| Urartian | |
|---|---|
| Urartean, Vannic[1] | |
| Native to | Urartu |
| Region | Armenian highlands |
| Ethnicity | Urartians |
| Era | attested 9th–6th century BCE |
Hurro-Urartian
| |
| Neo-Assyrian cuneiformAnatolian hieroglyphs | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xur |
xur | |
| Glottolog | urar1245 |
 Urartu in 743 BC | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Urartian orVannic[1] is an extinctHurro-Urartian language which was spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom ofUrartu (Biaini orBiainili in Urartian), which was centered on the region aroundLake Van and had its capital,Tushpa, near the site of the modern town ofVan in theArmenian highlands, now in theEastern Anatolia region ofTurkey.[2] Its past prevalence is unknown. While some believe it was probably dominant around Lake Van and in the areas along the upperZab valley,[3] others believe it was spoken by a relatively small population who comprised a ruling class.[4]
First attested in the 9th centuryBCE, Urartian ceased to be written after the fall of the Urartian state in 585 BCE and presumably became extinct due to the fall of Urartu.[5] It must have had long contact with, and been gradually totally replaced by, an early form ofArmenian.[6][7][8]
Urartian is anergative,agglutinative language, which belongs to theHurro-Urartian family, whose only other known member isHurrian.[9] It survives in manycuneiform inscriptions found in the territory of the Kingdom of Urartu. There have been claims[10] of a separate autochthonous script of "Urartian hieroglyphs" but they remain unsubstantiated.
Urartian is closely related to Hurrian, a somewhat better documented language attested for an earlier, non-overlapping period, approximately from 2000 BCE to 1200 BCE, written by native speakers until about 1350 BCE. The two languages must have developed quite independently from approximately 2000 BCE onwards.[11][12] Although Urartian is not a direct continuation of any of the attested dialects of Hurrian,[13] many of its features are best explained as innovative developments with respect to Hurrian as it is known from the preceding millennium. The closeness holds especially true of the so-called Old Hurrian dialect, known above all from Hurro-Hittite bilingual texts.
The external connections of the Hurro-Urartian languages are disputed. There exist various proposals for agenetic relationship to other language families, e.g.Northeast Caucasian languages,Indo-European languages, orKartvelian languages, but none of these are generally accepted.[14]
Indo-European, namelyArmenian andAnatolian, as well asIranian and possiblyPaleo-Balkan, etymologies have been proposed for many Urartian personal and topographic names, such as the names of kingsArame andArgishti, regions such asDiauehi andUelikulqi, cities such asArzashkun, geographical features likethe Arșania River, as well as some Urartian vocabulary and grammar.[15][16][17] Surviving texts of the language are written in a variant of the cuneiform script called Neo-Assyrian.[18] Comparison:
| Urartian | Hurrian | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| esi | eše | Location |
| šuri | šauri | Weapon |
| mane | mane | 3. Sg. Pers. |
| -ḫi | -ḫi | Affiliation affix |
| -še | -š | Ergative |
| -di | -tta | 1. Sg. Abs. |
| ag- | ag- | to lead |
| ar- | ar- | to give |
| man- | mann- | to be |
| nun- | un- | to come |
| -di | -da | Directive |
| -u- | -o- | Transitivity marking |
| qiura | eše | Earth |
| lutu | ašte | Transitivity marking |
The German scholarFriedrich Eduard Schulz, who discovered the Urartian inscriptions of the Lake Van region in 1826, made copies of severalcuneiform inscriptions atTushpa, but made no attempt at decipherment.[19] Schulz's drawings, published posthumously in 1840 in theJournal Asiatique,[20] were crucial in forwarding the decipherment of Mesopotamian cuneiform by Edward Hincks.[21]
After the decipherment ofAssyrian cuneiform in the 1850s, Schulz's drawings became the basis of the decipherment of the Urartian language. It soon became clear that it was unrelated to any known language, and attempts at decipherment based on known languages of the region failed.[22] The script was deciphered in 1882 byA. H. Sayce. The oldest of these inscriptions is from the time ofSarduri I of Urartu.[19][better source needed]
Decipherment only made progress afterWorld War I, with the discovery of Urartian-Assyrian bilingual inscriptions atKelišin and Topzawä.[22][23]
In 1963, a grammar of Urartian was published byG. A. Melikishvili inRussian, appearing inGerman translation in 1971. In the 1970s, the genetic relation with Hurrian was established byI. M. Diakonoff.
