View source for Social:Urartian language

{{Short description|Language spoken by inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Urartian
| altname          = Vannic
| states           = [[Earth:Armenian highlands|Armenian highlands]]
| region           = [[Place:Urartu|Urartu]]
| era              = attested 9th–6th century BCE
| familycolor      = Caucasian
| fam1             = [[Social:Hurro-Urartian languages|Hurro-Urartian]]
| iso3             = xur
| glotto           = urar1245
| glottorefname    = Urartian
| linglist         = xur
|script=[[Social:Cuneiform#Assyrian cuneiform|Neo-Assyrian cuneiform]]
| notice           = IPA
}}

'''Urartian''' or '''Vannic''' is an extinct [[Social:Hurro-Urartian languages|Hurro-Urartian language]] which was spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of [[Place:Urartu|Urartu]] (''Biaini'' or ''Biainili'' in Urartian), which was centered on the region around Lake Van and had its capital, Tushpa, near the site of the modern town of Van in the [[Earth:Armenian highlands|Armenian highlands]] (now in the Eastern Anatolia region of [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Læssøe |first=Jørgen |url= |title=People of Ancient Assyria: Their Inscriptions and Correspondence |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |year=1963 |isbn=9781013661396 |pages=89 |oclc=}}</ref> Its past prevalence is unknown. While some believe it was probably dominant around Lake Van and in the areas along the upper Zab valley,<ref>Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Urartian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.105. "Neither its geographical origin can be conclusively determined, nor the area where Urartian was spoken by a majority of the population. It was probably dominant in the mountainous areas along the upper Zab Valley and around Lake Van."</ref> others believe it was spoken by a relatively small population who comprised a ruling class.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zimansky |first=Paul |date=1995 |title=Urartian Material Culture As State Assemblage: An Anomaly in the Archaeology of Empire |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1357348 |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=299/300 |issue=299/300 |pages=103–115 |doi=10.2307/1357348 |jstor=1357348 |s2cid=164079327 |issn=0003-097X |quote=Although virtually all the cuneiform records that survive from Urartu are in one sense or another royal, they provide clues to the existence of linguistic diversity in the empire. There is no basis for the a priori assumption that a large number of people ever spoke Urartian. Urartian words are not borrowed in any numbers by neighboring peoples, and the language disappears from the written record along with the government}}</ref>

First attested in the 9th century BCE, Urartian ceased to be written after the fall of the Urartian state in 585 BCE and presumably became extinct due to the fall of Urartu.<ref>Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Urartian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.106: "We do not know when the language became extinct, but it is likely that the collapse of what had survived of the empire until the end of the seventh or the beginning of the sixth century BCE caused the language to disappear."</ref> It must have had long contact with, and been gradually totally replaced by, an early form of [[Social:Proto-Armenian language|Armenian]],<ref>Petrosyan, Armen. ''The Armenian Elements in the Language and Onomastics of Urartu''. Aramazd: Armenian Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 2010. (https://www.academia.edu/2939663/The_Armenian_Elements_in_the_Language_and_Onomastics_of_Urartu)</ref><ref name=EncyclopediaIE>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaindo00mall|url-access=limited|date=1997|publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn|others=Mallory, J. P., Adams, Douglas Q.|isbn=978-1884964985|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaindo00mall/page/n65 30]|oclc=37931209|quote=Armenian presence in their historical seats should then be sought at some time before c 600 BC; ... Armenian phonology, for instance, appears to have been greatly affected by Urartian, which may suggest a long period of bilingualism.}}</ref><ref>Igor M. Diakonoff. The Pre-history of the Armenian People. 1968. (http://www.attalus.org/armenian/diakph11.htm)</ref> although it is only in the 5th century CE that the first written examples of Armenian appear.<ref>Clackson, James P. T. 2008. Classical Armenian. In: The languages of Asia Minor (ed. R. D. Woodard). P.125. "The extralinguistic facts relevant to the prehistory of the Armenian people are also obscure. Speakers of Armenian appear to have replaced an earlier population of Urartian speakers (see Ch. 10) in the mountainous region of Eastern Anatolia. The name Armenia first occurs in the Old Persian inscriptions at Bīsotūn dated to c. 520 BCE (but note that the Armenians use the ethnonym hay [plural hayk‘] to refer to themselves). We have no record of the Armenian language before the fifth century CE. The Old Persian, Greek, and Roman sources do mention a number of prominent Armenians by name, but unfortunately the majority of these names are Iranian in origin, for example, Dādrši- (in Darius’ Bīsotūn inscription), Tigranes, and Tiridates. Other names are either Urartian (Haldita- in the Bīsotūn inscription) or obscure and unknown in literate times in Armenia (Araxa- in the Bīsotūn inscription)."</ref>

==Classification==
{{main|Social:Hurro-Urartian languages}}

Urartian is an ergative, [[Social:Agglutinative language|agglutinative language]], which belongs to the [[Social:Hurro-Urartian languages|Hurro-Urartian family]], whose only other known member is Hurrian.<ref>The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East - Page 292 by Eric M. Meyers, American Schools of Oriental Research</ref> It survives in many [[Social:Cuneiform|cuneiform]] inscriptions found in the territory of the Kingdom of Urartu. There have been claims<ref>Jeffrey J. Klein, Urartian Hieroglyphic Inscriptions from Altintepe, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 24,   (1974), 77-94</ref> of a separate autochthonous script of "Urartian hieroglyphs" but they remain unsubstantiated.

Urartian is closely related to Hurrian, a somewhat better documented language attested for an earlier, non-overlapping period, approximately from 2000 BCE to 1200 BCE (written by native speakers until about 1350 BCE). The two languages must have developed quite independently from approximately 2000 BCE onwards.<ref>Wilhelm 1982: 5</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wilhelm |first=Gernot |year=2008 |chapter=Urartian |editor-last=Woodard |editor-first=Roger D. |title=The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientlanguages00wood_436 |url-access=limited |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ancientlanguages00wood_436/page/n127 105]–123 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521684965 }}</ref> Although Urartian is not a direct continuation of any of the attested dialects of Hurrian,<ref>Academic American Encyclopedia - Page 198</ref> many of its features are best explained as innovative developments with respect to Hurrian as it is known from the preceding millennium. The closeness holds especially true of the so-called Old Hurrian dialect, known above all from Hurro-Hittite bilingual texts.

