| Kaskian | |
|---|---|
| Kaška | |
| Region | NortheasternAnatolia Colchis[1] |
| Ethnicity | Kaskians |
| Extinct | c. 900 BC |
unclassified (Hatto-Kaskian?) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | zsk |
zsk | |
| Glottolog | None |
Kaskian (Kaskean) was the language of theKaskians (Kaska) of northeasternBronze AgeAnatolia in the mountains along theBlack Sea coast. TheEncyclopedia of Indo-European Culture lists the Kaskians as non–Indo-European.[2] There are a number of theories regarding thelanguage family to which it belonged.
It is sometimes suspected that Kaskian was related to the pre-HittiteHattic language, based ontoponyms andpersonal names; the Hattic moon god was namedKasku. Conversely, the Kaskian language may have been anIndo-European language, perhaps related toThraco-Phrygian.[3] There may also be connections to theNorthwest Caucasian languages; the nameKaskian[4] may becognate with an old name forCircassia,[5] and the name of one of the tribes in the Kaskian confederation, the Abešla, may be cognate with the endonym of theAbkhaz people and some Circassian people,[6] suggesting the Kaskians proper and Abešla might have been the ancestors of theCircassians,Kartvelians and other Caucasian peoples.[7] It has been conjectured that Kaskian might belong to theZan family of languages, and have affinities toMegrelian orLaz.[8]
In 2023, D. Sasseville presented an unknown language preserved on several tablet fragments from the archives of Hattusa and argued on methodological grounds that it is the Kaskean language.[9]
The Kaskian language continued to be spoken around the Black Sea until approximately the 10th century BC, where it was absorbed by neighbouring Anatolian, Phrygian and Karto-Zan languages.[citation needed]