The oldest recorded texts originate from the reign ofSarduri I, from the late 9th century BCE.[24] Texts were produced until the fall of the realm of Urartu, approximately 200 years later.
Approximately two hundred inscriptions written in the Urartian language, which adopted and modified the cuneiform script, have been discovered to date.[25]
Urartian cuneiform is a standardized simplification of Neo-Assyrian cuneiform.Unlike in Assyrian, each sign only expresses a single sound value.The signgi𒄀 has the special function of expressing a hiatus, e.g.u-gi-iš-ti forUīšdi. A variant script with non-overlapping wedges was in use for rock inscriptions.
Urartian was also rarely written in the "Anatolian hieroglyphs" used for theLuwian language. Evidence for this is restricted toAltıntepe.
There are suggestions that besides the Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions, Urartu also had a native hieroglyphic script.The inscription corpus is too sparse to substantiate the hypothesis. It remains unclear whether the symbols in question form a coherent writing system, or represent just a multiplicity of uncoordinated expressions ofproto-writing or ad-hoc drawings.[26]What can be identified with a certain confidence are two symbols or "hieroglyphs" found on vessels, representing certain units of measurement:
foraqarqi and
forṭerusi. This is known because some vessels were labelled both in cuneiform and with these symbols.[27]
Hachikian (2010)[28] gives the following consonants for Urartian inferred both from Urartian writing as well as loans into neighboring languages, mainly Armenian:
| Labial | Dental /Alveolar | Dorsal(Velar andpalatal) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | ||
| Stops | voiceless | pʰ ⟨p⟩ | tʰ ⟨t⟩ | kʰ ⟨k⟩ |
| voiced | b ⟨b⟩ | d ⟨d⟩ | ɡ ⟨g⟩ | |
| "emphatic"(ejective) | pʼ ⟨p⟩ | tʼ ⟨ṭ⟩ | kʼ ⟨q⟩ | |
| Affricates | voiceless | t͡sʰ ⟨s⟩ | ||
| voiced | d͡z ⟨z⟩ | |||
| "emphatic"(ejective) | t͡sʼ ⟨ṣ⟩ | |||
| Fricatives | voiceless | (f) ⟨p⟩? | s ⟨š⟩ | x ⟨ḫ⟩ |
| voiced | v ‹b, u, ú› | (z) | ɣ ⟨ḫ⟩ | |
| Approximants | central | w ‹u, ú› | r~ɾ ⟨r⟩ | j ⟨g, i⟩ |
| lateral | l~ɫ ⟨l⟩ | |||
The three-way laryngeal contrast for stops and affricates was faithfully represented in Urartian writing, except for the "emphatic' /pʼ/ which the Semitic-based cuneiform writing system did not have a distinct symbol for. Their values are confirmed by loans in Armenian. Urartian voiceless stops and affricates were loaned as voiceless aspirates in Armenian, while Urartian "emphatic" stops are found as unaspirated voiceless stops in Armenian. E.g., Urartianul-ṭu 'camel' ↦ Armenian ուղտułt, Urartianṣu-(ú-)pa- 'Sophene (toponym)' ↦ Armenian Ծոփ-Copʰ-. Contrasting the last example with Urartianṭu-uš-pa- ‘Tushpa (toponym)’ ↦ Armenian ՏոսպTosp, Hachikian (2010) reconstructs an "emphasis" distinction in the bilabial position.
The cuneiform signs usually transliterated with ‹s, z, ṣ› were not fricatives, but affricates, as again shown by loans in Armenian.[29] E.g., Urartianṣa-ri ‘orchard’ ↦ Armenian ծառcaṙ ‘tree’, Urartianal-zi- ‘Arzanene (toponym)’ ↦ Armenian Աղձնի-Ałʒni-. Urartian ‹š› was loaned into Armenian as /s/: Urartianša-ni ‘kettle’ ↦ Armenian սանsan (ultimately from Sumerian via Akkadian).
