URARTIAN LANGUAGE
(Chapter 16)
We learn from the Assyrian records that, as early as 1274 B.C., Salmanassar I (1274-1245) invades Urartu, destroying eight countries and fifty one cities. The land was divided into several feudal states lacking a central authority (ErEAUR). According to Prof. Goodspeed, Shalmaneser crossed the waters of the Upper Tigris and marched along the southern spurs of the (Taurus) mountains to the head-waters of the Euphrates, where the chief peoples conquered by him were the `Arami,' the Arameans of the western Mesopotamia (GooBA.120). His son, Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244-1208), conquered the `Nairians' in eastern Anatolia, defeated forty kings, put the lands of the Upper Sea (Lake Van) under his dominion and forced them to pay tribute (ErEAUR). Tiglat-Pleser, who describes in his inscriptions a victory (1114 B.C.) over a united force of twenty-three Nairi princes, mentions also the name of Urartu (1) together with that of Mushki and Milit (YaTBTK 66-67). We have already referred, in Chapter 7, to the Nairi indicating the possibility that they may be the Neuri of Herodotus, a Scythian tribe. We also pointed out our belief that the Nairi is represented in the Scriptures under the name of Nahor, brother of Abraham and father of Uz (2). We had also analyzed the name and showed that its etymology was Turkish: singular Nair (Neur, Nahor) > 'n-air ('n-eur, 'n-ahor) > Tr. On-Ur/On-Gur/On-Oghur ("Ten Oghur"), a name given later to the Hungarians.
The domination of East and Southeast Anatolia by the Assyrians continued for a few centuries. By 900 B.C., a new situation is observed as pointed out by Muller:
"Civilization was on the rise again in eastern Asia Minor where appeared the `Kingdom of Urartu,' a native kingdom that worshipped Hurrian gods, including Teshup, and spoke a language akin to Hurrian; its people were excellent builders and workers in metal, who on a Hittite [really Hattian/Hurrian] foundation developed more brilliant culture than this region has ever known" (MulLH 74).
The people of the land of Urartu called it Khaldia after the name of its god Khaldis, but to the Assyrians it was known as Urartu or Uruatri. During the reign of Sardur II (764-735) the Urartian state reached its most extensive limits. Remains of Urartian settlements have been found in the lands extending from Gökçegölü-Bayburt in the north, Malatya in the west, Aleppo and Musul in the south, and Lake Urmia or even the Caspian Sea in the east (ErEAUR 81).
Assyrian king Sargon II, in 714 B.C., intended to deal with the threat of the Urartians. Although he defeated Rusa I, who committed suicide, and made peace with them, he declared in his inscriptions that the Urartian army had the best-trained horses in the world. `In advancing, wheeling, retreating, or battle disposition, they are never seen to break out of control.' The Assyrians in this battle had probably the help of the Cimmerians (3).
According to Prof. Erzen, the Hurrians and the Urartians had their roots in the same ancient eastern Anatolian Chalcolithic culture and that they might even have come as two branches of the same race having a language neither Semitic nor Indo-European but rather an Asian language agglutinative in general form. In fact, the Urartian, due to its word creating capacity by adding suffixes to a given root, has similarities with the Ural-Altaic languages (ErEAUR 74-75).
Further, the gods and the goddesses of the Hurrians and the Urartians are of the same origin. For example, Teisheba, one of the main deities of the Urartians, is the Hurrian chief god Teshup the Storm-god. The wives of these gods are Huba and Hepat respectively. Urartian sun god Shivini is identical to the Hurrian Shimigi. Capital city of Urartu, today's `castle' of the city of Van, was Tushpa, related to the goddess Tushpuea (ErEAUR 75-76).
Oldest Urartian cuneiform inscriptions found are from the end of ninth century B.C. However, Aramaic inscriptions are also found in the ruins of the Urartian city of Teishebaini (Karmir Blur) which was apparently destroyed by the Scythians. The effect of the Urartian script, together with their culture and civilization, on the neighbouring peoples is also stressed by Prof. Frye who notes:
"It has been suggested that one must look for the origins of much of the Achaemenid art, architecture, state protocol and writing in Urartu" (FryHP 90).
