.
fara-ya priest [32] ~ Yen. *ba- to pray vs. STib. *p(r)IwH speak
taha-ya barber [50] ~ Yen. *[e]()V to shave vs. NCauc. *VqV to
scratch, rub.
These examples are opposed to the following etymologies, where Hattic mean-
ings coincide with North Caucasian:
aki- heart [47] ~ NCauc. *jrw heart vs. Yen. *t()ga breast (cf.
STib. *r/ *rk breast). Semantic shift heart < > breast is typolo-
gically rather common. We can suspect here either the development
heart > breast separately in the Yen. and STib. proto-languages or the
development breast > heart separately in the NCauc. proto-language
and Hattic.
tera-h leather covering [58] ~ NCauc. *orV skin, shell vs. Yen. *t-
rap- bread crust. Can be explained as a subsequent semantic speci-
cation in Proto-Yenisseian.
8.2 Geographical problem
8.2.1 Location of the Sino-Caucasian homeland and ways of prehistoric migra-
tions of Sino-Caucasian tribes are uninvestigated questions. The only thing I can
do here is to outline some points of future discussion and propose one of the
possible scenarios of the Sino-Caucasian expansion.
Historically attested areas of the Sino-Caucasian languages are illustrated by
the map (prepared with the help of Yuri Koryakov): g. 5.
For the North Caucasian, Sino-Tibetan, Na-Dene, Basque and Burushaski
families borders of the late XX c. AD are shown. Approximate borders of the
Yenisseian family in the XVII c. AD are given after Pakendorf, 2007, 4
w. prev. lit.
Territorial coverage and high dispersion of the known SCauc. languages al-
low us to suppose that during millennia the Sino-Caucasian tribes were being
gradually forced out of their habitats or assimilated by neighboring peoples.
61
8.2.2 The NCauc. proto-language possesses the richest phonetic system among
known SCauc. (proto-)languages. Sino-Tibetan, Yenisseian, Burushaski, Basque
and Na-Dene show more trivial systems.
62
Such a phonetic simplication should
61
As far as I can judge, their main confrontations occurred with various Nostratic tribes
(the split of the North branch of the Nostratic proto-language dates back to the rst half
of the 11
th
millennium BC, see g. 8 for detail).
62
We cannot argue about the Hurrian and Hattic phonemic inventories due to their sim-
plied cuneiform transmission.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 417
be explained by the inuence of non-SCauc. languages, with which SCauc.
tribes contacted pending their movements. The same considerations may be ap-
plied to morphology. Sino-Tibetan, Yenisseian, Burushaski, and Basque demon-
strate clear morphological relations with neighboring non-SCauc. languages.
These facts could indicate that the NCauc. proto-language had minimal contacts
with non-SCauc. dialects and a relatively short migratory way from the SCauc.
homeland to the modern NCauc. area.
8.2.3 The map of successive stages in the distribution of copper and bronze
artefacts by E. Chernykh (g. 6) demonstrates that in the 7
th
4
th
millennia BC the
way from the Near East to Europe came through West Anatolia into Balkans, but
not through North Caucasus into steppes.
It correlates with the routes of agricultural expansion, which went into
Europe through West Anatolia and into Asia through Iran, but not through North
Caucasus (see, e. g., Diamond/ Bellwood, 2003, Bellwood/ Oxenham, 2008,
17 ff., Bar-Yosef, 2002): g. 7.
As noted in Kohl, 2007, 29 f. : the general spread of the Neolithic food-
producing economy from Anatolia into southeastern Europe is accepted by all
scholars, even those with a penchant for emphasizing autonomous evolutionary
processes.
8.2.4 One of the clues to the reconstruction of the sociolinguistic situation in
prehistoric Near East could be the Maykop archeological culture (Early Bronze
Age).