The precise phonetics of emphasis is not recoverable. It possibly may have been ejectivization or glottalization /pʼ, tʼ, t͡sʼ, kʼ/ as in Semitic languages of the time and the nearby endemic languages of the Caucasus, or just plain unaspirated (and unvoiced)/p⁼,t⁼,t͡s⁼,k⁼/ as in Armenian, in either case, contrasting fully with the respective aspirated/pʰ,tʰ,t͡sʰ,kʰ/ and voiced/b,d,d͡z,g/ series. Near front vowels, /g/ was palatalized and probably merged with, or at least became perceptibly close to, /j/. A distinct /v/ is suggested by variant spellings alternating between⟨ú⟩ and⟨b⟩ and by the toponym rendered in Armenian as ՎանVan ‘Van’ and writtenbi-a-i-ni- in Urartian.
Hachikian (2010) also suggests/f/ and/z/. For a phonemic/ɣ/ distinct from/x/, there is limited evidence from the Greek rendering of the toponym ΚομμαγηνήKommagēnḗ ‘Commagene’ for Urartianqu-ma-ḫa-; thus,/x/ and/ɣ/ were not orthograpically distinguished.
The script distinguishes the vowelsa,e,i andu. Hachikian believes that there was an /o/ as well, as reflected in loans such as the rendition of Urartianṭu-uš-pa- ‘Tushpa (toponym)’ as Armenian ՏոսպTosp and Greek Θοσπ-Thosp-. There may have been phonemic vowel length, but it is not consistently expressed in the script. Word-finally, the distinction betweene andi is not maintained, so many scholars transcribe the graphically vacillating vowel as aschwa:ə, while some preserve a non-reduced vowel (usually opting fori). The full form of the vowel appears when suffixes are added to the word and the vowel is no longer in the last syllable:Argištə 'Argišti' -Argištešə 'by Argišti (ergative case)'. Thisvowel reduction also suggests that stress was commonly on the next-to-the-last syllable.
In themorphonology, various morpheme combinations triggersyncope: *ar-it-u-mə →artumə, *zaditumə →zatumə, *ebani-ne-lə →ebanelə, *turul(e)yə → tul(e)yə.
The morphemes which may occur in a noun follow a strict order:
| slot | stem | article | possessive suffix | number and case suffix | suffixes received throughSuffixaufnahme |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| attested morphemes | various | -ne- -na- | -uka- -i(ya)- | -Ø-, -lə-, -š(ə)-, etc. (see below) | = article + number and case suffixes |
All nouns appear to end in a so-called thematic vowel - most frequently-i or-e, but-a and-u also occur. They may also end in a derivational suffix. Notable derivational suffixes are-ḫə, forming adjectives of belonging (e.g.Abiliane-ḫə 'of the tribe Abiliani',Argište-ḫə 'son ofArgišti') and-šə, forming abstract nouns (e.g.alsui-šə 'greatness',ardi-šə 'order',arniu-šə 'deed').
The forms of the so-called "article" are-nə (non-reduced form-ne-) for the singular,-ne-lə for the plural in theabsolutive case and-na- for the other forms of the plural. They are referred to as "anaphoric suffixes" and can be compared todefinite articles, although their use does not always seem to match that description exactly. They also obligatorily precede agreement suffixes added through Suffixaufnahme: e.g.Argište-šə Menua-ḫi-ne-šə 'Argišti (ergative), son of Menua (ergative)'. The plural form can also serve as a general plural marker in non-absolutive cases:arniuši-na-nə 'by the deeds'.[30]
The well-attested possessive suffixes are the ones of the first person singular-ukə (in non-reduced form sometimes-uka-) and of the 3rd person singular-i(yə)- (in non-reduced form sometimes-iya-): e.g.ebani-uka-nə 'from my country',ebani-yə 'his country'.
The plural is expressed, above all, through the use of the plural "article" (-ne-lə in the absolutive case,-na- preceding the case suffix in the oblique cases), but some of the case suffixes also differ in form between the singular and the plural. Therefore, separate plural version of the case suffixes are indicated below separately. The nature of the absolutive and ergative cases is as in other ergative languages (more details in the sectionSyntax below).
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Absolutive | -Ø | -lə |
| Ergative | -š(ə) | |
| Genitive | -i | -wə |
| Dative | -ə | -wə |
| Directive | -edə (archaic plural-š-tə) | |
| Comitative | -ranə | |
| Ablative-instrumental | -nə | |
| Ablative | -danə | -š-tanə |
| Locative | -a | |
Since the "complete" plural forms also include the plural definite article, they appear as-ne-lə,-na-šə,-na-wə,na-(e)də orna-š-tə, etc.