We have shown below in the glossary that, especially some 140 Urartian words taken from Melikishvili (4), and the names of Urartian gods and goddesses, of their cities, and of their kings whose names in order of their rules are Aram/Aramu (ab. 840 B.C.), Lutipri (father of Sarduri I), Sarduri I (830-825 B.C.), Ishpuini/Ushpina (825-815), Menua I (815-790), Argishti I (790-765), Sardur II (764-735), Rusa I (735-714), Argishti II (714-685), Rusa II (685-645), Sarduri III (645-635?), Sarduri IV (635?-?), Erimena, and Rusa III (late in the 7th century) can all be explained in Turkish words and grammatical syntax. It should be noted that the cuneiform sign š generally corresponds to Turkish phonemes c/j (< y), ç/ch (< t), sometimes to s, ş/sh, and t. Turkish words whose semantic make-up do not fit those given by Melikishvili but show only syntactic fit are indicated by question marks.
URARTIAN GLOSSARY
-a/-e/-ı/-i/-u/-ü Turkish gerundive suffix, synonymous with the other gerundive suffix -ip/-ıp "-ing"; as in kör-ü biling "know (by) seeing" (ErOA, Kt:S11), aş-a yorıdım "I walked crossing (it)." See: at-u-, kuš-u-, par-i, par-u, etc. .
-a/-e/-ye/-ya/-ge/-ga/-ke/-ka Turkish 3rd person optative (mood of necessity) suffix "let it, let him, let me." See: nah-a-.
-dar (Persian loanword) that has, holds, possesses. See: Sarduri/Sardur.
-dı/-di/-ti/-tı/-tu/-du/-dü Turkish third person past tense used also as an imperfect tense to make proper names, nouns and adjectives. See: 'al(a)-du, ar-du-, Argishti, aiš-ti, aš-tu-/aš-du, Bagmashtu, eir^S-idu, Khaldi, nip-sidu-, suid-u-, sulu-šti-, še(i)r(i)-du-, uš-ta-, etc.
-e/-a "to, for." See: Ushpina, Erebuni, iš-tine, šul-e, etc.
-hin/in same as Turkish genitive -in/-ın, -nin/-ning/-ing "of."
-i /-ü Turkish possessive suffix of the third person. See: Argishtihinili,
Biainili, gazu-li, kur-uni, mar-ini, Rusahinili, šal-i, etc.
-i/-ı/-si/-sı Turkish possessive pronominal suffix of the 3rd person, "its (of
it), his, her." See: ti-ni, ur-išhusi, zil(i)bi, etc.
-in/-nin/-ning/-ing "of," Turkish genitive. See: Argishtihinili, (KUR)Lulu(inili), Rusahinili, Sardurihinili, etc.
-ip/-ıp Turkish gerundive suffix "-ing": See: nip-sidu-.
-ni Turkish accusative suffix. See: (KUR)eba-ni, gun-ušini, šus-ini, ti-ni, tiš-ni.
ab-a `desire' (MelUS): (1) < Tr. ab-a? "to hunt"; (2) Karluk-Oghuz Tr.
aba?/apa? "mother"; Chuv. ama "mother; female": ab/av "hunt, hunting" (UYG).
abili-du- `attach to, fit onto' (MelUS): < Tr. övüldü? "it has been praised."
ada `again' (MelUS): < Tr. o da "that too."
a-le `stopping-place, residence' (MelUS): < Tr. balı?/balık? "city, fortress."
a(i)ni(ei) `someone, anyone' (MelUS): < Tr. nı/onu ."his, her, it."
aiš-ti- `leap, jump' (MelUS): < Tr. aş-tı ."he crossed over."
'al(a)-du- `feel sorry for, spare' (MelUS): < Tr. ağla-dı ."he cried, he lamented."
al(a)s(u)-ini/e `large' (MelUS): < Turco-Arab. alâsı-nı (acc.) "... the best of it."
a-la-ú(?)-e(?) `lord' (MelUS): < Turco-Arab. allah "god."
(KUR)alga-ni `mountain' (MelUS): < Tr. kır-alku-nı (acc.?) "all the hills, all the highland": Tr. alku "all, all of it" (UYG).
ali `which, what a, such a, which' (MelUS): < Cumanian Tr. alay (Tr. öyle) "such, so, like that."
aliki `alike, a certain' (MelUS): < Tr. öyle-ki "so that."
aliki ... aliki `some . . (and) some . . ' (MelUS): < Tr. öyle-ki ... öyle-ki ."so that ... (and) so that...."
alipi, ali .. alipi `some . . (and) some . .' (MelUS): (1) < Tr. alıp (al-ı) ... alıp ."taking... (and) taking...."; (2) < Tr. öyle bi(r) ... öyle bi(r) ... "such a ... such a..."
aluki `which' (MelUS): < Tr. ola ki "perchance, it may be; possibly."
alusi `regent, administrator, master' (MelUS): < Tr. ol-issi ."him the master."
alu-še `which (ergative)' (MelUS): < Tr. öylece "so, somewhat, in that manner."
aniar-duni `independent' (MelUS): < Turco-Arab. anlar/onlar-dunî? "they (who are) of the lower (class)."
aqarqi `measure for liquids' (MelUS): < Tr. akar ki ."it flows that ...."