Maykop-related cultures may be divided into three successive phases:
Chalcolithic Meshoko (45003850 BC), Maykop (that includes the great May-
kop kurgan and related complexes; 38503300 BC) and its successor Novosvo-
bodnaya culture (33002500 BC). For the periodization and dating see Lyonnet,
2007a, 13; Kohl, 2009, 243; similarly in Trifonov, 2007, 170; for details see
, 1994; Kohl, 2007, 73. It is important that according to ,
2009 Northwest Caucasus was uninhabited during Neolith, only in Chalcolithic
time that region was reoccupied by Meshoko people.
The Meshoko culture is rather associated with northern/ northwestern steppe
regions and Balkans (it concerns pottery, some other artefacts and metal, which
was imported from Balkans), see now Lyonnet, 2007b, 135 w. lit. ; Ivanova,
2007, 10 ff. On the other hand, some connections with southern regions can be
traced also: , 2001, 194 claims that Meshoko pottery is close to the
Chalcolithic Eastern Anatolian tradition; cf. also Meshoko lithic tools, made of
obsidian imported from Transcaucasia (, 1994, 189 w. lit.).
418 A. Kassian [UF 41
F
i
g
.
5
.
H
i
s
t
o
r
i
c
a
l
l
y
a
t
t
e
s
t
e
d
a
r
e
a
s
o
f
t
h
e
S
i
n
o
-
C
a
u
c
a
s
i
a
n
l
a
n
g
u
a
g
e
s
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 419
Fig. 6. Distribution of copper and bronze artefacts. I = 7
th
to 6
th
millennium BC;
II = 5
th
to rst half of the 4
th
millennium BC; III = mid-4
th
to rst half of the 3
rd
millennium BC; IV = mid-3
rd
millennium BC to the XVIII / XVII centuries BC;
V = XVI / XV centuries BC to the IX/ VIII centuries BC (from Chernykh 1992, 2).
63
63
A similar map of the exploitation of copper ores and naturally occurring copper metal
in the 11
th
7
th
millennia BC can be found in Roberts et al., 2009, 1014.
420 A. Kassian [UF 41
Fig. 7. Agricultural homelands and spreads of Neolithic/ Formative cultures,
with approximate radiocarbon dates
(from Diamond/ Bellwood, 2003, Bellwood/ Oxenham, 2008, 17 ff.)
The phenomenon of a sudden emergence of the Maykop culture is more im-
portant to us. The modern cal. C-14 dating moves the Maykop culture from the
3
rd
millennium BC (a traditional dating) to the beginning of the 4
th
millennium
BC, i. e. to the transitional period between late Ubaid and early Uruk times
(Kohl, 2007, 73) or rather to the Early Uruk period.
This dating makes questionable the traditional view, according to which the
Maykop culture originates from the south (i. e. from Anatolia and/ or Mesopota-
mia). Indeed it is obvious that some kind of Maykop pottery is rather close to the
pottery of the Amuq F cultures of southern Anatolia and northern Syria (-
, 1977, 5055; , 1994, 169; Lyonnet, 2007b, 148). The Amuq F
period is now treated as contemporary to Maykop culture: 38503000 BC (Lyon-
net, 2007a, 13; Kohl, 2009, 243). Traditionally Amuq F pottery is derived from
the earlier Tepe Gawra (northern Mesopotamia) ware (Gawra XIIIX,
64
see
, 1977, 5354). But, on the other hand, there is some evidence of
northern/ northwestern sources of the Maykop culture.
Traces of BalkansNorth Caucasus trade routes are known already from
the pre-Maykop phase, i. e. the Meshoko culture (see above).
Early Maykop complexes are located rather in the northwest area, while
64
Gawra XII represents the transitional phase between the late Ubaid and early Uruk
epochs. For the dating see Rothman, 2002, 51: Unfortunately, only one C
14
date exists
for Levels XII to VIII of Gawra, and an attempt to run bone dates failed. Four C
14
dates
were run from the site of Tepe Gawra (). Using the Clark calibration, the samples from
Level XII yielded a date of 3837 + 72 years BC () Aurenche and Hours (), using
another calibration, got dates of 49204450 BC for XII. The new OxCal calibrations
should yield a date of somewhere between 47004400 BC.
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 421
the later Novosvobodnaya culture spreads into southeast (, 1994, 171
173).