A phenomenon typical of Urartian isSuffixaufnahme - a process in which dependent modifiers of a noun (includinggenitive case modifiers) agree with the head noun by absorbing its case suffixes. The copied suffixes must be preceded by the article (also agreeing in number with the head). Examples:Ḫaldi-i-na-wə šešti-na-wə 'for the gates (dative) of [god] Ḫaldi (dative)',Argište-šə Menua-ḫi-ne-šə 'Argišti (ergative), son of Menua (ergative)'.
The known personal pronouns are those of the first and third person singular.
| absolutive intransitive | absolutive transitive | ergative | other | enclitic possessive | enclitic dative | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st p. sing. | ištidə | šukə | iešə | šu- | -uka- | -mə |
| 3rd pers. sing. | manə | manə | -iya- |
The first person singular has two different forms for the absolutive case:ištidə as the absolutive subject of an intransitive verb, andšukə as the absolutive object of a transitive verb. The ergative form isiešə. Judging from correspondences with Hurrian,šu- should be the base for the "regular" case forms. An enclitic dative case suffix for the first person singular is attested as-mə.
The third person singular has the absolutive formmanə.
As for possessive pronouns, besides the possessive suffixes (1st singular-uka- and 3rd singular-iya-) that were adduced above, Urartian also makes use of possessive adjectives formed with the suffix-(u)sə: 1st singularšusə, 3rd singularmasə.
The encoding of pronominal ergative and absolutive participants in a verb action within the verb is treated in the section onVerbal morphology below.
Demonstrative pronouns arei-nə (plural basei-, followed by article and case forms) andina-nə (plural baseina-, followed by article and case forms). A relative pronoun isalə.
The paradigm of the verb is only partially known. As with the noun, the morphemes that a verb may contain come in a certain sequence that can be formalized as the following "verb chain":
| slot | root | root complement | ergative third person plural suffix | valency markers | modal suffix | other person suffixes (mostlyabsolutive) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| attested morphemes | various | various | -it- | (-ul)-a-, (-ul)-i-, | -l-, -in- | -də, -bə, -(a)-lə, -nə, -ə |
The meaning of the root complements is unclear. Thevalency markers express whether the verb isintransitive ortransitive. The modal suffix appears in several marked moods (but not in the indicative). The other person suffixes express mostly theabsolutive subject or object. It is not clear if and how tense or aspect were signalled.
The valency markers are-a- (rarely-i-) for intransitivity and-u- for transitivity: for examplenun-a-də 'I came' vsšidišt-u-nə 'he built'. A verb that is usually transitive can be converted to intransitivity with the suffix-ul- before the intransitive valency marker:aš-ul-a-bə 'was occupied' (vsaš-u-bə 'I put in [a garrison]').[31]
The person suffixes express the persons of the absolutive subject/object and the ergative subject. When both subject and object are present, a single transitive suffix may expresses a unique combination of persons (e.g. the combination of ergative 3rd singular and absolutive 3rd singular is marked with the suffix-nə). The following chart lists the currently ascertained endings, along with gaps for those not yet ascertained (the ellipsis marks the place of the valency vowel):
| Transitive verbs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | Addressed object | Suffix | ||
| Transitive | Subject | Object | ||
| 1. Pers. Singular | 1. Pers. Singular | + u | + Ø | |
| 3. Pers. Singular | +bə | |||
| 3. Pers. Plural | + lə | |||
| 3. Pers. Singular | 1. Pers. Singular | + Ø | + də | |
| 3. Pers. Singular | +nə | |||
| 3. Pers. Plural | +a | + lə | ||
| 3. Pers. Plural | 1. Pers. Singular | + itu | + də | |
| 3. Pers. Singular | + nə | |||
| 3. Pers. Plural | + lə | |||
| Intransitive Verb | ||||
| Suffix | ||||
| Intransitive | – | Subject | ||
| 1. Pers. Singular | – | + a | + də | |
| 3. Pers. Singular | + bə | |||
| 1. Pers. Plural | + lə | |||
Examples:ušt-a-də 'I marched forth';nun-a-bə 'he came';aš-u-bə 'I put-it in';šidišt-u-nə 'he built-it';ar-u-mə 'he gave [it] to me',kuy-it-u-nə 'they dedicated-it'.
