Hittite:Glossing recommendations

Examples for common forms

For examples of glossings of common Hittite forms, see here.

Extra Glossing transcription line

Traditional scholarly transliteration as well as bound transcription of Hittite uses punctuation, too. This punctuation is in conflict with the punctuation as defined by the Glossing Rules.

Compare the following table:

Puctuation	Meaning in scholarly transliterations of Hittite	Meaning in scholarly bound transcription of Hittite	Meaning in Glossing transcription line	Meaning in Glossing line
.	Separates cuneiform signs used in Sumerograms		—	Portmanteau morpheme
:	Glossenkeil	—	Morpheme separator
-	Separates cuneiform signs used in Akkadograms and in syllabic spelling		Affix
=	—	Clitic	Clitic
( )	—	Non-overt phonemes, scholarly reconstruction	—	Inherent category
[ ]	Completely destroyed text (lacuna), potentially with reconstructed content		—	‘Zero’ morpheme
⌈ ⌉	Partially destroyed text, usually with reconstructed content		—
{ }	Erasure		—
< >	Emendation of a scribal error (addition)		Infix
<< >>	Emendation of a scribal error (deletion)		—
~	—		Reduplication morpheme
\	—		—	Transfix
_	—		Fixed phrase	Fixed phrase
\	—		—	Ablaut phenomenon
/	(Options)		—	Ambigous morpheme

In order to prevent any confusion, it is strongly advisable or, as far as “-” and “< >” are concerned, even mandatory not to use these symbols in their traditional meaning in the Glossing transcription line (directly above the Glossing line). Keep in mind that the number and sequence of “-”, “=”, “~”, and “< >” in the Glossing transcription and the gloss needs to match exactly.

Problematic examples

Transliteration	LUGAL	URUKu-uš-ša-<ra>	URU-az	kat-ta	[pa-]an-ga-ri-it	ụ́[-it]
Glosses	king	TOPN	city:ABL	down	mass:INSTR	come:PRT.3SG.ACT

‘The king of Kussara [came] down from the city with great (power).’
 

Bound transcription	LUGAL	URUKussa<ra>	URU-az	katta	[pa]ngarit	u[et]
Glosses	king	TOPN	city:ABL	down	mass:INSTR	come:PRT.3SG.ACT

‘The king of Kussara [came] down from the city with great (power).’
 

Consequently, the encoder needs to add an extra ‘Glossing transcription line’ between the traditional Transliteration line (or traditional Bound transcription line) and the Glossing line.

Examples

Transliteration	LUGAL	URUKu-uš-ša-<ra>	URU-az	kat-ta	[pa-]an-ga-ri-it	ụ́[-it]
Glossing transcription	LUGAL	Kussara	URUaz	katta	pangarit
Glosses	king	TOPN	city:ABL	down	mass:INSTR	come:PRT.3SG.ACT	uet

‘The king of Kussara [came] down from the city with great (power).’
 

Bound transcription	LUGAL	URUKussa<ra>	URU-az	katta	[pa]ngarit	u[et]
Glossing transcription	LUGAL	Kussara	URUaz	katta	pangarit	uet
Glosses	king	TOPN	city:ABL	down	mass:INSTR	come:PRT.3SG.ACT

‘The king of Kussara [came] down from the city with great (power).’
 

In the Glossing transcription line, all symbols need to be used according to the Glossing Rules. In the Traditional transliteration line, however, the encoder may use all the symbols according to his/her scholarly tradition.

Hands-on transcription transformation guidelines

To derive a valid Glossing transcription line from a traditional transliteration or transcription line, the follwoing hand-on rules may help.

