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Chapter 6 - The Emergence of Writing in Hittite
Theo van den Hout, University of Chicago
Book:

A History of Hittite Literacy

Published online:

18 December 2020

Print publication:

07 January 2021, pp 101-119
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Summary

Having adopted the cuneiform writing system from Mesopotamia, geared towards writing Semitic languages, the Hittites had to adapt it to their Indo-European language. Ignoring the Semitic distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants they devised a system of single and double written consonants to express what was probably a distinction between short and long consonants. They also significantly restricted the use of multiple readings for single signs, standardized the shape of several signs, introduced reader-friendly spaces to separate words, and developed new cuneiform signs to render texts in other, related Indo-European (Palaic) and non-Indo-European (Hattian, later also Hurrian) languages. The latter innovation enabled the recording of non-Hittite liturgy as part of a national religious system and was part of a deliberate politics to unify Central Anatolian population groups into a single kingdom. The creation of a national literature was also part of this.