Indo-Aryan words in Hurrian

Boris Oguibenine Boris.Oguibenine at EHESS.FR
Sat Nov 4 21:32:10 UTC 2000


I wonder to what extent the pre-Rgvedic (pre-Old-Indo-Aryan) form(s) are to
be believed to have no link to the words known in MIA? Can we not surmise
at least various dialects in the pre-Old-IA traces of which have survived
until MIA period, by a development with no acknowledged text traces? 

satta-vartana is paralleled by aika-vartana «one turn» in the Mitanni
(Mesopotamian Aryan) texts , cf. Atharvavedic eka-vrt (see the article by
V.V. Ivanov in Mélanges Benveniste, 1975). aika- is indeed Old IE *oi-ko
and there are no reliable OIA or MIA counterparts . Mitanni  Aryan
teravartanna «three turns», cf. Vedic tri-vrt also should be considered.
Are these Mitanni Aryan compounds to be discarded as being not IA? They are
IE, and their presence in Mitanni has to be explained. 

Bjarte Kaldhol's idea about the Kassites being a non-Indo-European people
is too far-fetched, see inter alia a more or less recent sum on their
language deemed to be «parlata aria di stampo pracritico»: A. Ancilotti, La
lingua dei Cassiti, Milano, 1981, interesting although questionable on some
points.

B.O. 





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