The external connections of the Hurro-Urartian languages are disputed. There exist various proposals for a [[Social:Hurro-Urartian languages#classification|genetic relationship to other language families]] (e.g. [[Social:Northeast Caucasian languages|Northeast Caucasian languages]], [[Social:Indo-European languages|Indo-European languages]], or [[Social:Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian languages]]), but none of these are generally accepted.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilhelm |first=Gernot |year=2008 |chapter=Hurrian |editor-last=Woodard |editor-first=Roger D. |title=The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientlanguages00wood |url-access=limited |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ancientlanguages00wood/page/n103 81]–104 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521684965 }}</ref>

Indo-European (namely [[Social:Armenian language|Armenian]] and Anatolian, as well as Iranian and possibly [[Social:Paleo-Balkan languages|Paleo-Balkan]]) etymologies have been proposed for many Urartian personal and topographic names, such as the names of kings Arame and Argishti, regions such as [[History:Diauehi|Diauehi]] and Uelikulqi, cities such as Arzashkun, geographical features like the Arșania River, as well as some Urartian vocabulary and grammar.<ref>Ivanov, Vyacheslav V. "Comparative Notes on Hurro-Urartian, Northern Caucasian and Indo-European." ''UCLA Indo-European Studies'' '''1''' (1999): 147-264 http://www.pies.ucla.edu/IESV/1/VVI_Horse.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924093729/https://pies.ucla.edu/IESV/1/VVI_Horse.pdf |date=2018-09-24 }}</ref><ref>Petrosyan, Armen "The Armenian Elements in the Language and Onomastics of Urartu" ''Aramazd'' ''Vol V. Issue 1'' (2010): 133-140 [https://www.academia.edu/2939663/The_Armenian_Elements_in_the_Language_and_Onomastics_of_Urartu].</ref><ref name="jolr.ru">Hrach Martirosyan (2013). "The place of Armenian in the Indo-European language family: the relationship with Greek and Indo-Iranian*" Leiden University. p. 85-86. [https://www.jolr.ru/files/(128)jlr2013-10(85-138).pdf]</ref> Surviving texts of the language are written in a variant of the cuneiform script called Neo-Assyrian.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Urartian-language | title=Urartian language &#124; Britannica }}</ref>

==Decipherment==
The German scholar Friedrich Eduard Schulz, who discovered the Urartian inscriptions of the Lake Van region in 1826, made copies of several [[Social:Cuneiform|cuneiform]] inscriptions at Tushpa, but made no attempt at decipherment.<ref name=noonan/> Schulz's drawings, published posthumously only in 1840 in the ''Journal Asiatique'',<ref>Schulz, Fr. Ed., "Mémoire sur le lac du Van et ses environs, ''Journal Asiatique'' ser. 3 vol. 9 (1840): 257-323 + 8 plates.</ref> were crucial in forwarding the decipherment of Mesopotamian cuneiform by Edward Hincks.<ref>Hincks, Edward. "On the Inscriptions at Van." ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'' 9 (1847): 387-449.</ref>

After the decipherment of Assyrian cuneiform in the 1850s, Schulz's drawings became the basis of the decipherment of the Urartian language. It soon became clear that it was unrelated to any known language, and attempts at decipherment based on known languages of the region failed.<ref name="goetze" /> The script was finally deciphered in 1882 by A. H. Sayce. The oldest of these inscriptions is from the time of Sarduri I of Urartu.<ref name="noonan">John Noonan, ''[http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/197302/van.htm Van!]'' at saudiaramcoworld.com</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).|date=May 2022}}

Decipherment only made progress after [[Social:World War I|World War I]], with the discovery of Urartian-Assyrian bilingual inscriptions at Kelišin and Topzawä.<ref name=goetze>A. Götze 1930, 1935</ref><ref>J. Friedrich 1933</ref>

In 1963, a grammar of Urartian was published by G. A. Melikishvili in [[Social:Russian language|Russian]], appearing in [[Social:German language|German]] translation in 1971. In the 1970s, the genetic relation with Hurrian was established by  I. M. Diakonoff.

== Corpus ==
[[Image:Urartian language stone, Erebuni museum 3.jpg|thumb|Urartian cuneiform [[Stele|stone inscription]] on display at the Erebuni Museum in Yerevan. The inscription reads: ''For the God Khaldi, the lord, Argishti, son of Menua, built this temple and this mighty fortress. I proclaimed it Irbuni (Erebuni) for the glory of the countries of Biai (=Urartu) and for holding the Lului (=enemy) countries in awe. By the greatness of God Khaldi, this is Argishti, son of Menua, the mighty king, the king of the countries of Biai, ruler of the city of Tushpa'']]

The oldest recorded texts originate from the reign of Sarduri I, from the late 9th century BCE.<ref>Urartu - Page 65 by Boris Borisovich Piotrovskiĭ</ref> Texts were produced until the fall of the realm of Urartu approximately 200 years later.

Approximately two hundred inscriptions written in the Urartian language, which adopted and modified the cuneiform script, have been discovered to date.<ref>The international standard Bible encyclopedia - Page 234 by Geoffrey William Bromiley</ref>

==Writing==

=== Cuneiform ===
Urartian cuneiform is a standardized simplification of Neo-Assyrian cuneiform.
Unlike in Assyrian, each sign only expresses a single sound value.
The sign  ''gi'' {{cuneiform|𒄀}} has the special function of expressing a hiatus, e.g. ''u-gi-iš-ti'' for ''Uīšdi''. A variant script with non-overlapping wedges was in use for rock inscriptions.

