Luwian Hieroglyph
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Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous
logographic In a written language, a logogram (from Ancient Greek 'word', and 'that which is drawn or written'), also logograph or lexigraph, is a written character that represents a semantic component of a language, such as a word or morpheme. Chinese c ...
script native to central
Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
, consisting of some 500 signs. They were once commonly known as Hittite hieroglyphs, but the language they encode proved to be
Luwian Luwian (), sometimes known as Luvian or Luish, is an ancient language, or group of languages, within the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The ethnonym Luwian comes from ''Luwiya'' (also spelled ''Luwia'' or ''Luvia'') – ...
, not Hittite, and the term Luwian hieroglyphs is used in English publications. They are typologically similar to
Egyptian hieroglyphs Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined Ideogram, ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct char ...
, but do not derive graphically from that script, and they are not known to have played the sacred role of hieroglyphs in Egypt. There is no demonstrable connection to
Hittite cuneiform Hittite cuneiform is the implementation of cuneiform script used in writing the Hittite language. The surviving corpus of Hittite texts is preserved in cuneiform on clay tablets dating to the 2nd millennium BC (roughly spanning the 17th to 1 ...
.


History

Individual Anatolian hieroglyphs are attested from the second and early first millennia BC across Anatolia and into modern Syria. A biconvex bronze personal seal was found in the Troy VIIb level (later half of the 12th century BC) inscribed with Luwian Hieroglyphs. The earliest examples occur on personal
seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...
s, but these consist only of names, titles, and auspicious signs, and it is not certain that they represent language. Most actual texts are found as monumental inscriptions in stone, though a few documents have survived on lead strips. The first inscriptions confirmed as Luwian date to the
Late Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
, ca. 14th to 13th centuries BC. After some two centuries of sparse material, the hieroglyphs resume in the Early
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
, ca. 10th to 8th centuries BC. In the early 7th century BC, the Luwian hieroglyphic script, by then aged some 700 years, was marginalized by competing alphabetic scripts and fell into oblivion.


Language

While almost all the preserved texts employing Anatolian hieroglyphs are written in the
Luwian language Luwian (), sometimes known as Luvian or Luish, is an ancient language, or group of languages, within the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The ethnonym Luwian comes from ''Luwiya'' (also spelled ''Luwia'' or ''Luvia'') – ...
, some features of the script suggest its earliest development within a bilingual Hittite-Luwian environment. For example, the sign which has the form of a "taking" or "grasping" hand has the value /ta/, which is precisely the Hittite word ta-/da- "to take," in contrast with the Luwian cognate of the same meaning which is la-. There was occasionally some use of Anatolian hieroglyphs to write foreign material like
Hurrian The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...
theonym A theonym (from Greek (), 'god', attached to (), ) is a proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics, the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. Theonymy helps develop an und ...
s, or glosses in
Urartian Urartian or Vannic is an extinct Hurro-Urartian language which was spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu (''Biaini'' or ''Biainili'' in Urartian), which was centered on the region around Lake Van and had its capital, Tushp ...
(such as ''á – ḫá+ra – ku'' for ''aqarqi'' or ''tu – ru – za'' for ''ṭerusi'', two units of measurement). File:Kahramanmaras_Museum_Löwe_vorn.jpg, The Marash Lion, with Anatolian hieroglyphs File:Kahramanmaras_Museum_Löwe.jpg, Marash Lion side view File:IvrizReliefA.jpg, God
Tarḫunz Tarḫunz (stem: ''Tarḫunt-'') was the weather god and chief god of the Luwians, a people of Bronze Age and early Iron Age Anatolia. He is closely associated with the Hittite god Tarḫunna and the Hurrian god Teshub. Name The name of the Pro ...
with inscription in Anatolian hieroglyphs File:Slab with Hittite hieroglyphic inscriptions mentioning the activities of king Urhilina and his son. 9th century BC. From Hama. Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul.jpg, Slab with Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions mentioning the activities of king Urhilina and his son. 9th century BC. From Hama. Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul


