Monday, February 28, 2011

Luvian (Luwian viz. Hieroglyphic Hittite) Syllabograms (also some Logograms) Added to Minoan Aegean Sign Concordance (MinAegCon)

I have now added 
the Luvian (also spelled Luwian, formerly called Hieroglyphic Hittite) syllabograms (plus a few logograms)
to the syllabic grid of the Minoan Aegean Sign Concordance (MinAegCon)
which I recently published in a series of postings for Mycenaean Greek Linear B Script, the Cypriot Syllabary, the Phaistos Disk, two Old Elamite Scripts, the Inscription on the Axe of Arkalochori, and comparable signs in Sumerian pictographs & Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The revised syllabic grid will be forthcoming in the coming days, although I will try to reduce the number of posts by making scans of entire consonants and their respective vowels per posting.

Luvian is a convincing additional piece of evidence for the general correctness of the MinAegCon syllabic grid.

For a nice Hieroglyphic Luvian inscription see e.g. Mnamon.

Below is an image from Crystal Links:




Hieroglyphic Luvian Stele from Carchemish
(Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)

Luvian is said to be an Indo-European language and the ease with which many of its syllabic signs can be included in the MinAegCon syllabic grid adds substantial linguistic power to the overall analysis which led to the creation of that grid in the first place, showing that all of these different syllabic sign systems had a common origin and that many of the signs in the various systems not only had common syllabic values to begin with, but also retained these or similar syllabic values in later evolvement, either in their original or related sign forms.

The symbols and values that I use for Luvian come from several sources and not all of them agree either in the depiction of the symbols nor in the syllabic values assigned, but there is general agreement for most signs.

By my analysis, current syllabic values for Luvian contain possibly more errors than those already acknowledged by the scholars for previous phases of Luvian scholarship, but it is not my intent here to discuss my theories about that. I can only suggest to scholars of Luvian and Hittite that they take a close look at the MinAegCon grid for assistance and especially to Sumerian signs and syllabic values for general guidance.

The sources for the Luvian glyphs and the values assigned to them (or other related information) are:

1) Gunter Anders, the LUHWITTA and LUHWITTB ttf fonts, Luwisch-Hethitische Hieroglyphen Fonts für Macintosh und Windows, together with a list of the fonts and accompanying text, all found at the website of Hethitologie Portal Mainz (The Hittite Portal Mainz). These are the fonts used for the most part to represent Luvian glyphs on the syllabic grid.

2) The syllabic grid for Hieroglyphic Hittite found at page 238 of Harald Haarmann, Universalgeschichte der Schrift, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt/New York, 2nd ed. 1991, Sonderausgabe 1998 Parkland Verlag, Köln (Cologne).

3) Luwian Hieroglyphics at http://indoeuro.bizland.com/project/script/luwia2.html, apparently from the Nostratic website at Nostratic.ru

4) Ancient Scripts : Luwian from ancientscripts.com, by Lawrence Lo

5) Generally, The Luwians, H. Craig Melchert (Paul Debreczeny Distinguished Professor of Linguistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Brill, Leiden/Boston, 2003, and specifically, H. Craig Melchert, Cuneiform Luvian Lexicon, at LUVLEX.pdf, Lexica Anatolica, Volume 2, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1993.

6) John David Hawkins (author) and Halet Cambel (editor), Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions: Inscriptions of the Iron Age, Volume 1 (Untersuchungen zur Indogermanischen Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft), Berlin & New York, Walter de Gruyter, 1999.

7) Halet Cambel (Author), Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions: Karatepe-Aslantas, Volume 2 (Untersuchungen zur Indogermanischen Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft),  Berlin & New York, Walter de Gruyter, 1999.

8) Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA, Objects in the Collections of the Department of Antiquities, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, UK.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

66 - Vowels and W-Based Syllables : Origins of Writing in Western Civilization and the Kaulins Minoan Aegean Sign Concordance (MinAegCon™): A Syllabic Grid of Mycenaean Greek Linear B Script, the Cypriot Syllabary, the Phaistos Disk, two Old Elamite Scripts, the Inscription on the Axe of Arkalochori, and Comparable Signs from Sumerian Pictographs and Egyptian Hieroglyphs

This is the 66th and last posting in this series (which started here), and presents the Vowels and W-Based Syllables in the Syllabic Grid, i.e. the vowels (A, E, I, O, and U), including the W-based syllables (WA, WE, WI, WU - no WO of course in Sumerian) , which in Sumerian are all covered by the "A" vowel sign A3, Jaritz sign #688.

There is first a scan of a "syllabic" table excerpt from the original Microsoft Word manuscript -- the links there are not clickable because it is one image.

That image is followed by the original text -- the links there are clickable -- but you can not see the Aegean Fonts or images embedded in Microsoft Word, as these do not resolve in Blogger, so you will see some "filler" material. After I get all the syllables online, I will clean up the individual pages by making images of the various signs and uploading them to eliminate the current text resolution deficiencies, but it is a massive amount of tedious extra graphics work, so I am not doing it right now, as it is not essential for online purposes. One can see the full grid for the syllable on the scanned image.

  The Vowels and W-Based Syllables in the Minoan Aegean Sign Concordance (by Andis Kaulins)

 
 
The Vowels and W-Based Syllables in the Minoan Aegean Sign Concordance (by Andis Kaulins)


CHANGED HEADINGS


CHANGED
CHANGED HEADINGS
CHANGED

Syllabic Value of
the Sign (Symbol)
Cypriot
Syllabary
Linear B
(Ventris etc.)
Linear B
Vowel Signs
Cyprian VOWELS
Egyptian
hieroglyphs
Sumerian
pictographs
A (“ah”)
א - Alef
This vowel placement
merely highlights some
observations and is not
and can not be like the
convincing analysis of
the previous syllables,
for the Phaistos Disk has
no vowel signs at all, so
that full-fledged vowels
must have developed
later at other locations.

