Kaskian language
Kaskian (Kaskean) was the language of the Kaskians (Kaska) of northeastern Bronze Age Anatolia, in the mountains along the Black Sea coast. There are a number of theories regarding what language family the Kaskian language belonged to.
Kaskian | |
---|---|
Kaška | |
Region | Northeastern Anatolia |
Ethnicity | Kaskians |
Era | Bronze Age |
unclassified | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | zsk |
zsk | |
Glottolog | None |
It is sometimes suspected that Kaskian was related to the pre-Hittite Hattic language, based on toponyms and personal names. Conversely, the Kaskian language may have been an Indo-European language, perhaps related to Thraco-Phrygian.[1] There may also be connections to the Northwest Caucasian languages; the name Kaskian[2] may be cognate with an old name for Circassia,[3] and the name of one of the tribes in the Kaskian confederation, the Abešla, may be cognate with the endonym of the Abkhaz people and some Circassian people,[4] suggesting the Kaskians proper and Abešla might have been the ancestors of the Circassians and other Caucasian peoples.[5] It has also been conjectured that Kaskian might belong to the Zan family of languages, and have affinities to Megrelian or Laz.[6]
References
- Fred Woudhuizen. The Saga of the Argonauts: A Reflex of Thraco-Phrygian Maritime Encroachment on the Southern Pontic Littoral Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society. 2012. https://www.academia.edu/7174237/The_Saga_of_the_Argonauts_A_Reflex_of_Thraco_Phrygian_Maritime_Encroachment_on_the_Southern_Pontic_Littoral?email_work_card=title&fbclid=IwAR1J1FmiuQHtzEcYOD586q1mzk1AG66_K99AqdkFUug05z30eapSjbAg1BM
- Hittite Kaškaš, Assyrian Kaška, Egyptian Kškš
- Arabic kašak, Old Georgian kaški, Old Armenian gašk, Old Russian kasogi, Ossetic kæsæg, Byzantine Greek Κασαχία Kasakhía
- Abkhaz Аҧсуа Apswa, Old Georgian apsil-, apšil-, Old Armenian apšeł-k, Greek Αψίλαι apsílai, Latin Absilae
- George Hewitt, 1998. The Abkhazians, p 49
- Singer, Itamar (2007). "Who were the Kaška?" (PDF). Phasis. Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. 10 (II): 178. Retrieved 6 June 2018.