Typology

As in Egyptian, characters may be logographic or phonographic—that is, they may be used to represent words or sounds. The number of phonographic signs is limited. Most represent CV syllables (CV = consonant vowel), though there are a few
disyllabic A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
signs. A large number of these are ambiguous as to whether the vowel is ''a'' or ''i.'' Some signs are dedicated to one use or another, but many are flexible. Words may be written logographically, phonetically, mixed (that is, a logogram with a
phonetic complement A phonetic complement is a phonetic symbol used to disambiguate word characters (logograms) that have multiple readings, in mixed logographic-phonetic scripts such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, Akkadian cuneiform, Linear B, Japanese, and Mayan. O ...
), and may be preceded by a
determinative A determinative, also known as a taxogram or semagram, is an ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts which helps to disambiguate interpretation. They have no direct counterpart in spoken language, though they ...
. Other than the fact that the phonetic glyphs form a
syllabary In the Linguistics, linguistic study of Written language, written languages, a syllabary is a set of grapheme, written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) mora (linguistics), morae which make up words. A symbol in a syllaba ...
rather than indicating only consonants, this system is analogous to the system of Egyptian hieroglyphs. A more elaborate monumental style is distinguished from more abstract linear or cursive forms of the script. In general, relief inscriptions prefer monumental forms, and incised ones prefer the linear form, but the styles are in principle interchangeable. Texts of several lines are usually written in
boustrophedon Boustrophedon () is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the l ...
style. Within a line, signs are usually written in vertical columns of two to four signs, but as in
Egyptian hieroglyphs Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined Ideogram, ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct char ...
, aesthetic considerations take precedence over correct reading order. Many texts also employ an explicit word divider character. One peculiarity of the Luwian writing system is that in some texts vowel signs, usually repeating the vowel of the preceding syllable, were used to fill up sign columns, so that new words would always start at the top of the line. Some texts also exhibit the so-called "initial-à-final" pattern, where the word-initial ''a'' character is moved either to the top of the second column of signs or to the end of the word.


Decipherment

Anatolian hieroglyphs first came to Western attention in the nineteenth century, when European explorers such as
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt Johann Ludwig (also known as John Lewis, Jean Louis) Burckhardt (24 November 1784 – 15 October 1817) was a Swiss traveller, geographer and Orientalist. Burckhardt assumed the alias ''Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah'' during his travels in Arabia ...
and
Richard Francis Burton Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Royal Geographical Society#Fellowship, FRGS, (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, army officer, orien ...
described pictographic inscriptions on walls in the city of
Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...
,
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. The same characters were recorded in
Boğazköy Boğazköy can refer to the following places: In Turkey * Boğazkale, a town and district in Çorum Province ** Hattusa, the ancient Hittite site located near Boğazkale * Boğazköy, Amasya * Boğazköy, Bucak * Boğazköy, Dicle * Boğazköy, ...
, and presumed by
A. H. Sayce Archibald Henry Sayce (25 September 18454 February 1933) was a pioneer British Assyriology, Assyriologist and linguistics, linguist, who held a chair as Professor of Assyriology at the University of Oxford from 1891 to 1919. He was able to wri ...
to be Hittite in origin. By 1915, with the Luwian language known from cuneiform, and a substantial quantity of Anatolian hieroglyphs transcribed and published, linguists started to make real progress in reading the script. In the 1930s, it was partially deciphered by
Ignace Gelb Ignace Jay Gelb (October 14, 1907December 22, 1985) was a Polish-American Assyriologist who pioneered the scientific study of writing systems. Early life Born in Tarnów, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Poland), he earned his PhD from the Universi ...
,
Piero Meriggi Piero is an Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: *Piero Angela (1928–2022), Italian television host * Piero Barucci (born 1933), Italian academic and politician *Piero Cassano (born 1948), Italian keyboardist, singer and comp ...
,
Emil Forrer Emil Orgetorix Gustav Forrer (also Emilio O. Forrer; ; 19 February 1894 – 10 January 1986) was a Swiss Assyriologist and pioneering Hittitologist. He was the first to point out the relevance of references to Wilusa in Hittite inscriptions to the ...
, and
Bedřich Hrozný Bedřich Hrozný (; 6 May 1879 – 12 December 1952), also known as , was a Czechs, Czech Oriental studies, orientalist and linguist. He contributed to the decipherment of the ancient Hittite language, identified it as an Indo-European language, ...
. Its language was confirmed as Luwian in 1973 by J.D. Hawkins,
Anna Morpurgo Davies Anna Elbina Morpurgo Davies (21 June 1937 – 27 September 2014) was an Italian philologist who specialised in comparative Indo-European linguistics. She spent her career at Oxford University, where she was the Professor of Comparative Philolo ...
and
Günther Neumann Günther, Guenther, Ginther, Gunther, and the variants Günter, Guenter, Guenther, Ginter, and Gunter, are Germanic names derived from ''Gunthere, Gunthari'', composed of '' *gunþiz'' "battle" (Old Norse ''gunnr'') and ''heri, hari'' "army". Gun ...
, who corrected some previous errors about sign values, in particular emending the reading of symbols *376 and *377 from ''i, ī'' to ''zi, za''.