As the paradigm shows, the person suffixes added after the valency vowel express mostly the person ofabsolutive subject/object, both in intransitive and in transitive verbs. The picture is complicated by the fact that the absolutive third person singular is expressed by a different suffix depending on whether the ergative subject is in the first or third person. An additional detail is that when the first-person singular dative suffix-mə is added, the third-person singular absolutive suffix-nə is dropped.
The encoding of the person of the absolutive subject/object is present, even though it is also explicitly mentioned in the sentence: e.g.argište-šə inə arə šu-nə 'Argišti established(-it) this granary'. An exceptional verb isman- 'to be', in that it has a transitive valency vowel, and takes no absolutive suffix for the third person singular:man-u 'it was' vsman-u-lə 'they were'.
Theimperative is formed by the addition of the suffix-ə to the root: e.g.ar-ə 'give!'.
Thejussive or third person imperative is formed by the addition of the suffix-in- in the slot of the valency vowel, whereas the persons are marked in the usual way, following an epenthetic vowel-[i]-:e.g.ar-in-[i]-nə 'may he give it',ḫa-it-in-nə 'may they take it'.
The modal suffix-l-, added between the valency vowel and the person suffixes, participates in the construction of several modal forms:
1. Anoptative form, also regularly used in clauses introduced withašə 'when', is constructed by-l- followed by-ə (-i in non-reduced form) - the following absolutive person suffix is optional, and the ergative subject is apparently not signalled at all: e.g.qapqar-u-l-i-nə 'I wanted to besiege-it [the city]',urp-u-l-i-nə orurp-u-l-ə 'he shall slaughter'.
2. Aconditional is expressed by a graphically similar form, which is interpreted by Wilhelm (2008) as-l- followed by-(e)yə:[32] an example of its use isalu-šə tu-l-(e)yə 'whoever destroys it'.
3. Adesiderative, which may express the wish of either the speaker or the agent, is expressed by-l- followed by a suffix-anə. The valency marker is replaced by-i-: e.g.ard-i-l-anə 'I want him to give …',ḫa-i-l-anə 'it wants to take/conquer …'.
Negation is expressed by the particleui, preceding the verb. A prohibitative particle, also preceding the verb, ismi.mi is also the conjunction 'but', wherease'ə is 'and (also)', andunə is 'or'.
Participles from intransitive verbs are formed with the suffix-urə, added to the root, and have an active meaning (e.g.ušt-u-rə 'who has marched forth'). Participles from transitive verbs are formed with the suffix-aurə, and have a passive meaning (e.g.šidaurə 'which is built'). It is possible that-umə is the ending of an infinitive or a verb noun, although that is not entirely clear.
Urartian is an ergative language, meaning that thesubject of anintransitive verb and theobject of atransitive verb are expressed identically, with the so-calledabsolutive case, whereas the subject of a transitive verb is expressed with a specialergative case. Examples are:Argištə nun-a-bi 'Argišti came' vsArgište-šə arə šu-nə 'Argišti established a granary'. Within the limited number of known forms, noexceptions from the ergative pattern are known. Example:
| Urartian | Meaning | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| ereli+Ø nun+a+bi | The king is coming. | ereli 'king' stands in absolutive. The verb has a markert of intransitivity-a-. |
| ereli+še esi+Ø tur+u+Ø+ni | The king destroys a place. | ereli stands in Ergative,esi 'land' in absolutive. The verb has a marker of transitivity-u-. |
The word order is usually verb-final, and, more specifically,SOV (where S refers to the ergative agent), but the rule is not rigid and components are occasionally re-arranged for expressive purposes. For example, names of gods are often placed first, even though they are in oblique cases:Ḫaldi-ə ewri-ə inə E2 Argište-šə Menuaḫini-šə šidišt-u-nə 'For Ḫaldi the lord Argišti, son of Menua, built this temple.' Verbs can be placed sentence-initially in vivid narratives:ušt-a-də Mana-idə ebanə at-u-bə 'Forth I marched towards Mana, and I consumed the land.'[33]
Nominal modifiers usually follow their heads (erelə tarayə 'great king'), but deictic pronouns such asinə precede them, and genitives may either precede or follow them. Urartian generally usespostpositions (e.g.ed(i)-i-nə 'for',ed(i)-i-a - both originally case forms ofedi 'person, body' -pei 'under', etc..) which govern certain cases (often ablative-instrumental). There is only one attested preposition,parə 'to(wards)'. Subordinate clauses are introduced by particles such asiu 'when',ašə 'when',alə 'that which'.