===Hieroglyphs===
Urartian was also rarely written in the "[[Social:Anatolian hieroglyphs|Anatolian hieroglyphs]]" used for the [[Social:Luwian language|Luwian language]]. Evidence for this is restricted to Altıntepe.

There are suggestions that besides the Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions, Urartu also had a native hieroglyphic script.
The inscription corpus is too sparse to substantiate the hypothesis. It remains unclear whether the symbols in question form a coherent writing system, or represent just a multiplicity of uncoordinated expressions of proto-writing or ad-hoc drawings.<ref>Paul Zimansky, Urartian Material Culture As State Assemblage: An Anomaly in the Archaeology of Empire. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 299/300, The Archaeology of Empire in Ancient Anatolia (Aug. - Nov., 1995), pp. 103-115</ref>
What can be identified with a certain confidence are two symbols or "hieroglyphs" found on vessels, representing certain units of measurement:  [[Image:Hieroglyph Urartian aqarqi.jpg|100x33px]] for ''aqarqi'' and [[Image:Hieroglyph Urartian tyerusi.jpg|100x33px]] for ''ṭerusi''. This is known because some vessels were labelled both in cuneiform and with these symbols.<ref>Mirjo Salvini: ''Geschichte und Kultur der Urartäer''. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1995. {{ISBN|3-534-01870-2}}</ref>

==Phonology==

Hachikian (2010)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Хачикян |first=Маргарит Левоновна |date=2010 |title=Урартский язык |journal=Языки мира: Древние реликтовые языки Передней Азии |pages=151–153}}</ref> gives the following consonants for Urartian inferred both from Urartian writing as well as loans into neighboring languages, mainly Armenian:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |Labial
! colspan="2" |Dental/
Alveolar
! rowspan="2" |Palatal
! rowspan="2" |Velar
|-
!Central
!Lateral
|-
! colspan="2" |Nasals
|{{IPAlink|m}} ‹m›
|{{IPAlink|n}} ‹n›
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="3" |Stops
!{{small|voiceless}}
|{{IPAlink|pʰ}} ‹p›
|{{IPAlink|tʰ}} ‹t›
|
|
|{{IPAlink|kʰ}} ‹k›
|-
!{{small|voiced}}
|{{IPAlink|b}} ‹b›
|{{IPAlink|d}} ‹d›
|
|
|{{IPAlink|ɡ}} ‹g›
|-
!“{{small|emphatic}}”
|{{IPAlink|pʼ}} ‹p›
|{{IPAlink|tʼ}} ‹ṭ›
|
|
|{{IPAlink|kʼ}} ‹q›
|-
! rowspan="3" |Affricates
!{{small|voiceless}}
|
|{{IPAlink|t͡sʰ}} ‹s›
|
|
|
|-
!{{small|voiced}}
|
|{{IPAlink|d͡z}} ‹z›
|
|
|
|-
!“{{small|emphatic}}”
|
|{{IPAlink|t͡sʼ}} ‹ṣ›
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |Fricatives
!{{small|voiceless}}
|({{IPAlink|f}})
|{{IPAlink|s}} ‹š›
|
|
|{{IPAlink|x}} ‹ḫ›
|-
!{{small|voiced}}
|{{IPAlink|v}} ‹b, u, ú›
|({{IPAlink|z}})
|
|
|{{IPAlink|ɣ}} ‹ḫ›
|-
! colspan="2" |Approximants
|w ‹u, ú›
|{{IPAlink|r}} ‹r₁, r₂›
|{{IPAlink|ɫ}} ‹l₁, l₂›
|j ‹i, g›
|
|}
The three-way laryngeal contrast for stops and affricates was faithfully represented in Urartian writing, except for the “emphatic” /pʼ/ which the Semitic-based cuneiform writing system did not have a distinct symbol for. Their values are confirmed by loans in Armenian. Urartian voiceless stops and affricates were loaned as voiceless aspirates in Armenian, while Urartian “emphatic” stops are found as unaspirated voiceless stops in Armenian. E.g., Urartian ''ul-ṭu'' ‘camel’ ↦ Armenian ուղտ ''ułt'', Urartian ''ṣu-(ú-)pa-'' ‘Sophene (toponym)’ ↦ Armenian Ծոփ- ''Copʰ-''. Contrasting the last example with Urartian ''ṭu-uš-pa-'' ‘Tushpa (toponym)’ ↦ Armenian Տոսպ ''Tosp'', Hachikian (2010) reconstructs an “emphasis” distinction in the bilabial position.

The cuneiform signs usually transliterated with ‹s, z, ṣ› were not fricatives, but affricates, as again shown by loans in Armenian.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Greppin |first=John A. C. |date=2011 |title=Urartian Sibilants in Armenian |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41553580.pdf |journal=Historische Sprachforschung |volume=124 |pages=292–296 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> E.g., Urartian ''ṣa-ri'' ‘orchard’ ↦ Armenian ծառ ''caṙ'' ‘tree’, Urartian ''al-zi-'' ‘Arzanene (toponym)’ ↦ Armenian Աղձնի- ''Ałʒni-''. Urartian ‹š› was, however, loaned into Armenian as /s/: Urartian ''ša-ni'' ‘kettle’ ↦ Armenian սան ''san'' (ultimately from Sumerian via Akkadian).

The precise phonetics of “emphasis” is not recoverable. It possibly may have been ejectivization or glottalization /pʼ, tʼ, t͡sʼ, kʼ/ as in Semitic languages of the time and the nearby endemic languages of the Caucasus, or just plain unaspirated (and unvoiced) /p⁼, t⁼, t͡s⁼, k⁼/ as in Armenian, in either case, contrasting fully with the respective aspirated /pʰ, tʰ, t͡sʰ, kʰ/ and voiced /b, d, d͡z, g/ series. Near front vowels, /g/ was palatalized and probably merged with, or at least became perceptibly close to, /j/. A distinct /v/ is suggested by variant spellings alternating between ‹ú› and ‹b› and by the toponym rendered in Armenian as Վան ''Van'' ‘Van’ and written ''bi-a-i-ni-'' in Urartian.