Compare the following table:

Traditional transliteration line	Traditional transcription line	Glossing transliteration line	Examples
.		make bound transcription
		keep it (if bound transcription impossible)	LUGAL.GAL → LUGAL.GAL king:great ‘Great King’
:		leave out
-		make bound transcription of either the underlying Hittite word or of the Akkadogram, i.e. the Akkadian word	Ku-uš-ša-ra → Kussara TOPN ‘Kussara’ URU-az → URUaz city:ABL ‘from (the) city’
	-	like “.”, but with sumerograms; keep italics for sumerogram	GAL-ŠUNU → GAL.ŠUNU great:POSS.3PL.C ‘their leader’
	=	keep it (clitic)	me-e-ni-im-me-et → mēni=mmet face:ACC.SG.N=POSS.1SG.NOM/ACC.SG.N ‘my face’
	( )	leave parentheses and content out	n(u)=an → n=an CNJ=3SG.ACC.C ‘and him’
(superscript)		leave classifiers out	URUKussara → Kussara TOPN ‘Kussara’
< >		leave brackets out; keep content	URUKussa<ra> → Kussara TOPN ‘Kussara’
{ }		leave brackets and content out	URUKussa{sa}ra → Kussara TOPN ‘Kussara’
[ ]		leave brackets out; keep content or leave it out	URU[Kussa]ra → Kussara TOPN ‘Kussara’ URU[Kussa]ra → [__]ra ‘[destroyed]’
⌈ ⌉		leave brackets out; keep content	URU⌈Kussa⌉ra → Kussara TOPN ‘Kussara’

Problems with the Cuneiform Script: Syllabic and Logographic spelling

The Hittite language was written in the cuneiform script that ultimately derived from Southern Mesopotamia. The cuneiform script consists of syllabic and logographic signs. Since the script was originally not invented to write an Indo-European language such as Hittite, it is not the best suitable script to write such a language. The Hittite cuneiform script uses consonant-vowel (CV) and vowel-consonant (VC) signs as well as single vowel (V) signs and consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) signs. This syllabic writing system masks the exact phonetics of the Hittite language. For example, it makes it impossible to write consonant clusters which are common in Indo-European languages. Logograms in Hittite texts are signs or combinations of signs that designate a specific Hittite word. Two types of logograms are distinguished in Hittite texts: Sumerograms and Akkadograms. Sumerograms are words from the Sumerian language whereas Akkadograms are words from the Akkadian language.

In transliterations of Hittite texts it is custom to distinguish between the different logographic and syllabic spellings. Syllabic signs, which reflect the Hittite language directly, are written in italics and separated by hyphens (-). Sumerograms are written in capital letters and uses dots (.) to separate the different signs, whereas Akkadograms are written in italicized capital letters and uses hyphens (-) to separate the different signs. In addition, one finds syllabic endings attached to logographically written words. Akkadographic endings can also be attached to a Sumerogram, these are written in superscript. Examples:

Transliteration	Glossing transcription	Gloss
MUNUS.LUGAL	MUNUS.LUGAL	queen
DUMU	DUMU	son
DUMU-aš	DUMUaš	son:GEN.SG
A-BU	ABU or attaš	father:NOM.SG.C
DINGIRLIM-iš	DINGIRLIMiš	god:NOM.SG.C

These logograms can complicate glossing a Hittite text, especially when the Hittite word underlying the Sumerogram or Akkadogram is unknown. We suggest to do the following when one is glossing a Hittite text or text passage. If possible, write the underlying Hittite word(s) in its correct form in the glossing transliteration line. When the underlying word or its correct form is unknown, leave the logogram in its capitalized format. For Sumerograms one should also leave the separating dots. For Akkadograms one should make a bound transcription of the Akkadian word and, hence, remove the separating hyphens, but leave the italics. The hyphen that connects the syllabically written endings may be removed.

One should be cautious to gloss the underlying Hittite language and not the script. For example, unlike Hittite Akkadian does distinguish between masculine and feminine and this can be reflected in Akkadograms such as in DUMU=ŠU ‘his son’. Nonetheless one should not gloss it as masculine (M), since that does not reflect the Hittite language (DUMU=ŠU son=his.POSS.3SG.C (not M!)). In addition, a Hittite construction may differ from that of a logographically written one. For example, Akkadograms, in accordance with the Akkadian language, make use of prepositions, whereas Hittite uses postpositions or perhaps a case ending instead.

On the Hittite cuneiform script, Hittite writing conventions and modern transcription conventions, see Hoffner & Melchert 2008: pp. 9-24.