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Grammar

36 R-, L- and N-stem nouns

Unlike the neuter r/n-stem nouns, the r-stem nouns have a suffix in -r- throughout their paradigms. The word for "hand," kessar, which is animate, retains an especially archaic kind of inflection. In the nominative singular, the archaic form kessar is often replaced by kessaras with -as the ending of nominative animate a-stems:

		Singular		Plural
nom.		kess-ar
acc.		kess-er-an		kiss-er-us
gen		kis-r-as		*kiss-r-as
dat/loc.		kessar, kiss-ar-i, kis-r-i, kessar		kis-r-as
abl.		kiss-ar-ā
inst		kiss-ar-az, kis-r-az
all.		kiss-r-it

The paradigms of other r-stem nouns are not as elaborate as that of kessar. These nouns have traditionally been understood as neuters, but evidence from adjectival and pronominal agreement suggests that at least some may originally have been animate. The nouns huppar 'bowl' and kūrur 'war, hostility' illustrate the inflection of nouns in -ar- and -ur-. Like kessar, huppar sometimes adopts the ending of the animate a-stem nouns. Forms with the animate accusative a-stem ending -an are also found. Nominative-accusative plural neuter and nominative and accusative forms both occur. In some contexts, kūrur is best translated as an adjective 'hostile'. Nominative-accusative plural neuter forms occur, and genitive and dative-locative plural forms end, like huppar, in -as, but accusative forms are not attested.

Singular
nom.		hupp-ar, hupp-ar-as		kūr-ur, kūr-ur-as
acc.		hupp-ar, hupp-ar-an
gen.		huppar-as		kūr-ur-as
dat/loc.		hupp-ar-i		kū-ur-i
abl.		hupp-ar-az, huppa-ra-za		kūr-ur-an-za
inst.		hupp-ar-it		*kūr-ur-it
all.		*huppar-a
Plural
nom/acc. neut.		hupp-ar-i		kū-ur, kū-ur-i
nom.		hupp-ar-as
acc.		hupp-ar-us
gen.		hupp-ar-as		*kū-ur-as
dat/loc.		*hupp-ar-as		kū-ur-as

L-stem nouns have a suffix with -l throughout their paradigms. Like the r-stems, they may, at least in part, have originally been animate. Ishiul 'instruction, treaty', which is related to the verb ishiya- 'bind', illustrates the inflection of a stem in -ul-. Mēmal 'meal' is a stem in -al-:

Singular
nom.		ishi-ul		mēmal
acc.		ishi-ul		mēmal
gen.		ishi-ul-as		mēmal-as
dat/loc.		ishi-ul-i		*mēmal-i
abl.		ishi-ul-aza
inst.		*ishi-ul-it		mēmal-it
all.
Plural
nom/acc. neut.		ishi-ul-i

37 The Allative

With verbs of motion or setting in motion, the allative is the case that indicates goal. Its ending is -a or -ā. The allative is an archaism and normally found in older texts and in later copies of older texts:

		namma-as		sakuniya (all.)		paizzi
		moreover-she		to the spring		goes
		"Moreover, she goes to the spring."

		n-as		āsga		parā paizzi
		and-he		to the gate (all.)		goes onward
		"He goes onward to the gate."

		ÍD-pa		ishuwai
		into the river (all.)		she scatters
		"She scatters into the river"

The dative-locative, with or without a postposition, was also used to indicate goals in early texts, and in texts composed in the period of the Hittite Empire, the allative was gradually replaced by the dative-locative:

		n-at-kan		kariz		aruni		anda		pidāu
		and-it-locatival		flood		to the sea (dat.)		into		let carry
		"Let the flood carry it into the sea (or 'The flood shall carry it into the sea')."

38 Relative and Indefinite Pronouns and Clauses

In Hittite, as in English, the relative and interrogative pronouns and adverbs are identical in form:

Singular		animate				neuter
nom.		kuis				kuit
acc.		kuin				kuit
gen.				kuēl
dat/loc.				kuedani
abl.				kuēz
Plural
nom.		kuyēs				kue
acc.		kuyus				kue
gen.
dat/loc.				kuedas
abl.