Sign inventory

The script consists of some 500 unique signs, some with multiple values; a given sign may function as a logogram, a determinative or a
syllabogram Syllabograms are graphemes used to write the syllables or morae of words. Syllabograms in syllabaries are analogous to letters in alphabets, which represent individual phonemes, or logograms in logographies, which represent morphemes. Syllab ...
, or a combination thereof. The signs are numbered according to Laroche's sign list, with a prefix of 'L.' or '*'. Logograms are transcribed in Latin in capital letters. For example, *90, an image of a foot, is transcribed as PES when used logographically, and with its phonemic value ''ti'' when used as a syllabogram. In the rare cases where the logogram cannot be transliterated into Latin, it is rendered through its approximate Hittite equivalent, recorded in Italic capitals, e.g. *216 ''ARHA''. The most up-to-date sign list was compiled by
Massimiliano Marazzi Massimiliano is a masculine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: * Massimiliano Alajmo (born 1974), Italian chef *Massimiliano Allegri (born 1967), Italian footballer and manager * Massimiliano Ammendola (born 1990), Italian f ...
in 1998. Hawkins, Morpurgo-Davies and Neumann corrected some previous errors about sign values, in particular emending the reading of symbols *376 and *377 from ''i, ī'' to ''zi, za''.


List of CV syllabograms


= }
? = } , , = }
= } , , = } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! h- , , = }
? = }
= }
= } , , = }
= } , , = }
= } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! hw- , , = } , , = }
= } , , ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! k- , , = }
= } , , = }
= }
= } , , = } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! kw- , , = } , , = } , , ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! l- , , = }
= }
= } , , = }
= }
= }
= } , , = } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! m- , , = }
= }
= }
= }, } , , = }
= }
= } , , = }, }, }, } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! n- , , = }
= } , , = }
= }
= }
= } , , = }
= } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! p- , , = }, } ?
= }
= } , , = } , , = }
= } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! r- , , = } , , = } , , = }
= }, } ! , , , , , , = } , -style="text-align:center" ! s- , , = } = }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
, , = }
? = } , , = }
= }
= } ! , , , , , , = } , -style="text-align:center" ! t- , , = }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= } , , = }
= }
? = }
? = } , , = }, }
= }
= }
= } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! w- , , = }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= } , , = }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= } , , ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! y- , , = }
= }
= } , , , , ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! z- , , = }, }
= }
= }
= }
= } , , = }
= }
= }
= } , , ? = }, }
= } ! , , , , , , , , + = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , , , , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , + = } , , , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , , , , -style="text-align:center" , , ++ = } , , , , , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , , , , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , + = } , , , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , , -style="text-align:center"} , , = } , , , , , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , + = } , , Transliteration of logograms is conventionally the term represented in Latin, in capital letters (e.g. PES for the logogram for "foot"). The
syllabograms Syllabograms are graphemes used to write the syllables or morae of words. Syllabograms in syllabaries are analogous to letters in alphabets, which represent individual phonemes, or logograms in logographies, which represent morphemes. Syllabo ...
are transliterated, disambiguating homophonic signs analogously to
cuneiform transliteration Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...
, e.g. ta=ta1, tá=ta2, and ta6 transliterate three distinct ways of representing phonemic /ta/. Some of the homophonic signs have received further attention and new phonetic interpretation in recent years, e.g. tà has been argued to stand for /da/, and á seems to have stood for /ʔa/ (distinct from /a/), representing the descendant of
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...
. One of the latest confirmed discoveries pertaining to the decipherment of Anatolian Hieroglyphs is the re-interpretation of the signs ta4 and ta5 as and respectively Rieken, E. and Yakubovich I (2010): "The New Values of Luwian Signs L 319 and L 172." In: Singer, I.(ed.): ''Ipamati kistamati pari tumatimis: Luwian and Hittite studies presented to J. D. Hawkins on the occasion of his 70th birthday.'' Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, Institute of Archaeology, 199–219.