Hachikian (2010) suggests /f/ and /z/ for symmetry, though there is little-to-no direct evidence for those either in Urartian writing or in loans in neighboring languages. For a phonemic /ɣ/ distinct from /x/, there is limited evidence from the Greek rendering of the toponym Κομμαγηνή ''Kommagēnḗ'' ‘Commagene’ for Urartian ''qu-ma-ḫa-''; thus, /x/ and /ɣ/ were not orthograpically distinguished.

The script distinguishes the vowels ''a'', ''e'', ''i'' and ''u''. It is unclear whether there was an /o/ as well. There may have been phonemic vowel length, but it is not consistently expressed in the script. Word-finally, the distinction between ''e'' and ''i'' is not maintained, so many scholars transcribe the graphically vacillating vowel as a schwa: ''ə'', while some preserve a non-reduced vowel (usually opting for ''i''). The full form of the vowel appears when suffixes are added to the word and the vowel is no longer in the last syllable: ''Argištə'' "Argišti" - ''Argištešə'' "by Argišti (ergative case)". This vowel reduction also suggests that stress was commonly on the next-to-the-last syllable.

In the morphonology, various morpheme combinations trigger syncope: *''ar-it-u-mə'' → ''artumə'', *''zaditumə'' → ''zatumə'', *''ebani-ne-lə'' → ''ebanelə'', *''turul(e)yə'' →'' tul(e)yə''.

==Morphology==

===Nominal morphology===

==== Nouns ====
The morphemes which may occur in a noun follow a strict order: 
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!slot
!stem
!article 
!possessive suffix
!number and case suffix
!suffixes received through Suffixaufnahme
|-
!attested morphemes
|various
|''-ne-<br />-na-''
|''-uka-<br />-i(ya)-''
|''-Ø-, -lə-, -š(ə)-, etc. (see below)''
|= article + number and case suffixes
|}

===== Stem =====
All nouns appear to end in a so-called thematic vowel - most frequently ''-i'' or ''-e'', but ''-a'' and ''-u'' also occur. They may also end in a derivational suffix. Notable derivational suffixes are ''-ḫə'', forming adjectives of belonging (e.g. ''Abiliane-ḫə'' "of the tribe Abiliani", ''Argište-ḫə'' "son of Argišti") and ''-šə'', forming abstract nouns (e.g. ''alsui-šə'' "greatness", ''ardi-šə'' "order", ''arniu-šə'' "deed").

===== Article =====
The forms of the so-called "article" are ''-nə'' (non-reduced form ''-ne-'') for the singular, ''-ne-lə'' for the plural in the absolutive case and ''-na-'' for the other forms of the plural. They are referred to as "anaphoric suffixes" and can be compared to definite articles, although their use does not always seem to match that description exactly. They also obligatorily precede agreement suffixes added through Suffixaufnahme: e.g. ''Argište-šə Menua-ḫi-ne-šə'' "Argišti (ergative), son of Menua (ergative)". The plural form can also serve as a general plural marker in non-absolutive cases: ''arniuši-na-nə'' "by the deeds".<ref>Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Hurrian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.112</ref>

===== Possessive suffixes =====
The well-attested possessive suffixes are the ones of the first person singular ''-ukə'' (in non-reduced form sometimes ''-uka-'') and of the 3rd person singular ''-i(yə)-'' (in non-reduced form sometimes ''-iya-''): e.g.  ''ebani-uka-nə'' "from my country", ''ebani-yə'' "his country".

===== Number and case suffixes =====
The plural is expressed, above all, through the use of the plural "article" (''-ne-lə'' in the absolutive case, ''-na-'' preceding the case suffix in the oblique cases), but some of the case suffixes also differ in form between the singular and the plural. Therefore, separate plural version of the case suffixes are indicated below separately. The nature of the absolutive and ergative cases is as in other ergative languages (more details in the section ''Syntax'' below).
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Case Endings in Urartian
!
!Singular
!Plural
|-
!Absolutive
|''-Ø''
|''-lə''
|-
!Ergative
| colspan="2" |''-š(ə)''
|-
!Genitive
|''-i''
|''-wə''
|-
!Dative
|''-ə''
|''-wə''
|-
!Directive
| colspan="2" |''-edə'' (archaic plural ''-š-tə)''
|-
!Comitative 
| colspan="2" |''-ranə''
|-
!Ablative-instrumental
| colspan="2" |''-nə''
|-
!Ablative
|''-danə''
|''-š-tanə''
|-
!Locative
| colspan="2" |''-a''
|}
Since the "complete" plural forms also include the plural definite article, they appear as ''-ne-lə'', ''-na-šə'', ''-na-wə'', ''na-(e)də'' or ''na-š-tə'', etc.

===== Suffixaufnahme =====
A phenomenon typical of Urartian is Suffixaufnahme - a process in which dependent modifiers of a noun (including genitive case modifiers) agree with the head noun by absorbing its case suffixes. The copied suffixes must be preceded by the article (also agreeing in number with the head). Examples: ''Ḫaldi-i-na-wə šešti-na-wə'' "for the gates (dative) of [god] Ḫaldi (dative)", ''Argište-šə Menua-ḫi-ne-šə'' "Argišti (ergative), son of Menua (ergative)".

