Indo-European Languages

The Indo-European language family consists of the languages that are spoken across most of Europe, and areas where Europeans have settled and colonized, throughout the world. It consists of ten major branches:

Anatolian Languages

The Anatolian languages are now extinct but were commonly spoken in Asiatic Türkiye and N Syria during the 1st and 2nd millennia BCE. The most important of the Anatolian languages was Hittite, official to the Hittite Empire of the 2nd millennium BCE.

The earliest recovered documents from Anatolia are the Cappadocian tablets, which date to before 1700 BCE; however, they are written in Old Assyrian, a dialect of Akkadian, and represents the presence of Assyrian trade colonies rather than reflecting the linguistic landscape of Anatolia itself. It is a Semitic language, closely associated with other languages from the Fertile Crescent. The prominence of Old Assyrian is closely linked to the commercial activities of Assyrian merchants, who established a network of trade outposts across the region, with the most notable being at Nesha / Kanesh (modern Kültepe, Turkey).

The disappearance of these Assyrian trade colonies from Anatolia and the concurrent rise of the Hittite Empire in central Anatolia marked a significant linguistic transition in the region. This change was not merely the replacement of one language by another but reflected broader shifts in political power, economic structures, and cultural exchanges.

The exact date when Indo-European peoples entered the Anatolian region is unknown but is generally held to be in the 3rd millennium BCE. The first language of the Anatolian sub-family attested in history is Hattian.

Hattian (or Hattic) Language

Hattian was called Hattili in later Hittite cuneiform texts, and it is sometimes referred to as proto-Hittite. The Halys River, now known as the Kızıl River, was a significant geographical marker, serving not just as a physical boundary but also as a linguistic and cultural demarcation line; the Hattians inhabited the region around and inside the bend of the Halys River, primarily in central and north-central Anatolia, south of the Black Sea. They settled on a central plateau, surrounded by mountains and intersected by fertile river valleys; the Halys River was a crucial waterway for agriculture, trade, and communication. It also somewhat isolated the Hattians from the influences of neighboring cultures in the early stages of their development. By the rise of the Hittite New Empire (~1400 BCE), the language had been replaced even in its heartland. It is difficult to ascertain specifics about the language, as it is a pre-Indo-European isolate with limited references or textual examples.

• Other Anatolian languages: Palaic, Luwian, Lycian, Lydian, Carian.
• Possible candidates: Pisidian, Sidetic - both poorly attested.
• The oldest texts from Anatolia