Aram/Arame/Aramu Hurrian prince who fought with Assyrian King Salmanasar in about 858 B.C., united the Nairian and the Urartian feudal princedoms in about 845 B.C., ruled over the Urartian lands between the sources of the Euphrates and the Tigris (ErEAUR 76; FryHP 89; LloEHPA 108).
ar-du- `give' (MelUS): < Tr. ar-dı? ."he deceived": Tr. ar- "to deceive, become weary; to tire" (DLT; UYG).
Argishti names of two Urartian kings. The second, Argishti II, recovered the kingdom after his father's defeat by Sargon II [Argishti: < Argışdı < Tr. Er-kış-dı (> Er-kıldı) ."(god) made (created) (a) man," with O. Tr. kış- (kıl-) "to make, to render, to incline; [to create]" (ErOA; DLT), er "man, hero"].
Argishtihinili Urartian town founded by Argishti I (ErEAUR 80), its ruins near modern Erciş north of Lake Van [< Argishti-hin-il-i < Argishti-ın-il-i < Tr. Argıştı-nın-il-i "the city of Argishti" from Tr. il "city, country," -in/-nin/-ing "of," Turkish genitive, and -i, Turkish possessive suffix of the third person].
ar-u `give' (MelUS): < Tr. ar-u? "deceiving; becoming weary"; or (v)er-ü? "giving": -u/ü, Turkish gerundive suffix.
aše `shield' (MelUS): < Tr. aşu(k)/yaşuk "helmet."
(LÚ)aše `man' (MelUS): < Tr. ula-ate < ulan at-ı ."oğlan (man) his name."
aš-tu-, aš-du `to change' (MelUS): < Tr. aç-tı "he opened"; or aştı "he crossed (over)."
aš-u `to leave, follow behind' (MelUS): < Tr. aşu- "to run"; or aş-u "crossing (over)."
ate- `father` (MelUS): < Tr. ata "father, ancestor."
atibi `10,000' (MelUS): < Tr. tümen "ten thousand" [tibi(n) < timin].
atqa-na `offering' (MelUS): < Tr. ıduk-ana "an offering to him"; or < Tr. ıduk-ı-na "to his freed (animal) offering."
atqa-nadu- `to make an offering' (MelUS): < Tr. ıduk(ı) onadı "he approved the offering (a holy freed animal)."
at-u- `destroy' (MelUS): < Tr. at-u "throw-ing (arrow); hitting (with an arrow)."
(LÚ)auera-ši `military commander' (MelUS): < Tr. ula-uruş < oğlan-uruş "man of war."
bad-gul- `surround, shut in' (MelUS): < Tr. batgıl "do parish!, do disappear!."
Bagmashtu Urartian goddess, wife of Khaldi (ErEAUR 78) [possibly Beg-mashtu < Tr. Beg-bas-tı "she who has overcome the husband; the real boss," with beg "lord; husband," bas- "to overwhelm, to overpower, to overcome"]
Biainili Urartian name for their own country, Assyrian Urartu or Uruatri [(1) < Tr. Buyun-il-i "the land of the nation, the land of the people"; or (2) < Tr. Bayan il-i "the land of the rich," with Oghuz Tr. buyun (< Par. Tr. budun) "nation, people" (DLT), bayan/Bayan "rich, rich man," an historical Turkish name and title, found amongst later Avars, On-Oghurs, and Uighurs (Bayan-Çur "rich prince") (RasTT 79-80, 90-91, 106), Tr. il "land, home, country," and -i, Turkish possessive suffix].
burg-ana `fortress' (MelUS): < Tr. berk-ana "well-protected Mother (Goddess)."
d-u- `do, cause to do' (MelUS): < Tr. it-ü "do-ing."
durb-a- `revolt' (MelUS): darbe (Arab.) "stroke; revolt."
durb-aie `rebel' (MelUS): darbe-iye (Turco-Arabic) "revolt-master": Tr. iye "lord."
(KUR)eba-ni `country' (MelUS): kır eb-ni (acc.) "the country house."
eir^S-idu `settle' (MelUS): erişti "(he) reached"].