Hittite sentences with relative clauses are composed of at least two clauses: a main clause and a subordinate relative clause modifying a noun in the main clause. Either the main clause or the relative clause may have additional subordinate clauses (e.g., adverbial clauses). As in English, the relative pronoun or adverb need not have the same syntactic function as the noun it modifies in the relative clause. One way in which Hittite relative clauses differ from English relative clauses is that the main clause often has a pronoun or noun that refers back to the relative pronoun.

		GUD-ya-wa-mu		kuin		tet		nu-war-an-mu		uppi
		ox-and-quotative-me		that		you said		and-quotative-it-me		send
		"And the ox that you promised me, send it to me."

		DKallis-wa-kan		kuedani		ANA		HUR.SAG		artari
		Kallis-quotative-locatival		on which		on		mountain		stands
		nu-wa		HUR.SAG		KÙ.BABBAR GAR.RA		ēsta
		and-quotative		mountain		silver-plated		is
		"The mountain on which the divine Kallis stands is a silver plated mountain."

		kī-kan		tuppi		kuis		DUB.ŠAR-as		halzāi
		this-locatival		tablet		who		scribe		reads
		n-an		DÉ.A-as		hattannnas		LUGAL-us		hilimnass-a
		and-him		Ea		of wisdom		king		of the gate-house-and
		DUTU-us		assūli		pahsantaru
		Sungod		in favor		may protect
		"May Ea, king of wisdom and Sungod of the gate-house protect in favor the scribe who reads this tablet."

		nu		IŠTU		EME-YA		kuyēs		DINGIRMEŠ		halzihhun
		and		with		tongue-my		who		gods		I called upon
		nu		ANA		DINGIRMEŠ		arkuwanun
		and		to		gods		I prayed
		nu-mu-kan		DINGIRMEŠ-as		uwaniyanut		dapiyas
		and-me-locatival		gods		intercede		all
		"The gods who I called upon with my tongue -- I prayed to the gods -- intercede for me with all those gods."

38.1 Definite and Indefinite Relative Clauses

Hittite has two kinds of relative clauses: so-called determinate relative clauses, clauses in which the relative pronoun refers to a specific known entity, and indeterminate relative clauses, clauses in which the relative pronoun refers to an unspecified entity whose existence may be in doubt. The indeterminate clauses are similar in meaning to English clauses with the indefinite relative pronouns "whoever" and "whichever," etc., or to clauses in which the noun modified is preceded by an indefinite such as "any." Determinate and indeterminate clauses are distinguished by the position of the relative pronoun:

In indeterminate clauses, the relative is in initial position. It may be preceded only by a conjunction (with or without attached enclitics):

		kuis		IKRIBI		sarninkuwas		n-an		sarninkanzi
		whatever		votive offering		of restitution		and-it		they make restitution
		"Any votive offering which is to be made in restitution, they will make it (in) restitution."

		n-asta		kuis		kūs		NIŠ DINGIRMEŠ		sarriezzi
		and-locatival		anyone who		these		oaths		breaks
		n-an		kē		NIŠ DINGIRMEŠ		appandu
		and-him		these		oaths		let them seize
		"Let these oaths seize anyone who breaks these oaths."

		kuit		handān		apāt		īssa
		whatever		fitting		that		he shall do
		"Whatever is fitting, that he shall do."

In determinate clauses, by contrast, the relative is never clause initial. It may precede or follow the noun or noun phrase it refers to:

		nu		IKRIBIHI.A-ma		kuyēs		sarnikuwēs		n-as		sarninkanzi
		and		votive-offerings-but		that		restitution		and-them		they make restitution
		"But they will make in restitution those votive offerings which are to be made in restitution."

		tuk-ma		DUTUŠI		kuit		KUR-TAM		ADDIN
		to you-but		my majesty		which		land		I have given
		nu-za		apāt		KUR-TAM		pahsi
		and-reflexive		that		land		protect
		"But protect that land which I, my majesty, have given to you."

		BE-LU-ma		kuyus		LÚ. MEŠTEMI		wiēskesi
		lord-but		whom		messengers		you keep sending
		n-as-kan		ammuk		parā naiskemi
		and-them-locatival		I		will keep dispatching
		"Lord, the messengers whom you keep sending, I will keep dispatching them (to their next stop)."