The sample below is from inscription 372 by Menua, son of Ishpuini, based on G. A. Melikishvili's corpus of Urartian Cuneiform Inscriptions.[34]
For each sentence, the transliteration is given first, the morphological transcription second, the translation third.
dḫal-di-ni-ni
Ḫaldi=ni=nə
uš-ma-ši-ni
ušma=ši=nə
DIŠme-nu-a-še
Menua=šə
DIŠiš-pu-u-i-ni-ḫi-ni-še
Išpuini=ḫi=ni=šə
dḫal-di-ni-li
Ḫaldi=ni=lə
KÁ
KÁ
(3)
ši-di-íš-tú-a-li
šidišt=u=alə.
dḫal-di-ni-ni uš-ma-ši-niDIŠme-nu-a-šeDIŠiš-pu-u-i-ni-ḫi-ni-šedḫal-di-ni-li KÁ (3) ši-di-íš-tú-a-li
Ḫaldi=ni=nə ušma=ši=nə Menua=šə Išpuini=ḫi=ni=šə Ḫaldi=ni=lə KÁ {} šidišt=u=alə.
"Through Haldi's might, Menua, son of Ishpuini, built Haldi's gates."
URUa-lu-di-ri-i-e
Aludiri=ə
(4)
É.GAL
É.GAL
ši-di-iš-tú-ni
šidišt=u=nə
ba-du-si-e
badusi=y=ə.
URUa-lu-di-ri-i-e (4) É.GAL ši-di-iš-tú-ni ba-du-si-e
Aludiri=ə {} É.GAL šidišt=u=nə badusi=y=ə.
"For (the city of) Aludiri he built a fortress to its perfection (?)."[35]
dḫal-di-ni-ni
Ḫaldi=ni=nə
uš-ma-ši-ni
ušma=ši=nə
dḫal-di-ni-ni
Ḫaldi=ni=nə
ba-a-u-ši-ni
bau=ši=nə
DIŠme-nu-a-ni
Menua=nə
DIŠiš-pu-ú-i-ni-e-ḫé
Išpuini=ḫə
i-ú
iu
LÚa-te-i-ni
ate=y=n(ə)=ə
e-si
esi=ə
na-ḫa-a-be
naḫ=a=bə,
KURša-ti-ru-ú-ni
Šatiru=nə
du-ur-ba-i-e
durbayə
ma-nu
man=u.
dḫal-di-ni-ni uš-ma-ši-nidḫal-di-ni-ni ba-a-u-ši-niDIŠme-nu-a-niDIŠiš-pu-ú-i-ni-e-ḫé i-úLÚa-te-i-ni e-si na-ḫa-a-beKURša-ti-ru-ú-ni du-ur-ba-i-e ma-nu
Ḫaldi=ni=nə ušma=ši=nə Ḫaldi=ni=nə bau=ši=nə Menua=nə Išpuini=ḫə iu ate=y=n(ə)=ə esi=ə naḫ=a=bə, Šatiru=nə durbayə man=u.
"When, through Haldi's might and Haldi's command, Menua, son of Ishpuini, ascended to his father's place (i.e. throne), (the land of) Šatiru was rebellious."
ḫal-di-ni
Ḫaldi=nə
uš-ta-a-be
ušt=a=bə
ma-si-ni
masi=nə
šu-ri-e
šuri=ə,
ka-ru-ni
kar=u=nə
URUḫu-ra-di-na-ku-ú-ni
Ḫuradinaku=nə,
ka-ru-ni
kar=u=nə
URUgi-di-ma-ru-ú-ni
Gidimaru=nə,
ka-ru-ni
kar=u=nə
KURša-ti-ru-ú-i
Šatiru=yə
KURe-ba-a-ni
ebanə.
dḫal-di-ni
Ḫaldi=nə
ku-ru-ni
kurunə,
dḫal-di-ni-e
Ḫaldi-ni-yə
šu-ri-i
šuri
ku-ru-ni
kurunə.
ḫal-di-ni uš-ta-a-be ma-si-ni šu-ri-e ka-ru-niURUḫu-ra-di-na-ku-ú-ni ka-ru-niURUgi-di-ma-ru-ú-ni ka-ru-niKURša-ti-ru-ú-iKURe-ba-a-nidḫal-di-ni ku-ru-nidḫal-di-ni-e šu-ri-i ku-ru-ni
Ḫaldi=nə ušt=a=bə masi=nə šuri=ə, kar=u=nə Ḫuradinaku=nə, kar=u=nə Gidimaru=nə, kar=u=nə Šatiru=yə ebanə. Ḫaldi=nə kurunə, Ḫaldi-ni-yə šuri kurunə.
