Some loanwords in the variant of the

Hurrian language Hurrian is an extinct Hurro-Urartian language spoken by the Hurrians (Khurrites), a people who entered northern Mesopotamia around 2300 BC and had mostly vanished by 1000 BC. Hurrian was the language of the Mitanni kingdom in northern Mesopota ...

spoken in the

Mitanni Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or '' Naharin'' ...

kingdom, during the 2nd millennium BCE, are identifiable as originating in an

Indo-Aryan language The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...

; these are considered to constitute an Indo-Aryan

superstrate In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...

in Mitanni (or in Mitanni Hurrian). The words in question are

theonym A theonym (from Greek ''theos'' (Θεός), " god"'','' attached to ''onoma'' (ὄνομα), "name") is the proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics (the study of the etymology, history, and ...

s, proper names and technical terminology related to

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

s (hippological). It is generally believed that a militarily powerful, nomadic Indo-Aryan elite, known as the

Maryannu Maryannu is an ancient word for the caste of chariot-mounted hereditary warrior nobility, which existed in many of the societies of the Middle East during the Bronze Age. The term is attested in the Amarna letters written by Haapi. Robert Drew ...

, settled in Mitanni, and came to politically dominate the indigenous population, while also adopting the Hurrian language. Such an phenomenon might be considered to form a part of the Indo-Aryan expansion.

Linguistic context

Professor Eva von Dassow concurs with the presence of Indo-Aryan terms in Mitanni vocabulary, but cautiously advises against the notion of an "Indo-Aryan takeover".

Michael Witzel Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–80). Witz ...

argues for the antiquity of the Indo-Aryan words attested in the Mitanni data, since they seem to predate linguistic developments attested in the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only on ...

. In a treaty between the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-cent ...

and Mitanni (between Suppiluliuma and

Shattiwaza Shattiwaza or Šattiwaza, alternatively referred to as Kurtiwaza or ''Mattiwaza'', was a king of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni, who reigned c. 1330-1305 BC. Biography Shattiwaza was the son of king Tushratta. His Hurrian name was ''Kili-Tešup' ...

, c. 1380 BC), the deities

Mitra ''Mitra'' ( Proto-Indo-Iranian: ''*mitrás'') is the name of an Indo-Iranian divinity from which the names and some characteristics of Rigvedic Mitrá and Avestan Mithra derive. The names (and occasionally also some characteristics) of these ...

Varuna Varuna (; sa, वरुण, , Malay: ''Baruna'') is a Vedic deity associated initially with the sky, later also with the seas as well as Ṛta (justice) and Satya (truth). He is found in the oldest layer of Vedic literature of Hinduism, su ...

Indra Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes/ref> I ...

, and

Nasatya The Ashvins ( sa, अश्विन्, Aśvin, horse possessors), also known as Ashwini Kumara and Asvinau,, §1.42. are Hindu twin gods associated with medicine, health, dawn and sciences. In the ''Rigveda'', they are described as youthful div ...

(

Ashvins The Ashvins ( sa, अश्विन्, Aśvin, horse possessors), also known as Ashwini Kumara and Asvinau,, §1.42. are Hindu twin gods associated with medicine, health, dawn and sciences. In the ''Rigveda'', they are described as youthful div ...

) are invoked. Kikkuli's horse training text (''circa'' 1400 BC) includes technical terms such as ''aika'' (

Vedic Sanskrit Vedic Sanskrit was an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It was orally preser ...

''eka'', one), ''tera'' (''tri'', three), ''panza'' (''pañca'', five), ''satta'' (''sapta'', seven), ''na'' (''nava'', nine), ''vartana'' (''vartana'', round). The numeral ''aika'' "one" is of particular importance because it places the superstrate in the vicinity of Indo-Aryan proper (

''eka'', with regular contraction of /ai/ to ː as opposed to Indo-Iranian or early Iranian (which has ''*aiva''; compare Vedic ''eva'' "only") in general. Another text has ''babru(-nnu)'' (''babhru'', brown), ''parita(-nnu)'' (''palita'', grey), and ''pinkara(-nnu)'' (''pingala'', red) for horse colours. Their chief festival was the celebration of the

solstice A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many count ...

(''vishuva'') which was common in most cultures in the ancient world. The Mitanni warriors were called ''marya'' (Hurrian: ''maria-nnu''), the term for '(young) warrior' in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

as well, formed by adding the Hurrian suffix ''-nnu''; note 'mišta-nnu' (= miẓḍha,~ Sanskrit mīḍha) "payment (for catching a fugitive)". Sanskritic interpretations of Mitanni names render Artashumara (artaššumara) as Arta-smara "who thinks of Arta/Ṛta", Biridashva (biridašṷa, biriiašṷa) as Prītāśva "whose horse is dear", Priyamazda (priiamazda) as Priyamedha "whose wisdom is dear", Citrarata as Citraratha "whose chariot is shining" (Mayrhofer I 553), Indaruda/Endaruta as Indrota "helped by Indra" (Mayrhofer I 134), Shativaza (šattiṷaza) as Sātivāja "winning the race prize" (Mayrhofer II 540, 696), Šubandu as Subandhu "having good relatives" (a name in Palestine, Mayrhofer II 209, 735), Tushratta (tṷišeratta, tušratta, etc.) as *tṷaišaratha, Vedic Tveṣaratha "whose chariot is vehement" (Mayrhofer I 686, I 736).

Attested words and comparisons

All of the following examples are from Witzel (2001). For the pronunciation of the sounds transcribed from cuneiform as ''š'' and ''z'', see Proto-Semitic language#Fricatives.

Names of people

Names of gods

From treaties of Mitanni.

Horse training

From Kikkuli.

References

;Sources * * Mallory, J. P. "Kuro-Araxes Culture", ''

Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ...

''. Chicago–London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997. * Mayrhofer, Manfred. ''Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen'', 3 vols. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1992-2001. * Mayrhofer, Manfred. “Welches Material aus dem Indo-arischen von Mitanni verbleibt für eine selektive Darstellung?”, in ''Investigationes philologicae et comparativae: Gedenkschrift für Heinz Kronasser'', ed. E. Neu. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1982, pp. 72–90. * .