38.2 Non-restrictive Relative Clauses

Like English, Hittite made a distinction between restrictive, or identifying clauses, such as those give above, that identify a particular person or entity and non-restrictive, or commenting clauses, that simply provide a comment on the noun they modify. Non-restrictive clauses, which are relatively infrequent, always come after the main clause:

		nu-za		DKumarbis		GALAG-tar		ZI-ni		kattan daskezzi
		and-reflexive		Kumarbi		wisdom		into mind		takes
		UD.KAM-an		kuis		LÚ		HUL-an		sallanuskezzi
		day		who		man		evil		raises
		"Kumarbi, who raises the day as an evil being, takes wisdom into his mind."

38.3 Relative Adverbs

Relative clauses may also contain relative adverbs modifying expressions of time or place, for example:

		n-as		seszi		kuwapi		nu-za-kan		apiya-pat		warpzi
		and-he		sleeps		where		and-reflexive		in-place-very-same		he bathes
		"And he sleeps in the very same place where he bathes."

38.4 Emphasis

Indefinite relative clauses are emphasized in a number of ways. The conjunctive particle -a 'but' is sometimes found attached to the relative pronoun, for example:

		namma		kuis-a		LUGAL-us		kisari
		moreover		whoever		king		becomes
		"Moreover, whoever becomes king..."

The relative pronoun may be repeated:

		LÚ-as		kuis kuis		LUGAL-was		peran		ēszi
		man		whichever		king		in front of		sits
		"Whichever man sits in front of the king..."

		kuit kuit		harkzi		t-at		sarnikzi
		whatever		gets lost		and-it		he compensates
		"He compensates whatever is lost."

The relative pronoun in indefinitie clauses is sometimes strengthened with the adverb imma, which when used independently means 'indeed, surely', and this adverb often comes between repeated relative pronouns:

		kuis-kan imma kuis		ŠA-BI		KUR		ÍDHulaya		es:zi
		whoever-locatival-indeed-who		inside		land		Hulaya river		is
		"Whoever is in the Hulaya river land..."

		kuedani imma kuedani		ITU-mi
		in-whatever-indeed-in-which		in month
		"in whatever month"

In addition to the relative-interrogative pronoun and adjective in kui- Hittite also had remnants of a interrogative and indefinite relative made from a stem masi-. Although the pronoun itself is relatively rare, its stem masi- forms the basis for several relative adverbs and adjectives, such as masiwan 'as much as, how much as, however many times', or masianki 'however many times'. Its use seems to parallel that of kui- in indefinite relatives.

		nu-kan		INA		URUZithara		masiyēs
		and-locatival		in		Zithara		however many
		DINGIRMEŠ		ŠÀ		ÉDINGIRLIM
		deities		of		temple
		n-at		hūmandus-pat		SIXSA-antat
		and-they		all-surely		were determined by oracle
		"However many deities (are) in the temple in Zithara, they were all determined by oracle (as causes of the king's sickness)."

As with kui-, indeterminate relative clauses may be strengthened by repeating the pronoun or by the addition of the adverb imma 'indeed'.

38.5 Indefinite Pronouns

In addition to relative and interrogative pronouns, Hittite has a series of indefinite pronouns meaning "someone," "something," "anyone," or "anything." These are made from the relative-interrogative pronoun to which a particle spelled ki, ka, ga or qa is attached. They are used in non-relative sentences in which the referent of the pronoun is an unknown person or thing.

Singular		animate				neuter
nom.		kuiski, kuiska				kuitki, kuitka
acc.		kuinki				kuitki, kuitka
gen.				kuelka, kuelki
dat/loc.				kuedanikki
abl.				kuezga
Plural
nom.		kuyēsqa
acc.		kuyuga
gen.
dat/loc.				kuedasqa

		takku		LÚDAM.GÀR		URUHatti		kuiski		kuenzi
		if		merchant		Hatti		someone		kills
		"If someone kills a merchant of the city of Hatti..."

		takku		GU4-s		A.ŠÀHI.A-ni		kuelqa		aki
		if		cow		in field		someone's		dies
		"If a cow dies in someone's field..."

		nu		ANA		KUR		LÚKÚR		nawi kuitman		kuedanikki		pāun
		and		to		country		hostile		before		any		I went
		"Before I went into any hostile country..."

