This article containscuneiform script. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of cuneiform script.

Hittite cuneiform is the implementation ofcuneiform script used in writing theHittite language. The surviving corpus ofHittite texts is preserved in cuneiform on clay tablets dating to the2nd millennium BC (roughly spanning the 17th to 12th centuries BC).

Hittite orthography was directly adapted from Old Babylonian cuneiform. AsHarry A. Hoffner andCraig Melchert point out: "It is therefore generally assumed that Ḫattušili I (ca. 1650–1600), during his military campaigns in North Syria, captured scribes who were using a form of the late Old Babylonian syllabary, and these captives formed the nucleus of the first scribal academy at Ḫattuša."^[1]Alwin Kloekhorst, on the other hand, while affirming that Hittite cuneiform derives from Old Babylonian, casts doubt on the role of Ḫattušili I in its adoption, claiming that "the transfer of Syro-Babylonian scribal tradition into Asia Minor may have been a more gradual process that predates the Hittites occupation of Hattuša."^[2] What is presented below is Old Akkadian cuneiform, so most of the characters shown here are not, in fact, those used in Hittite texts. For examples of actual Hittite cuneiform, seeThe Hittite Grammar Homepage by Olivier Lauffenburger.^[3] TheHethitisches Zeichenlexikon ("Hittite Sign List" commonly referred to asHZL) by Christel Rüster and Erich Neu lists 375 cuneiform signs used in Hittite documents (11 of them only appearing inHurrian andHattic glosses), compared to some 600 signs in use in Old Assyrian.^[4] About half of the signs have syllabic values, the remaining are used as ideograms orlogograms to represent the entire word—much as the characters "$", "%" and "&" are used in contemporary English.

Cuneiform signs can be employed in three functions:syllabograms, Akkadograms orSumerograms. Syllabograms are characters that represent asyllable. Akkadograms and Sumerograms areideograms originally from the earlier Akkadian or Sumerian orthography respectively, but not intended to be pronounced as in the original language; Sumerograms are mostly ideograms anddeterminers. Conventionally,

• Syllabograms are transcribed in italic lowercase
• Akkadograms in italic uppercase
• Sumerograms in regular uppercase.

Thus, the sign GI𒄀 can be used (and transcribed) in three ways, as the Hittite syllablegi (alsoge); in the Akkadian spellingQÈ-RU-UB of the preposition "near" asQÈ, and as the Sumerian ideogram GI for "tube" also in superscript,^GI, when used as a determiner.

Thesyllabary consists of single vowels, vowels preceded by a consonant (conventionally represented by the letters CV), vowels followed by a consonant (VC), or consonants in both locations (CVC). This system distinguishes the following consonants (notably dropping the Akkadians series),

b, p, d, t, g, k, ḫ, r, l, m, n, š, z,

combined with the vowelsa, e, i, u. Additionalya (=I.A𒄿𒀀),wa (=PI𒉿) andwi (=wi₅=GEŠTIN𒃾 "wine") signs are introduced. The contrast of the Assyrianvoiced/unvoiced series (k/g,p/b,t/d) is not used to express the voiced/unvoiced contrast in Hittite; they are used somewhat interchangeably in some words, while other words are spelled consistently. The contrast in these cases is not entirely clear, and several interpretations of the underlying phonology have been proposed.

Similarly, the purpose of inserting an additional vowel between syllabograms (often referred to as "plene writing" of vowels) is not clear. Examples of this practice include the-a- iniš-ḫa-a-aš "master" or inla-a-man "name",ú-i-da-a-ar "waters". In some cases, it may indicate an inherited long vowel (lāman, cognate to Latinnōmen;widār, cognate to Greekὕδωρhúdōr), but it may also have other functions connected with 'word accentuation'.

Without the use of a specialized Hittite font, the Unicode cuneiform in the tables below is likely to be displayed using a font which is inaccurate for Hittite.^[5]

	-b	-p	-d	-t	-g	-k	-ḫ	-l	-m	-n	-r	-š	-z
a-	ab,ap𒀊		ad,at𒀜		ag,ak𒀝		aḫ,eḫ,iḫ,uḫ𒄴	al𒀠	am𒄠	an𒀭	ar𒅈	aš𒀸	az𒊍
e-	eb,ep,ib,ip𒅁		ed,et,id,it𒀉		eg,ek,ig,ik𒅅			el𒂖	em,im𒅎	en𒂗	er,ir𒅕	eš𒌍,𒐁	ez,iz𒄑
i-								il𒅋		in𒅔		iš𒅖
u-	ub,up𒌒		ud,ut𒌓		ug,uk𒊌			ul𒌌	um𒌝	un𒌦	ur𒌨,úr𒌫	uš𒍑	uz𒊻