==== Pronouns ====
The known personal pronouns are those of the first and third person singular.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!absolutive intransitive
!absolutive transitive
!ergative
!other
!enclitic
possessive
!enclitic dative
|-
!1st p. sing.
|''ištidə''
|''šukə''
|''iešə''
|''šu-''
|''-uka-''
|''-mə''
|-
!3rd pers. sing.
|''manə''
|''manə''
|
|
|''-iya-''
|
|}
<br>
The first person singular has two different forms for the absolutive case: ''ištidə'' as the absolutive subject of an intransitive verb, and ''šukə'' as the absolutive object of a transitive verb. The ergative form is ''iešə''. Judging from correspondences with Hurrian, ''šu-'' should be the base for the "regular" case forms. An enclitic dative case suffix for the first person singular is attested as ''-mə''.<br>
The third person singular has the absolutive form ''manə''.<br>
As for possessive pronouns, besides the possessive suffixes (1st singular ''-uka-'' and 3rd singular ''-iya-'') that were adduced above, Urartian also makes use of possessive adjectives formed with the suffix ''-(u)sə'': 1st singular ''šusə'', 3rd singular ''masə''.

The encoding of pronominal ergative and absolutive participants in a verb action within the verb is treated in the section on ''Verbal morphology'' below.

Demonstrative pronouns are ''i-nə'' (plural base ''i-'', followed by article and case forms) and ''ina-nə'' (plural base ''ina-'', followed by article and case forms). A relative pronoun is ''alə''.

===Verbal morphology===

The paradigm of the verb is only partially known. As with the noun, the morphemes that a verb may contain come in a certain sequence that can be formalized as the following "verb chain": 
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!slot
!root
!root complement
!ergative third person plural suffix
!valency markers
!modal suffix
!other person suffixes (mostly absolutive)
|-
!attested
morphemes
|various
|various
|''-it-''
|''(-ul)-a-,''<br /> 
''(-ul)-i-,''<br /> 
''-u-''
|''-l-,''<br /> 
''-in-''
|''-də, -bə, -(a)-lə, -nə, -ə''
|}
The meaning of the root complements is unclear. The valency markers express whether the verb is intransitive or transitive. The modal suffix appears in several marked moods (but not in the indicative). The other person suffixes express mostly the absolutive subject or object. It is not clear if and how tense or aspect were signalled.

==== Valency markers ====
The valency markers are ''-a-'' (rarely ''-i-'') for intransitivity and ''-u-'' for transitivity: for example ''nun-a-də'' "I came" vs ''šidišt-u-nə'' "he built". A verb that is usually transitive can be converted to intransitivity with the suffix ''-ul-'' before the intransitive valency marker: ''aš-ul-a-bə'' "was occupied" (vs ''aš-u-bə'' "I put in [a garrison]").<ref>Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Hurrian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.115</ref>

==== Person suffixes ====
The person suffixes express the persons of the absolutive subject/object and the ergative subject.  When both subject and object are present, a single transitive suffix may expresses a unique combination of persons (e.g. the combination of ergative 3rd singular and absolutive 3rd singular is marked with the suffix ''-nə''). The following chart lists the currently ascertained endings, along with gaps for those not yet ascertained (the ellipsis marks the place of the valency vowel):
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! colspan="3" rowspan="4" |
! rowspan="4" |Intransitive
! colspan="6" |Transitive
|-
! colspan="6" |Ergative
|-
! colspan="2" |1st person
! colspan="2" |2nd person
! colspan="2" |3rd person
|-
!Singular
!Plural
!Singular
!Plural
!Singular
!Plural
|-
! rowspan="6" |Absolutive
! rowspan="2" |1st person
!Singular
|''-də''
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
!Plural
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |2nd person
!Singular
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
!Plural
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |3rd person
!Singular
|''-bə''
|''-bə''
|
|
|
|''-nə'' 
|''-it-...-nə'' 
|-
!Plural
|''-lə''
|''-bə,'' ''-lə''
|
|
|
|''-a-lə''
|''-it-...-lə''
|}
Examples: ''ušt-a-də'' "I marched forth"; ''nun-a-bə'' "he came"; ''aš-u-bə'' "I put-it in"; ''šidišt-u-nə'' "he built-it"; ''ar-u-mə'' "he gave [it] to me", ''kuy-it-u-nə'' "they dedicated-it".

As the paradigm shows, the person suffixes added after the valency vowel express mostly the person of ''absolutive'' subject/object, both in intransitive and in transitive verbs. However, the picture is complicated by the fact that the absolutive third person singular is expressed by a different suffix depending on whether the ergative subject is in the first or third person. An additional detail is that when the first-person singular dative suffix ''-mə'' is added, the third-person singular absolutive suffix ''-nə'' is dropped. The encoding of the person of the absolutive subject/object is present, even though it is also explicitly mentioned in the sentence: e.g. ''argište-šə inə arə šu-nə'' "Argišti established(-it) this granary". An exceptional verb is ''man-'' "to be", in that it has a transitive valency vowel, and takes no absolutive suffix for the third person singular: ''man-u'' "it was" vs ''man-u-lə'' "they were".

==== Mood marking ====
The imperative is formed by the addition of the suffix ''-ə'' to the root: e.g. ''ar-ə'' "give!".

The jussive or third person imperative is formed by the addition of the suffix ''-in-'' in the slot of the valency vowel, whereas the persons are marked in the usual way, following an epenthetic vowel ''-[i]-'':e.g. ''ar-in-[i]-nə'' "may he give it", ''ḫa-it-in-nə'' "may they take it".

The modal suffix ''-l-'', added between the valency vowel and the person suffixes, participates in the construction of several modal forms:

1. An optative form, also regularly used in clauses introduced with ''ašə'' "when", is constructed by ''-l-'' followed by ''-ə'' (''-i'' in non-reduced form) - the following absolutive person suffix is optional, and the ergative subject is apparently not signalled at all: e.g. ''qapqar-u-l-i-nə'' "I wanted to besiege-it [the city]", ''urp-u-l-i-nə'' or ''urp-u-l-ə'' "he shall slaughter".

2. A [[Conditional mood|conditional]] is expressed by a graphically similar form, which is, however, interpreted by Wilhelm (2008) as ''-l-'' followed by ''-(e)yə'':<ref>Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Hurrian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.118</ref> an example of its use is ''alu-šə tu-l-(e)yə'' "whoever destroys it".

