Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni
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The ancient Middle Eastern state of Mitanni (modern-day Northeast Syria, Southeastern Turkey, 2nd millennium BCE) used a dialect of Hurrian as its main language. This dialect however contains some loanwords of evidently Indo-Aryan origin, i.e. related to Sanskrit, the ancestor of many modern languages of the Indian subcontinent. The loaned vocabulary seems to be related to an elite group in Mitanni society, as they appear in the names of rulers and gods as well as in relation to horse-breeding and the military (thus forming a so-called superstrate).
It is thus generally believed that Indo-Aryan peoples settled in Upper Mesopotamia and northern Syria, and established the kingdom of Mitanni following a period of political vacuum, while also adopting Hurrian. This is considered a part of the Indo-Aryan migrations.
Linguistic context
Some theonyms, proper names, and other terminology of the Late Bronze Age Mitanni civilisation of Upper Mesopotamia exhibit an Indo-Aryan superstrate. While what few written records left by the Mittani are either in Hurrian (which appears to have been the predominant language of their kingdom) or Akkadian (the main diplomatic language of the Late Bronze Age Near East), these apparently Indo-Aryan names suggest that an Indo-Aryan elite imposed itself over the Hurrians in the course of the Indo-Aryan expansion. If these traces are Indo-Aryan, they would be the earliest known direct evidence of Indo-Aryan, and would increase the precision in dating the split between the Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages (as the texts in which the apparent Indicisms occur can be dated with some accuracy).
Scholarship has reached a consensus that the linguistic data is most certainly affiliated to the Indo-Iranian language family, more specifically to Indo-Aryan. Professor Eva von Dassow concurs with the presence of Indo-Aryan terms in Mitanni vocabulary, but cautiously advises against the notion of an "Indo-Aryan takeover". Michael Witzel argues for the antiquity of the Indo-Aryan words attested in the Mitanni data, since they almost certainly predate linguistic developments attested in the Rigveda. In the same vein, German linguist Martin Joachim Kümmel[de] divides the Indo-Aryan elements into WIA (Western Indo-Aryan) and (E)IA ((Eastern) Indo-Aryan), the latter "being slightly less archaic than WIA".
Historical context
In a treaty between the Hittites and Mitanni (between Suppiluliuma I and Shattiwaza, c. 1380 BC), the deities Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Nasatya (Ashvins) are invoked. Kikkuli's horse training text (circa 1400 BC) includes technical terms such as aika (Vedic Sanskrit eka, one), tera (tri, three), panza (pañca, five), satta (sapta, seven), na (nava, nine), vartana (vartana, round). The numeral aika "one" is of particular importance because it places the superstrate in the vicinity of Indo-Aryan proper (Vedic Sanskrit eka, with regular contraction of /ai/ to [eː]) as opposed to Indo-Iranian or early Iranian (which has *aiva; compare Vedic eva "only") in general.
The Mitanni warriors were called marya (Hurrian: maria-nnu), the term for '(young) warrior' in Sanskrit as well, formed by adding the Hurrian suffix -nnu; note 'mišta-nnu' (= miẓḍha,~ Sanskrit mīḍha) "payment (for catching a fugitive)".
Attested words and comparisons
All of the following examples are from Witzel (2001). For the pronunciation of the sounds transcribed from cuneiform as š and z, see Akkadian language § Consonants and Proto-Semitic language § Fricatives.
Names of people
| Transcription of cuneiform | Interpretation | Vedic equivalent | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| bi-ir-ya-ma-aš-da | Priyamazdha | Priyamedha | "whose wisdom is dear"; /azd(ʰ)/ to [eːd(ʰ)] is a regular development in Vedic and its descendants (Indo-Aryan in the narrow sense) |
| bi-ir-ya-aš-šu-wa, bi-ir-da-aš-šu-wa | Priyāśva ~ Prītāśva | Prītāśva | "whose horse is dear" |
| ar-ta-aš-šu-ma-ra | Artasmara | Ṛtasmara | "who thinks of Arta/Ṛta" |
| ar-ta-ta-a-ma | Artadhāma(n?) | Ṛtadhāman | "his abode is Ṛta" |
| tu-uš-rat-ta, tu-iš-e-rat-ta, tu-uš-e-rat-ta | Tvaiša(?)ratha | Tveṣáratha | "whose chariot is vehement" |
| in-tar-ú-da, en-dar-ú-ta | Indrauta | Indrota | "helped by Indra"; /au/ to [oː] is a regular development in Vedic; ú specifically indicates [u] as opposed to [o] |
Sanskritic interpretations of Mitanni names render Artashumara (artaššumara) as Arta-smara "who thinks of Arta/Ṛta", Biridashva (biridašṷa, biriiašṷa) as Prītāśva "whose horse is dear", Priyamazda (priiamazda) as Priyamedha "whose wisdom is dear", Citrarata as Citraratha "whose chariot is shining", Indaruda/Endaruta as Indrota "helped by Indra", Shativaza (šattiṷaza) as Sātivāja "winning the race prize", Šubandu as Subandhu "having good relatives" (a name in Palestine), Tushratta (tṷišeratta, tušratta, etc.) as *tṷaišaratha, Vedic Tveṣaratha "whose chariot is vehement".