This articleshould specify the language of its non-English content using{{lang}} or{{langx}},{{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and{{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriateISO 639 code. Wikipedia'smultilingual support templates may also be used.See why.(June 2024)

Determiners are Sumerograms that are not pronounced but indicate the class or nature of a noun for clarity, e.g. in^URUḪa-at-tu-ša (𒌷𒄩𒀜𒌅𒊭); theURU is a determiner marking the name of a city, and the pronunciation is simply /hattusa/. Sumerograms proper on the other hand are ideograms intended to be pronounced in Hittite.

• DIŠ (ᵐ)𒁹, male personal names
• DIDLI𒀸 (suffixed), plural or collective
• DIDLI ḪI.A𒀸𒄭𒀀 (suffixed), plural
• DINGIR (ᴰ)𒀭 "deity"
• DUG𒂁 "vessel"
• É𒂍 "house"
• GAD𒃰 "linen, cloth"
• GI𒄀 "tube; reed"
• GIŠ𒄑 "wood"
• GUD𒄞 "bovid"
• ḪI.A𒄭𒀀(suffixed), plural
• ḪUR.SAG𒄯𒊕 "mountain"
• ÍD𒀀𒇉 "river"
• IM𒅎 "clay"
• ITU𒌚 "month"
• KAM𒄰 (suffixed), numerals
• KI𒆠 (suffixed), in 0.6% of toponyms^[6]
• KU₆𒄩 "fish"
• KUR𒆳 "land"
• KUŠ𒋢 "hide, fur"
• LÚ𒇽 "man"
• MEŠ𒈨𒌍 (suffixed), plural
• MEŠ ḪI.A𒈨𒌍𒄭𒀀 (suffixed), plural
• MUL𒀯 "star"
• MUNUS (ᶠ)𒊩 "woman", female personal name
• MUŠ𒈲 "serpent"
• MUŠEN𒄷 (suffixed) "bird"
• NA₄𒉌𒌓 "stone"
• NINDA𒃻 "bread"
• PÚ𒇥 "source"
• SAR𒊬 (suffixed) "plant"
• SI𒋛 "horn"
• SÍG𒋠 "wool"
• TU₇𒄰 "soup"
• TÚG𒌆 "garment"
• Ú𒌑 "plant"
• URU𒌷 "city"
• URUDU𒍐 "copper"
• UZU𒍜 "meat"

• Anatolian hieroglyphs
• Hittites
• Alphabets of Anatolia

• Forrer, Emil (1922).Die Keilschrift von Boghazköi (in German). Leipzig: J.C. Hinrich.
• Friedrich, Johannes (1960).Hethitisches Keilschrift-Lesebuch (in German). Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag.
• Rüster, Christel; Neu, Erich (1989).Hethitisches Zeichenlexikon: Inventar und Interpretation der Keilschriftzeichen aus den Boğazköy-Texten (in German). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.ISBN 9783447027946. Often referred to asHZL.
• Haet, Gillian R. (February 1980). "Some observations on plene-writing in Hittite".Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies.43 (1):1–17.doi:10.1017/S0041977X00110493.
• Gordin, Shai (2015).Hittite scribal circles: scholarly tradition and writing habits. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.ISBN 978-3447105262.JSTOR j.ctvc76zpc.
• Hoffner Jr., Harry A.;Melchert, H. Craig (2024).A Grammar of the Hittite Language: Part 1: Reference Grammar (Second ed.). University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.ISBN 9781646023066.
• Kloekhorst, Alwin (2008).Etymological dictionary of the Hittite inherited lexicon. Leiden ; Boston, MA: Brill.ISBN 978-90-04-16092-7.

• Cuneifont Entire list of Hittite cuneiform signs available with Unicodes as pdf
• FreeIdgSerif Includes Unicode cuneiform for Hittite (GFDL, branched offFreeSerif)
• Glottothèque: Ancient Indo-European Grammars online Includes course on Hittite hosted by the University of Göttingen
• Hittite Cuneiform Writer 1.0. A code made as a Hittite Cuneiform writing program (Phyton) - Doğancan Özgökçeler (Replit)
• The Hittite Grammar Homepage Includes a Hittite grammar, Hittite texts with their transcriptions and translations, a Hittite lexicon, and a summary table of the Hittite paradigms in a single page
• Omniglot, Hittite Includes correct Hittite syllabary
• Palaeolexicon Old language data site

• Cuneiform
• Hittite language

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