List of Anatolian ideograms

, , = }, } , , = } , , . = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , + = ) = } , , = } , , = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , + = } , , = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, }, } , , = }, } , , = } , , = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = }, } , , = } , , ++ = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } (2nd mil.), } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , + = } , , . = } , , . = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , + = } , , = }, } , , . = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , = }, }, } , , = }, }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , + = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = }, } , , + = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , ()+ = } , , = }, }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , + = } , , + = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , = } , , = }, } ? , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , ? = } , , = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , . = } , , = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , ? = }, }, } , , = }, } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = }, }, } , , ? = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , () = } , , = } , , . = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , . = } , , + = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , +.+ = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , + = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , +/+ = } , , + = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , . = } , , . = } , , . = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = }, }, } , , . = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , + ? () = }, } , , = }, } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , = } , , ? = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , . = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , ? = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , (+) = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , . = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , . = } , , . = } , , .. = }, }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, }, }, }, } , , = } , , = } , , ./ = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = }, } , , ? = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, }, } , , + = } , , + = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , . = } , , . = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, } , , = }, } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = }, }, } , , = } , , . = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = }, } , , = } (earlier variant), } , , (?) = } , -style="text-align:center" , , (?) = } , , (?) = } , , (?) = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , ? = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , - = } , , -+ = } , , -?+ = } , , +- = } , -style="text-align:center" , , +?- = } , , = }, }, }, }, } , , = } , , = = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = }, }, } , , +. = } , -style="text-align:center" , , ++ = } , , = } , , = } (earlier variant), } , , = } (word separator) , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , 2 = } , , 3 = } , , 4 = } , , 5 = } , -style="text-align:center" , , 8 = } , , 9 = } , , 12 = } , ,


Unicode

Anatolian hieroglyphs were added to the
Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...
Standard in June, 2015 with the release of version 8.0. The Unicode block for Anatolian Hieroglyphs is U+14400–U+1467F:


See also

*
Bonus2.vir2 Bonus2.vir2 is the conventional Latin transliteration for the Anatolian hieroglyphic expression given by the signs L362.L386. This expression is typically present in Hittite glyphs from the late imperial period, and are usually considered an ex ...
*
Hittite cuneiform Hittite cuneiform is the implementation of cuneiform script used in writing the Hittite language. The surviving corpus of Hittite texts is preserved in cuneiform on clay tablets dating to the 2nd millennium BC (roughly spanning the 17th to 1 ...
* Alphabets of Anatolia


References


Sources

* * * *


External links


Luwian Hieroglyphics
from the Indo-European Database
Sign list
with logographic and syllabic readings

{{list of writing systems Obsolete writing systems Bronze Age writing systems Luwian language