Names of deities
From treaties of Mitanni.
| Transcription of cuneiform | Interpretation | Vedic equivalent | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| a-ru-na, ú-ru-wa-na | Varuna | Varuna | |
| mi-it-ra | Mitra | Mitra | |
| in-tar, in-da-ra | Indra | Indra | |
| na-ša-ti-ya-an-na | Nasatya(-nna) | Nasatya | Hurrian grammatical ending -nna |
| a-ak-ni-iš | Āgnis | Agni | only attested in Hittite, which retains nominative -/s/ and lengthens stressed syllables |
Horse training
From Kikkuli.
| Transcription of cuneiform | Interpretation | Vedic equivalent | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| a-aš-šu-uš-ša-an-ni | āśva-san-ni? | aśva-sana- | "master horse trainer" (Kikkuli himself) |
| -aš-šu-wa | -aśva | aśva | "horse"; in personal names |
| a-i-ka- | aika- | eka | "1" |
| ti-e-ra- | tera- ? | tri | "3" |
| pa-an-za- | pańća- ? | pañca | "5"; |
| ša-at-ta | satta | sapta | "7"; /pt/ to /tː/ is either an innovation in Mitanni or a misinterpretation by a scribe who had Hurrian šinti "7" in mind |
| na-a-[w]a- | nāva- | nava | "9" |
| wa-ar-ta-an-na | vartan(n)a | vartana | round, turn |
Other lexicon
A document from Nuzi has babru(-nnu) (babhru, brown), parita(-nnu) (palita, grey), and pinkara(-nnu) (pingala, red) for horse colours. Their chief festival was the celebration of the solstice which was common in most cultures in the ancient world.
The following table includes the remaining lexicon, considered to attest horse colours.
| Transcription of cuneiform | Interpretation | Vedic equivalent | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| ba-ab-ru-un-nu | papru-nnu or babru-nnu | babhrú- | 'brown' |
| pi2-in-ka4-ra-an-nu | pinkara-nnu or bingara-nnu | piṅgalá- | 'reddish brown' |
| pa2-ri-it-ta-an-nu | paritta-nnu or baritta-nnu | palitá- | 'gray' |
See also
Sources
- Dassow, Eva von (2014). "Levantine Polities under Mittanian Hegemony". In Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum; Nicole Brisch & Jesper Eidem (eds.). Constituent, Confederate, and Conquered Space: The Emergence of the Mittani State. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 11–32. doi:. ISBN 9783110266412.
- Fournet, Arnaud (2010). . Journal of Indo-European Studies. 38 (1–2): 26–40. Archived from on 2023-06-24.
- Kümmel, Martin Joachim [in German] (2022). "Indo-Iranian". In Thomas Olander (ed.). The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 246–268. doi:. ISBN 9781108758666.
- Mallory, J. P (1997). "Kuro-Araxes Culture". Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Chicago–London: Fitzroy Dearborn.
- Mayrhofer, Manfred (1982). "Welches Material aus dem Indo-arischen von Mitanni verbleibt für eine selektive Darstellung?". In E. Neu (ed.). Investigationes philologicae et comparativae: Gedenkschrift für Heinz Kronasser (in German). Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz. pp. 72–90.
- Mayrhofer, Manfred (1992). Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan] (in German). Vol. I. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag. ISBN 3-533-03826-2.
- Mayrhofer, Manfred (1998). Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen (in German). Vol. II. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag.
- Mayrhofer, Manfred (2001). Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen (in German). Vol. III. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag.
- Thieme, Paul (1960). "The 'Aryan' Gods of the Mitanni Treaties". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 80 (4): 301–17. doi:. JSTOR .
- Witzel, Michael (2001). . Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 7 (3): 1–93. doi:.
- Sigfried J. de Laet, ed. (1996). UNESCO Publishing. ISBN 978-92-3-102811-3.
- Beckwith, Christopher I. (2009). . Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13589-2.
- Bryce, Trevor (2005). . Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-927908-1.
Further reading
- Campos Méndez, Israel (2021). [The First Mithraic Testimony]. In Roberto Rodríguez (ed.). Sociedades antiguas del Creciente Fertil: territorios, memorias e identidades culturales (in Spanish). Vol. 3, book 1. Buenos Aires: Remitente Patagonia. pp. 23–50. ISBN 978-987-8464-15-2.
- Cotticelli-Kurras, P.; Pisaniello, V. (2023). "Indo-Aryans in the Ancient Near East". In Giusfredi, Federico; Pisaniello, Valerio; Matessi, Alvise (eds.). Contacts of Languages and Peoples in the Hittite and Post-Hittite World. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. pp. 332–345. doi:. ISBN 978-90-04-54863-3.
- Dassow, Eva von (2022). "Mittani and Its Empire". In Karen Radner; Nadine Moeller & D. T. Potts (eds.). The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East. Vol. III: From the Hyksos to the Late Second Millennium BC, Oxford University Press. Oxford University Press. pp. 475–479. ISBN 9780190687601.
- García Ramón, José Luis (2017) [2015]. . Atti del Sodalizio Glottologico Milanese. X: 17–33. doi:.
- Gentile, Simone (2019). . Onoma. 54: 137–159. doi:. S2CID .
- Kitazumi, Tomoki (2024). . Hungarian Assyriological Review (in German). 5 (1): 9–76.
- Kloekhorst, A.; Lubotsky, A. (2021). "Indo-Aryan -(a)u̯artanna in the Kikkuli treatise". In H. Fellner; M. Malzahn; M. Peyrot (eds.). . Ann Arbor, New York: Beech Stave Press. pp. 331–336. hdl:.
- Lahe, Jaan; Sazonov, Vladimir (2019). [First mention of Mitra in the treaty between the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I and the Mittannian ruler Šattiwaza? A short study into the Indo-Iranian religion]. Mäetagused. Hüperajakiri. 73: 5–14. doi:. S2CID .
- Lipp, Reiner (2009). "4. Die Stellung der arischen Sprachreste von Mitanni". Die indogermanischen und einzelsprachlichen Palatale im Indoiranischen (in German). Vol. 1. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter. pp. 265–328.
- Parpola, Asko (2015). The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization. Oxford University Press. pp. 83–91. ISBN 9780190226923.