Alwin Kloekhorst (May 2007)
The Hittite Inherited Lexicon
| Name |
|
Alwin Kloekhorst |
| Title |
|
The Hittite Inherited Lexicon
|
| Date |
|
31 May 2007, 13.45 hrs. |
| Promotor |
|
Prof. Dr J.J.S. Weitenberg |
| Remarks |
|
cum laude |
|
Hittite (spoken in Turkey from 1650-1180 BC, written in cuneiform) is the best known member of the Anatolian language group, one of the twelve branches of the Indo-European language family. Since it is the oldest attested Indo-European language it is commonly regarded as very important for the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European. Nevertheless, many aspects of the historical phonology of Hittite are debated. This dissertation therefore attempts to describe the linguistic history of Hittite on the basis of a systematic etymological treatment of its entire inherited lexicon, precisely analysing the phonological and morphological developments.
|
| |
| It falls into two parts. Part Two is called An Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon and comprises the etymological treatments of the individual words. Part One is called Towards a Hittite Historical Grammar and consists of a chapter on the historical phonology, in which the synchronic phonological system of Hittite is discussed and the phonological developments are described that have taken place between the Proto-Indo-European and the Hittite language stage, and a chapter on historical morphology, in which the morphological developments are described that have taken place in the prehistory of Hittite. Especially the classification of verbs occupies a special place as several new interpretations of synchronic facts shed a fully new light on the diachronic development of the Hittite verbal system. |
| |
|
One of the most important conclusions of this dissertation is that the Anatolian branch to which Hittite belongs, was the first one to have split off from Proto-Indo-European and that all other Indo-European branches have undergone a period of common innovation. Therewith Anatolian and especially Hittite occupies a very important position within comparative Indo-European linguistics as it potentially has retained linguistic information that has vanished in all other Indo-European languages. This dissertation aims to be a helpful tool for the judgement of the Hittite material in this context.
|
Last Modified: 11-07-2008