3. Finally, a desiderative, which may express the wish of either the speaker or the agent, is expressed by ''-l-'' followed by a suffix ''-anə''; in addition, the valency marker is replaced by ''-i-'': e.g. ''ard-i-l-anə'' "I want him to give …", ''ḫa-i-l-anə'' "it wants to take/conquer …".

Negation is expressed by the particle ''ui'', preceding the verb. A prohibitative particle, also preceding the verb, is ''mi''. ''mi'' is also the conjunction "but", whereas ''e'ə'' is "and (also)", and ''unə'' is "or".

==== Non-finite forms ====
Participles from intransitive verbs are formed with the suffix ''-urə'', added to the root, and have an active meaning (e.g. ''ušt-u-rə'' "who has marched forth"). Participles from transitive verbs are formed with the suffix ''-aurə'', and have a passive meaning (e.g. ''šidaurə'' "which is built"). It is possible that ''-umə'' is the ending of an infinitive or a verb noun, although that is not entirely clear.

==Syntax==

Urartian is an ergative language, meaning that the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb are expressed identically, with the so-called absolutive case, whereas  the subject of a transitive verb is expressed with a special ergative case. Examples are: ''Argištə nun-a-bi'' "Argišti came" vs ''Argište-šə arə šu-nə'' "Argišti established a granary". Within the limited number of known forms, no exceptions from the ergative pattern are known.

The word order is usually verb-final, and, more specifically, [[Social:Subject–object–verb|SOV]] (where S refers to the ergative agent), but the rule is not rigid and components are occasionally re-arranged for expressive purposes. For example, names of gods are often placed first, even though they are in oblique cases: ''Ḫaldi-ə ewri-ə inə E<sub>2</sub> Argište-šə Menuaḫini-šə šidišt-u-nə'' "For Ḫaldi the lord Argišti, son of Menua, built this temple." Verbs can be placed sentence-initially in vivid narratives: ''ušt-a-də Mana-idə ebanə at-u-bə'' "Forth I marched towards Mana, and I consumed the land."<ref>Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Hurrian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.120</ref> Nominal modifiers usually follow their heads (''erelə tarayə'' "great king"), but deictic pronouns such as ''inə'' precede them, and genitives may either precede or follow them. Urartian generally uses postpositions (e.g. ''ed(i)-i-nə'' "for", ''ed(i)-i-a'' - both originally case forms of ''edi'' "person, body" - ''pei'' "under", etc..) which govern certain cases (often ablative-instrumental). There is only one attested preposition, ''parə'' "to(wards)". Subordinate clauses are introduced by particles such as ''iu'' "when", ''ašə'' "when", ''alə'' "that which".

==Language sample==
The sample below is from inscription 372 by Menua, son of Ishpuini, based on G. A. Melikishvili's corpus of Urartian Cuneiform Inscriptions.<ref>Вестник древней истории, № 3, 1977 г. [http://annals.xlegio.ru/urartu/ukn/372.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722011448/http://annals.xlegio.ru/urartu/ukn/372.htm|date=2011-07-22}}.</ref>

For each sentence, the transliteration is given first, the morphological transcription second, the translation third.

{{interlinear|glossing2=no|number=1.
|<sup>d</sup>ḫal-di-ni-ni uš-ma-ši-ni <sup>DIŠ</sup>me-nu-a-še <sup>DIŠ</sup>iš-pu-u-i-ni-ḫi-ni-še <sup>d</sup>ḫal-di-ni-li KÁ (3) ši-di-íš-tú-a-li
|Ḫaldi{{=}}ni{{=}}nə ušma{{=}}ši{{=}}nə Menua{{=}}šə Išpuini{{=}}ḫi{{=}}ni{{=}}šə Ḫaldi{{=}}ni{{=}}lə KÁ {} šidišt{{=}}u{{=}}alə.
|"Through Haldi's might, Menua, son of Ishpuini, built Haldi's gates."}}

{{interlinear|glossing2=no|number=2.
|<sup>URU</sup>a-lu-di-ri-i-e (4) É.GAL ši-di-iš-tú-ni ba-du-si-e
|Aludiri{{=}}ə {} É.GAL šidišt{{=}}u{{=}}nə badusi{{=}}y{{=}}ə.
|"For (the city of) Aludiri he built a fortress to its perfection (?)."<ref>According to the interpretation in Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Hurrian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.120</ref>}}

{{interlinear|glossing2=no|number=3.
|<sup>d</sup>ḫal-di-ni-ni uš-ma-ši-ni <sup>d</sup>ḫal-di-ni-ni ba-a-u-ši-ni <sup>DIŠ</sup>me-nu-a-ni <sup>DIŠ</sup>iš-pu-ú-i-ni-e-ḫé i-ú <sup>LÚ</sup>a-te-i-ni e-si na-ḫa-a-be <sup>KUR</sup>ša-ti-ru-ú-ni du-ur-ba-i-e ma-nu
|Ḫaldi{{=}}ni{{=}}nə ušma{{=}}ši{{=}}nə Ḫaldi{{=}}ni{{=}}nə bau{{=}}ši{{=}}nə Menua{{=}}nə Išpuini{{=}}ḫə iu ate{{=}}y{{=}}n(ə){{=}}ə esi{{=}}ə naḫ{{=}}a{{=}}bə, Šatiru{{=}}nə durbayə man{{=}}u.
|"When, through Haldi's might and Haldi's command, Menua, son of Ishpuini, ascended to his father's place (i.e. throne), (the land of) Šatiru was rebellious."}}