When the indefinite pronouns are used with negative particles, their sense is "no one," "nobody," "nothing," etc.:

		lē kuitki		sannaskesi
		nothing		conceal
		"Keep nothing secret."

		n-at-za		parā		le kuiski		kuedanikki		memai
		and-it-reflexive		to		nobody		to anyone		say
		"Let nobody tell it to anyone."

39 The Uses of har-, hark-

The verb har-, hark- basically means 'have, hold, keep'. Its stem-final consonant is lost before endings beginning with consonants, and the resulting paradigm has a stem that alternates between har- (e.g., harzi 'she has') and hark- (e.g., harkanzi 'they have'):

Present		Singular		Plural
1.		har-mi		har-wani, har-weni
2		har-si, har-ti		har-teni
3.		har-zi		hark-anzi
Preterit
1.		hark-un		har-wen
2.		har-ta		har-ten
3.		har-ta		hark-er
Imperative
2.		hark		har-ten
3.		har-du		hark-andu

The loss of the stem-final k is not the result of a regular sound change (compare, for example, har-ak-zi 'it perishes', a spelling for /hargtsi/, stem harg-) but the loss may have come about because the verb is used very commonly, especially as an auxiliary verb in a construction much like the English perfect with "have." Compare the reduction of the verb in forms of the English perfect in which the auxiliary verb "have" has been contracted (e.g., "I've fed the cat") for a similar sort of reduction in a common auxiliary verb. The second person singular imperative, spelled har-ak, indicates that the stem-final consonant was not lost before a pause.

39.1 Basic meaning

The verb often has the simple meaning 'have':

		GIŠTUKUL-ma		kuin		apiya		harkun
		weapon-but		that		there		I had
		"But the weapon that I had there..."

It may also mean 'hold', both in the literal sense and in the sense 'restrain':

		SÌG		dankuin		harmi
		wool		black		I hold
		"I hold the black wool."

		nepis		tēkan-a		harsi
		heaven		earth-and		you hold
		"You hold heaven and earth."

		nu		appūnn-a-wa		hahhimas		harzi
		and		him-and-quotative		frost		holds
		"And frost holds (or restrains) him too."

39.2 Use with Adjectives, Particples, and Locatives

With an adjective or participle from an intransitive verb, constructions with hark- can mean 'hold' or 'keep' something in the state denoted by the adjective or participle:

		n-an		TI-nuan		hartin
		and-him		alive		keep
		"Keep him alive!"

Such constructions also occur with nouns in the locative:

		apedani-ya		uddani		wasduli		harteni
		for this-and		for matter		in sin (loc.)		you hold
		"...and for this matter you hold (us) in sin."

39.3 The Perfect

Hittite has perfect and past perfect constructions that use hark- as an auxiliary verb and that look remarkably like the perfect in English. Instead of being made with the auxiliary plus past participle as in English, however, the Hittite construction uses the only participle in the language, the participle in -ant in the nominative-accusative singular neuter. Normally, the verb is transitive. It is important to remember that although the hark-perfect is usually to be translated by appropriate forms of the English present and past perfect, simple past tense forms of any verb can be translated by the English perfect when the context demands such translations.

The present perfect is composed of hark- plus the nominative-accusative neuter of the participle:

		ANŠE.KUR.RAMEŠ		tūriyan harti
		horses		harnessed you have
		"You (singular) have harnessed the horses."

		n-at		waranti		pahhuni		piyan harzi
		and-it		burning		fire		given he has
		"He has given it to burning fire."

		sumas-ma-az		kuin		maklandan		markan-harteni
		for you-but-reflexive		whatever		thin-one		cut up you have
		"But whatever thin (animal) you have cut up for yourselves..."

