Hittite language
| Hittite | |
|---|---|
| Nesite | |
| 𒌷𒉌𒅆𒇷 nešili | |
 A 13th century BC Hittite cuneiform tablet | |
| Region | Anatolia |
| Era | attested c. 1600 – c. 1200 BC |
Indo-European
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Hittite cuneiform | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | hit |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:hit – Hittiteoht – Old Hittitehtx – Middle Hittitenei – New Hittite |
| Glottolog | hitt1242 |
Hittite, also known as Nesite, is an extinct Indo-European language formerly spoken in Anatolia during the Bronze Age. The language is attested in cuneiform texts, primarily from the archives of the city of Hattusa, between the 17th century BC to the 13th century BC. Isolated Hittite words and personal names appear in Old Assyrian documents in Kanesh from as early as the 20th century BC, making it the earliest attested use of the Indo-European languages.
By the Late Bronze Age, Hittite had started losing ground to its close relative Luwian. It appears that Luwian was the most widely spoken language in the Hittite capital of Hattusa during the 13th century BC. After the collapse of the Hittite New Kingdom during the more general Late Bronze Age collapse, Luwian emerged in the early Iron Age as the main language of the so-called Syro-Hittite states, in southwestern Anatolia and northern Syria.