| Luwian |
Website Links For Language |
Information AboutLuwian |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT LUWIAN LANGUAGE | |
| anatolian languages | |
| ancient languages | |
| extinct languages of asia | |
| hittite empire | |
| luwians | |
|
Luwian (sometimes spelled '''Luvian''') is an extinct part of the Anatolia n branch of the Indo-European Language Family . Luwian is closely related to Hittite , and was among the languages spoken by population groups in Arzawa , to the west or southwest of the core Hittite area. In the oldest texts that area was referred to as ''Luwiya''. Much later, this same area came to be known as Lydia (or ''Ludia''). It is either the direct ancestor of Lycian or a close relative of the ancestor of Lycian. Luwian is the most likely candidate for the language spoken by the Trojans . From this homeland, Luwian speakers gradually spread eastward through Anatolia and became a contributing factor to the downfall of the Hittite Empire , where it also seems to have been widely spoken by this time. Luwian was also the language of the Neo-Hittite states of Syria such as Milid and Carchemish , and also of the central Anatolian kingdom of Tabal that flourished around 900 AD. SIGNIFICANCE AND SOURCES Luwian is important to Indo-European linguists, since it is used as evidence (Melchert 1987) that the Proto-Indo-European Language had three distinct sets of Velar Consonant s:
Luwian has been preserved in two forms named after the writing systems used to represent them:
Unlike Egyptian Hieroglyph s, the lines of Luwian hieroglyphs are written alternately left-to-right and right-to-left. This practice was called by the Greeks '' Boustrophedon '', meaning "as the ox turns" (as when plowing a field). REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|