The construction of the past perfect is essentially the same, except the auxiliary verb is in the past tense:

		EN-YA		ZI-an		ŪL		warsiyanuwan harkun
		lord-my		soul		not		appeased I had
		"I had not appeased the soul of my lord."

		nu		antuhsatar		ŪL		tarnan hartin
		and		humanity		not		let loose you had
		"You had not abandoned humanity."

The combination of participle plus auxiliary may be broken up by the conjunction kuit 'because':

		nu-mu		istamassan		kuit		harker
		and-me		heard		because		they had
		"And because they had heard me..."

There are relatively few examples of the hark-perfect made with intransitive verbs:

		nu-za		LÚKÚR		halkius		warsūwanzi		arha tarnan harta
		and-reflexive		enemy		grain		to harvest		gone away had
		"The enemy had gone off to harvest the grain."

		nu		mān		LÚ.MEŠMEŠEDI		kuēz		parasnan harkanzi
		and		if		guards		to the side		squatted they have
		"If he throws (the towel) to the side where the guards have squatted..."

40 The Reflexive Particle

The particle -za (or -az), often called the reflexive particle, is used to indicate that the action of the verb affects the subject of the sentence in some way. Compare, for example, the English sentence with the reflexive pronoun 'himself', "He made himself a sandwich." Since this sort of construction with a reflexive pronoun indicating that the action benefits the subject is fairly uncommon in English, it is only rarely that we would translate Hittite sentences with -za into English sentences with reflexive pronouns.

The verb hās- 'give birth' or 'beget' is often, though not inevitably, used with -za; hās- plus -za can be translated with an English reflexive:

		nu-za		MUNUS-za		DUMU.NITA-an		hasta
		and-reflexive		woman		son		bore
		"And the woman bore herself a son (or, more idiomatically: 'And the woman bore a son')."

The verb ēs- can mean 'sit, take a seat', or 'seat one's self'. With -za, however, it means 'seat oneself':

		māan-san		MTelepenus		INA		GIŠGU-za
		when-locatival		Telepenus		on		on throne
		ABI-YA		ēshat		nu		URUHassuwa		lahha		pāun
		father-my		sat		then		Hassuwa		on campaign		I went
		"When I, Telepenus, sat (or 'seated myself') upon the throne of my father, then I went on a military campaign to Hassuwa."

In the first clause of the following sentence, a plant is said to have grown on behalf of itself:

		nu		sankus		alil		mahhan		nu-za		parkiyat
		and		sankus		plant		just as		and-reflexive		grew
		tuell-a		ŠA		DU		ZI-KA		parktaru
		your-and		of		Stormgod		soul-your		let grow
		"Just as the sankus flower grew, may your soul, O Stormgod grow."

Again, in this sentence from the "Plague Prayer of Mursilis" the action is supposed to affect the subject:

		ammuk-ma-az		ŠÀ-az		lahlahhiman		ŪL		tarhmi
		I-but-reflexive		from heart		worry		not		overcome
		"But I cannot overcome the worry from (my) heart."

The compound verb pēran weriya- with -za means 'involve oneself with'. The following sentence is a nominal sentence made with the participle:

		ANA		LÚ.ME^S		URUMira-ma-wa-za		peran lē weriyanza
		with		men		Mira-but-quotative-reflexive		do not be involved
		"Don't be involved with the men of Mira."

Sometimes the effect of -za is to change the meaning of the verb subtly. For example, the verb halzāi- generally means 'recite, call out', or sometimes 'read'. It can also mean 'summon'. In this sentence, a participant in a ritual calls out the Hattic word missā 'take':

		nu		kās		missā		halzāi
		and		this		missa		calls out
		"And this (person) calls out 'missa'."

With -za, however, the meaning is 'invite':

		nu-za		1 LIM		DINGIRMEŠ		halzaīs
		and-reflexive		one thousand		gods		he called
		"And he invited the thousand gods (to a feast)."

The verb mimma- means 'refuse' without -za:

		takku		attass-a		annas		mimmai
		if		father-and		mother		refuse
		"If the father and mother refuse (to make compensation to their daughter's jilted fiance)..."

With -za, however, the meaning of mimma- is 'reject':

		UDU-us-za		SILÁ-ZU		mimmas
		ewe-reflexive		lamb-her		rejected
		"The ewe rejected her lamb."

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