{{interlinear|glossing2=no|number=4.
|ḫal-di-ni uš-ta-a-be ma-si-ni šu-ri-e ka-ru-ni <sup>URU</sup>ḫu-ra-di-na-ku-ú-ni ka-ru-ni <sup>URU</sup>gi-di-ma-ru-ú-ni ka-ru-ni <sup>KUR</sup>ša-ti-ru-ú-i <sup>KUR</sup>e-ba-a-ni <sup>d</sup>ḫal-di-ni ku-ru-ni <sup>d</sup>ḫal-di-ni-e šu-ri-i ku-ru-ni
|Ḫaldi{{=}}nə ušt{{=}}a{{=}}bə masi{{=}}nə šuri{{=}}ə, kar{{=}}u{{=}}nə Ḫuradinaku{{=}}nə, kar{{=}}u{{=}}nə Gidimaru{{=}}nə, kar{{=}}u{{=}}nə Šatiru{{=}}yə ebanə. Ḫaldi{{=}}nə kurunə, Ḫaldi-ni-yə šuri kurunə.
|"Haldi marched forth with his weapon(?), conquered Huradinaku, conquered Gidimaru, conquered the land of Shatiru. Haldi is powerful, Haldi's weapon(?) is powerful."}}

…

{{interlinear|glossing2=no|number=5.
|ḫa-ú-ni <sup>URU</sup>ḫu-ra-di-na-ku-ú-ni <sup>URU</sup>gi-di-ma-ru-ú-ni ḫa-ú-ni <sup>KUR</sup>ša-ti-ru-ú-i <sup>KUR</sup>e-ba-a-ni-i <sup>URU</sup>tar-zu-ʼa-a-na-a-na-ni
|Ḫa{{=}}u{{=}}nə Ḫuradinaku{{=}}nə, Gidimaru{{=}}nə, ḫa{{=}}u{{=}}nə Šatiru{{=}}yə eban{{=}}i{{=}}yə Tarzuana-nə.
|"He (Menua) captured (the cities) Huardinaku, Gidimaru, Tarzuana of the land of Shatiru."}}

{{interlinear|glossing2=no|number=6.
|ku-ṭu-ni pa-ri <sup>KUR</sup>bu-uš-tú-ú-e pa-ri <sup>KUR</sup>ma-al-ma-li-i-e
|Kuṭ{{=}}u{{=}}nə parə Buštu{{=}}ə, parə Malmali{{=}}ə.
|"He reached as far as (the city of) Buštu, as far as (the city of) Malmali."}}

{{interlinear|glossing2=no|number=7.
|<sup>URU</sup>ḫu-ra-di-na-ku-ú-ni ... a-ru-ni-e <sup>d</sup>ḫal-di-še <sup>DIŠ</sup>me-i-nu-ú-a <sup>DIŠ</sup>iš-pu-u-i-ni-e-ḫi-ni-e
|Ḫuradinaku{{=}}nə … ar{{=}}u{{=}}nə Ḫaldi{{=}}šə Menua{{=}}ə Išpuini{{=}}ḫi{{=}}ni{{=}}ə.
|Haldi gave (the city of) Huradinaku to Menua, son of Ishpuini."}}

==Shared lexicon with Armenian==

Diakonoff (1985)<ref>{{cite journal |last=Diakonoff |first=I. M. |title=Hurro-Urartian Borrowings in Old Armenian |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=105 |issue=4 |date=1985 |pages=597–603 |doi=10.2307/602722 |jstor=602722}}. Accessed 19 Feb. 2023.</ref> and Greppin (1991)<ref>{{cite journal |first1=John A. C. |last1=Greppin |first2=I. M. |last2=Diakonoff |title=Some Effects of the Hurro-Urartian People and Their Languages upon the Earliest Armenians |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=111 |issue=4 |date=1991 |pages=720–30 |doi=10.2307/603403}} Accessed 19 Feb. 2023.</ref> present etymologies of several Old Armenian words as having a possible Hurro-Urartian origin. Contemporary linguists, such as Hrach Martirosyan, have rejected many of the Hurro-Urartian origins for these words and instead suggest native Armenian etymologies, leaving the possibility that these words may have been loaned into Hurro-Urartian from Armenian, and not vice versa.<ref name="Hrach K. Martirosyan 2009">Hrach K. Martirosyan. ''Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon.'' Brill. 2009.</ref>