Kurgan burials are not typical of Near Eastern traditions. Some resem-
bling Maykop tradition burial mounds, belonging to the Leilatepe culture (the
rst half of the 4
th
millennium BC), have been recently discovered in southern
Caucasusnorthwestern Azerbaijan and central Georgia (Kohl, 2009, 242 w.
lit. ; / , 2008, 4143; Akhundov, 2007). Later a number of
Maykop-like kurgans in northwestern Iran (the so-called Se Girdan tumuli ;
probably the second half of the 4
th
millennium BC) allow us to trace the north to
south movement of Maykop-related people before the expansion of the Kura-Ar-
axes culture at the end of the 4
th
millennium BC, see Kohl, 2007, 85; Kohl, 2009,
245 w. lit. (contra , 2000). On the other hand, pre-Maykop kurgans
are known from Central Ciscaucasia, Kuban area, Lower Volga and Lower Don,
some materials of which show clear parallels with Maikop remains (,
1994, 178179; Kohl, 2007, 59).
The sudden emergence of the metal-rich Maykop culture chronologically
correlates with the collapse of the earlier Southeast European hearth of
metallurgical activity or the so-called Carpatho-Balkan Metallurgical Province
(Kohl, 2009, 244; Lyonnet, 2007a, 17; Lyonnet, 2007b, 150).
The so-called problem of gold, see Chernykh, 1992, 142144; Kohl,
2007, 7879 for details. Gold-rich complexes are known from Chalcolithic
Balkans (the second half of the 5
th
millennium BC, Varna necropolis), then from
the Early Bronze Age Maykop culture (38503500 BC), then during the second
half of the 4
th
millennium BC and the Middle Bronze Age they spread into
Transcaucasia, Anatolia and Mesopotamia: Maykop-related Se Girdan kurgans,
Kura-Araxes culture, Hattic Alaca Hyk, Troy IIIII, Tepe Gawra X, Royal
Cemetery at Ur and so on (cf. Avilova, 2009). This may allow us to trace prehis-
toric movements of peoples who used and valued gold.
See Kohl, 2007, 57 ff. (esp. 7586) w. lit. for the general discussion about
possible north(west) roots of the Maykop culture.
65
It is very important to us that for the 4
th
3
rd
millennia BC we should assume
some migrations and/ or trade routes from the Maykop region to the south into
Anatolia, Mesopotamia and so on. See above about post-Maykop kurgans in
northwestern Iran. Lyonnet, 2007b, 150 supposes that some Mesopotamian pot-
tery styles can be borrowed from Maykop (() lapparition de la cramique
grise polie et lisse, ou lintroduction du dcor peign en Msopotamie sont,
65
Note that the traditional argument for the southern origin of the Maykop cultureslow
potters wheel, used by both the Maykop and Novosvobodnaya people (, 1994,
219)does not seem reliable. Indeed slow potters wheel is known, e. g., from the
transitional phase between late Ubaid and early Uruk of Tepe GawraGawra XII
(Rothman, 2002, 54; Charvt, 2002, 59) that is earlier than the Maykop culture. But such
a technology is also attested from the beginning of the Late Tripolye period (Tripolye
C1: 40003300 BC; Kohl, 2007, 7475; Zbenovich, 1996, 230). An alternative solution
is the supposition that it was a local Maykop invention.
422 A. Kassian [UF 41
eux, trs probablement dorigine caucasienne). As such a mediator between
Syro-Mesopotamian Ubaid-Uruk tradition and the Maykop culture the South
Caucasian the Leilatepe culture can be considered (for the Leilatepe culture see
Museibli, 2007, / , 2008, Akhundov, 2007).
66
Cf. -
, 2000, 259 w. lit. about the stylistic uniformity between Maikop and Late
Uruk applied art. For metallurgical isoglosses see Chernykhs (1992, 72) state-
ment : () the various analogies for the gold ornaments and for some of the
bronze tools, lead us to ancient Mesopotamia, to sites of the late fourth and third
millennia BCUruk, Jemdet Nasrand even as far away as Early Dynastic Ur.