"Haldi marched forth with his weapon(?), conquered Huradinaku, conquered Gidimaru, conquered the land of Shatiru. Haldi is powerful, Haldi's weapon(?) is powerful."
…
ḫa-ú-ni
Ḫa=u=nə
URUḫu-ra-di-na-ku-ú-ni
Ḫuradinaku=nə,
URUgi-di-ma-ru-ú-ni
Gidimaru=nə,
ḫa-ú-ni
ḫa=u=nə
KURša-ti-ru-ú-i
Šatiru=yə
KURe-ba-a-ni-i
eban=i=yə
URUtar-zu-ʼa-a-na-a-na-ni
Tarzuana-nə.
ḫa-ú-niURUḫu-ra-di-na-ku-ú-niURUgi-di-ma-ru-ú-ni ḫa-ú-niKURša-ti-ru-ú-iKURe-ba-a-ni-iURUtar-zu-ʼa-a-na-a-na-ni
Ḫa=u=nə Ḫuradinaku=nə, Gidimaru=nə, ḫa=u=nə Šatiru=yə eban=i=yə Tarzuana-nə.
"He (Menua) captured (the cities) Huardinaku, Gidimaru, Tarzuana of the land of Shatiru."
ku-ṭu-ni
Kuṭ=u=nə
pa-ri
parə
KURbu-uš-tú-ú-e
Buštu=ə,
pa-ri
parə
KURma-al-ma-li-i-e
Malmali=ə.
ku-ṭu-ni pa-riKURbu-uš-tú-ú-e pa-riKURma-al-ma-li-i-e
Kuṭ=u=nə parə Buštu=ə, parə Malmali=ə.
"He reached as far as (the city of) Buštu, as far as (the city of) Malmali."
URUḫu-ra-di-na-ku-ú-ni
Ḫuradinaku=nə
...
…
a-ru-ni-e
ar=u=nə
dḫal-di-še
Ḫaldi=šə
DIŠme-i-nu-ú-a
Menua=ə
DIŠiš-pu-u-i-ni-e-ḫi-ni-e
Išpuini=ḫi=ni=ə.
URUḫu-ra-di-na-ku-ú-ni ... a-ru-ni-edḫal-di-šeDIŠme-i-nu-ú-aDIŠiš-pu-u-i-ni-e-ḫi-ni-e
Ḫuradinaku=nə … ar=u=nə Ḫaldi=šə Menua=ə Išpuini=ḫi=ni=ə.
Haldi gave (the city of) Huradinaku to Menua, son of Ishpuini."
Diakonoff (1985)[36] and Greppin (1991)[37] present etymologies of several Old Armenian words as having a possible Hurro-Urartian origin. Contemporary linguists, such asHrach Martirosyan, have rejected many of the Hurro-Urartian origins for these words and instead suggest native Armenian etymologies, leaving the possibility that these words may have been loaned into Hurro-Urartian from Armenian, and not vice versa.[38]
Arnaud Fournet, Hrach Martirosyan, and Armen Petrosyan propose additional borrowed words of Armenian origin loaned into Urartian and vice versa, including grammatical words and parts of speech, such as Urartianeue 'and', attested in the earliest Urartian texts and likely a loan from Armenian (compare to Armenianew (եւ), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European*h₁epi). Other loans from Armenian into Urartian include personal names, toponyms, and names of deities.[41][38][42][17][43][44][excessive citations] A more recent study by Zsolt Simon is far more sceptical, suggesting that fewer than 10 Armenian words are of assuredly Hurro-Urartian origin, and that no secure loans can be established in the other direction.[45]
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{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Although virtually all the cuneiform records that survive from Urartu are in one sense or another royal, they provide clues to the existence of linguistic diversity in the empire. There is no basis for the a priori assumption that a large number of people ever spoke Urartian. Urartian words are not borrowed in any numbers by neighboring peoples, and the language disappears from the written record along with the government
Armenian presence in their historical seats should then be sought at some time before c 600 BC; ... Armenian phonology, for instance, appears to have been greatly affected by Urartian, which may suggest a long period of bilingualism.