*''agarak'' "field" from Hurrian ''awari'' "field" (however, alternate theories suggest that this is an Armenian word from Proto-Indo-European ''h₂éǵros'' or a [[Social:Sumerian language|Sumerian]] loan);
*''ałaxin'' "slave girl" from Hurrian ''al(l)a(e)ḫḫenne'';
*''arciw'' "eagle" from Urartian ''Arṣiba'', a proper name with a presumed meaning of "eagle" (more recent scholarship suggests that this is an Armenian word from Proto-Indo-European ''*h₂r̥ǵipyós'' which was loaned into Urartian<ref>Calvert Watkins. ''How to Kill A Dragon in Indo-European''. Oxford University Press. 1995.</ref>);
*''art'' "field" from Hurrian ''arde'' "town" (rejected by Diakonoff and Fournet);
*''astem'' "to reveal one's ancestry" from Hurrian ''ašti'' "woman, wife";
*''caṙ'' "tree" from Urartian ''ṣârə'' "garden" (an alternate etymology suggests that this is an Armenian word from  Proto-Indo-European ''*ǵr̥so'');
*''cov'' (cf. Armenian ''Covinar'') "sea" from Urartian ''ṣûǝ'' "(inland) sea"<ref>Russell, James R. ''Armenian and Iranian Studies''. Belmont, MA: Armenian Heritage Press, 2004. p. 1122.</ref> (an alternate theory suggests that this comes from a Proto-Indo-European root);
*''kut'' "grain" from Hurrian ''kade'' "barley" (rejected by Diakonoff; closer to Greek ''kodomeýs'' "barley-roaster");
*''maxr'' ~ ''marx'' "pine" from Hurrian ''māḫri'' "fir, juniper";
*''pełem'' "dig, excavate" from Urartian ''pile'' "canal", Hurrian ''pilli'' (rejected by Diakonoff, others have suggested an origin stemming from Proto-Indo-European *bel- (“to dig, cut off?”);
*''salor'' ~ ''šlor'' "plum" from Hurrian *''s̄all-orə'' or Urartian *''šaluri'' (cf. [[Social:Akkadian language|Akkadian]] ''šallūru'' "plum");
*''san'' "kettle" from Urartian ''sane'' "kettle, pot";
*''sur'' "sword", from Urartian ''šure'' "sword", Hurrian ''šawri'' "weapon, spear" (considered doubtful by Diakonoff, contemporary linguists believe this is an Armenian word from the Proto-Indo-European root ''*ḱeh₃ro-'', meaning "sharp");
*''tarma-ǰur'' "spring water" from Hurrian ''tarman(l)i'' "spring" (an alternate etymology suggests that at least ǰur has an Armenian etymology from Proto-Indo-European *yuHr- or gʷʰdyōro-);
*''ułt'' "camel" from Hurrian ''uḷtu'' "camel";
*''xarxarel'' "to destroy" from Urartian ''harhar-š-'' "to destroy";
*''xnjor'' "apple" from Hurrian ''ḫinzuri'' "apple" (itself from Akkadian ''hašhūru'', ''šahšūru'').
Arnaud Fournet, Hrach Martirosyan, and Armen Petrosyan propose additional borrowed words of Armenian origin loaned into Urartian and vice versa, including grammatical words and parts of speech, such as Urartian "eue" ("and"), attested in the earliest Urartian texts and likely a loan from Armenian (compare to Armenian "yev" (և, եվ), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ''*h₁epi''). Other loans from Armenian into Urartian includes personal names, toponyms, and names of deities.<ref>Archiv Orientální. 2013. [https://www.academia.edu/5551322/Arch%C3%ADv_Orientalni._2013._About_the_vocalic_system_of_Armenian_words_of_substratic_origin._81.2_207_22_ About the vocalic system of Armenian words of substratic origin.] (81.2:207–22) by Arnaud Fournet</ref><ref name="Hrach K. Martirosyan 2009"/><ref>Hrach Martirosyan. "Origins and historical development of the Armenian language." 2014. pp. 7-8. [https://ling.hse.ru/data/2014/09/01/1313574129/Hrach%20Martirosyan%20-%20Handout.pdf]</ref><ref name="jolr.ru"/><ref>Armen Petrosyan. "Towards the Origins of the Armenian People. The Problem of Identification of the Proto-Armenians: A Critical Review." Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies. 2007. pp. 33-34. [https://www.academia.edu/3657764/Towards_the_Origins_of_the_Armenian_People_The_Problem_of_Identification_of_the_Proto_Armenians_A_Critical_Review_in_English_]</ref><ref>Yervand Grekyan. "Urartian State Mythology". Yerevan Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography Press. 2018. pp. 44-45. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351107801_Biaynili-Owrartu_Astvacner_tacarner_pastamunk_BIAINILI-URARTU_GODS_TEMPLES_CULTS]</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|date=July 2023}}

== See also ==
*[[Place:Urartu|Urartu]]
*Hurrians
*Hurrian language
*Proto-Armenian

== References==
{{Reflist}}

== Literature ==
* {{cite book|author-first=Маргарит Левоновна |author-last=Хачикян |script-chapter=ru:Урартский язык |script-title=ru:Языки мира: Древние реликтовые языки Передней Азии |editor-first1=Николай Н. |editor-last1=Казанский |editor-first2=А. А. |editor-last2=Кибрик |editor-first3=Ю. Б. |editor-last3=Коряков |publisher=Academia |year=2010 |language=ru |location=Moskow |trans-chapter=The Urartian Language |trans-title=Languages of the World: Ancient Dead Languages of Western Asia}}
* {{cite book |author-first=C. B. F. |author-last=Walker |title=Reading the Past |chapter=Cuneiform |publisher=British Museum Press |year=1996 |location=London |isbn=0-7141-8077-7}}
* {{cite book |author-first=Johannes |author-last=Friedrich |chapter=Urartäisch |title=Altkleinasiatische Sprachen  |series=Handbuch der Orientalistik |volume=I.2, 1/2,1 |pages=31–53 |place=Leiden/New York/Cologne |publisher=Brill |year=1969 |language=de |trans-chapter=Urartian |trans-title=The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor}}
* {{cite book |author-first=Gernot |author-last=Wilhelm |chapter=Urartian |editor-first=Roger D. |editor-last=Woodard |title=The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-521-68496-5 |pages=105–123}}
* {{cite book |author-first=Vyacheslav V. |author-last=Ivanov |url=https://pies.ucla.edu/publications/ucla-ies-v1/ |chapter=Comparative Notes on Hurro-Urartian, Northern Caucasian and Indo-European" |title=UCLA Indo European Studies |volume=1 |year=1996 |editor-first1=Vyacheslav V. |editor-last1=Ivanov |editor-first2=Brent |editor-last2=Vine}}
* {{cite book|first=Mirjo |last=Salvini |title=Geschichte und Kultur der Urartäer |publisher=Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft |location=Darmstadt |year=1995 |language=de |trans-title=History and Culture of the Urartians |isbn=9783534018703}}
* {{cite journal |author-first=Jeffrey J. |author-last=Klein |title=Urartian Hieroglyphic Inscriptions from Altintepe |journal=Anatolian Studies |volume=24 |year=1974 |pages=77–94}}

==External links==
* [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ecut.htm Electronic Corpus of Urartian texts with English translations and general informations on Urartu and the Urartian written sources created by B. Christiansen on the basis of M. Salvini's Corpus dei testi urartei I–V]
* [http://annales.info/i_urart.htm Russian-language scholarly publications on Urartu and the Urartian language; includes texts in Urartian]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070812075829/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803/c-HURRIAN-URARTIAN-9_Urartian-Glossary.htm A Urartian glossary (based on Die Urartäische Sprache:  (1971) by G.A. Melikishvili]

{{Ancient Mesopotamia}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Urartian Language}}
[[Category:Languages attested from the 9th century BC]]

{{Sourceattribution|Urartian language}}