Further see Ivanova, 2007, 18, 22 w. lit. and discussion. An appropriate parti-
cular example of such north to south inuence are paired -shaped bronze ob-
jects, found in some Novosvobodnaya burials from the second half of the 4
th
millennium BC on, which are traditionally interpreted as cheekpieces (psalia),
but in reality they are bull nose rings; later (the 3
rd
2
nd
millennia BC) analogous
-objects are known from the Mesopotamian iconography, where they serve as a
symbol of some deities, whose cults are associated with a bull ; see
., 2009 for details. According to , 1994, 209 similar paired -rings
were found in Hattic Alaca Hyk burials (as is well known, another striking
MaykopAlaca parallel is theriomorphic standards).
8.2.5 Fig. 8 represents the rather preliminary glottochronological trees of three
Eurasian macrofamilies: Afro-Asiatic, Nostratic and Sino-Caucasian (Dene-
Sino-Caucasian, but excluding the Haida language). The trees are based on 50-
wordlists (see com. on g. 2 above for detail). They have been compiled by
G. Starostin as part of the ongoing research on the Preliminary Lexicostatistical
Tree of the worlds languages (within the Evolution of Human Language pro-
ject, supported by the Santa Fe Institute).
66
The South Caucasian Chalcolithic Leilatepe culture is synchronic to the early Mayko-
pe phase (the 1
st
half of the 4
th
millennium BC, see Museibli, 2007, 92 ff. for C-14 dates
of the settlement Beyuk Kesik). Museibli, 2007, 96 attempts to adapt the traditional con-
cept of south to north intrusion for the new chronology: While migrating from Mesopo-
tamia to the north a group of North Ubaid tribes did not stop for a long time in South
Caucasus, but continued their way and with their already transformed chalcolithic culture
settled in North Caucasus. Later Early Bronze Culture (scil. the Maykop culture.A. K.)
appeared on the basis of these chalcolithic traditions. Material culture of Early Bronze
Age was also created under the inuence of these chalcolithic traditions. From my point
of view, such a scenario is not very realistic. An idea that some tribes could create a
Chalcolithic culture with poor copper metallurgy in South Caucasus, then immediately
made a quick march to the North Caucasus, where during some decades they mastered
highly developed bronze metallurgy seems strange. The most striking MaykopLeilatepe
isogloss is kurgan burials to which some particular parallels, also concerning rulership or
religion sphere (like lithic sceptres), can be added. Therefore I suppose that the most
natural scenario is the opposite one: borrowing of some prestigious elements of the May-
kop culture by the Leilatepe people or even the intrusions of the Maykop people into the
Chalcolithic Transcaucasia in the 1
st
half of the 4
th
millenium (what could mean a some-
what vassal status of the Leilatepe region).
2009] Hattic as a Sino-Caucasian Language 423
The Maykop people can hardly be Semitic speakers (despite, e. g., -
, 1989): (a) there is no evidence that in the late 5
th
/ early 4
th
millennia BC.
Semitic tribes moved so far to the north; (b) metallurgical terminology is not
reconstructed for Proto-Semiticthe same concerns other Afro-Asiatic families,
such as Proto-Berber, Proto-Cushitic, etc. (despite some linguistic investigations
by A. Militarev).
The Maykop people cannot be Indo-Europeans (despite some M. Gimbutas
theories) either, since we are not aware of any Indo-European cultural
dominance in the Anatolian and/ or Mesopotamian regions of Early/ Middle
Bronze Age. Not to mention that the idea of separate migrations of Hittites
(through North Caucasus) and Luwians (through Bosporus), as per, e. g.,
, 1989, into Central Anatolia looks too fantastical from the linguistic
viewpoint.
The Maykop people cannot be identied with the Proto-Kartvelians, since
there are no linguistic traces of close contacts of Kartvelian tribes with Semitic
in prehistoric epochs.
67
The Proto-Kartvelians (the split of the proto-language in
the end of the 4
rd
millennium BC) are rather assuredly associated with the Proto-
Colchidean (Protokolkhskaya) culture (from the end of the 4
th