Cyprian
W-Signs
_______


There seems
to be a genetic
relationship
between the
W-based
syllables and
the vowels.

Linear B
W-Signs
_______


There seems
to be a genetic
relationship
between the
W-based
syllables and
the vowels.
Linear B
VOWELS

��(08)
“A”

The vowel
“A”
as in “ah”
Cypriot Syllabary signs
show how the vowel
sound is made

“A”
��
The vowel “A”
The mouth is
“full, open, even”
“A” is LABIAL
Egyptian

“A”
   
„J“


LABIAL
Sumerian

“A3”
“arms, side”
covers all:
“A, WA, WE,
WI, WU”
AE
from an original AE
ה - He

house, dwelling place”

Latvian ēka „large
building, edifice, hall”
Latvian vars, valdīšana
„power, dominion
Cypriot
syllabary
��
WA

Luwian has
Linear B WA
upside down
for “dominion
Linear B

��(54)
WA


A rectangular
“temple”
dominion
Linear B

��(38)
“E”

The vowel “E”
A rounded
“temple”
dominion
Cyprian vowel
“E”
��

The vowel “E”
The mouth is
“full, open”, plus more
from the throat or side”
“E” is PHARYNGEAL
Egyptian

dominion

“AE”

PHARYNGEAL
Sumerian

“E”
“temple,
house, go in
or out”
dominion
E, I
י – Yod (Yad is
Hebrew for “hand”)
“with stout fibers” ?
These signs point to a
concept related to
“hand”. Latvian iedot
“in give” and ieņem “in
take” may provide a clue
Cypriot
syllabary



��
WI
Linear B




��(75)

WE
Linear B



��(28)
I
The vowel “I”
Cyprian vowel
“I”
��
The vowel “I”
“less full or open, and
more from the top”
“I” IS UVULAR
Egyptian


“the arm”


“IE”

UVULAR
Sumerian
“I”
“five”
surely as “hand, arm”
I, O
ו - Waw
that which one has as
possessions or property
inside the house
(compare to the next
vowel)
Cypriot
syllabary

��
WE

Linear B

��(40)
WI
one sees the
I” within the
tent-like sign
Linear B


��(61)
“O”
The vowel
“O”
Cyprian vowel

“O”
��
The vowel “O”
“toward the bottom”
“O” is VELAR”
Egyptian


“OO”
“W”

VELAR
Sumerian
There was
no “O” in
Sumerian.
Its O and U  
sound as in
Latvian “O”
was
perhaps
an UO
dipthong.
O, U
ו - Waw
house, roof or eye over
one’s head (that which
one has a domicile)
one's own substance,
property, outside the
house, i.e. the dwelling

Cypriot
syllabary

��
WO

“house, roof or
eye over one’s
head”
(outside)
Linear B


��(42)
WO


having an eye
on one’s
domicile”
Linear B



��(10)
“U”
The vowel
“U”
“raised
high”
Cyprian vowel

“U”
��
The vowel “U”
“mostly closed
and the lips out”
“raised high”
“U” is a HIGH BACK
CLOSE VOWEL
Sumerian

Ú
U5, U11
“raised high”
Latvian UZ
“on, above”
Sumerian


U3, U7

“having an
eye on one’s
domicile”

... and slowly it is getting time to get ready for the golf season. Fore! - Andis

Monday, February 21, 2011

65 - The Syllable ZU : Origins of Writing in Western Civilization and the Kaulins Minoan Aegean Sign Concordance (MinAegCon™): A Syllabic Grid of Mycenaean Greek Linear B Script, the Cypriot Syllabary, the Phaistos Disk, two Old Elamite Scripts, the Inscription on the Axe of Arkalochori, and Comparable Signs from Sumerian Pictographs and Egyptian Hieroglyphs

This is the 65th posting in this series (which started here), and presents the Syllable ZU in the Syllabic Grid. The series ends with the forthcoming 66th posting, which covers the vowels (A, E, I, O, and U), including the W- syllables (WA, WE, WI, WU - no WO of course in Sumerian) , which in Sumerian are all covered by the "A" vowel sign A3, Jaritz sign #688.

Each syllable is presented in its own posting.

There is first a scan of a "syllabic" table excerpt from the original Microsoft Word manuscript -- the links there are not clickable because it is one image.

That image is followed by the original text -- the links there are clickable -- but you can not see the Aegean Fonts or images embedded in Microsoft Word, as these do not resolve in Blogger, so you will see some "filler" material. After I get all the syllables online, I will clean up the individual pages by making images of the various signs and uploading them to eliminate the current text resolution deficiencies, but it is a massive amount of tedious extra graphics work, so I am not doing it right now, as it is not essential for online purposes. One can see the full grid for the syllable on the scanned image.




The Syllable ZU in the Minoan Aegean Sign Concordance (by Andis Kaulins)


ZU
These signs incorporate
the idea of girdle, belt,
sash, yoke or collar.
"yoke”
Speaking of belts etc.
Sumerian šagadu
(ša3-ga-du3) “special
type of garment” =
Latvian sakta "brooch"
(saktu is grammatical)
šagadu = SAKTU
"brooch"
An online example at
Cypriot
syllabary


No
comparable
sign known.








Indo-
European
e.g.
Latvian
SIKSNA
“belt”
SAKTU
“brooch”
Linear B
Currently read
as TWE

𐁌(87)

"double yoke”

ζώνη (zóni)
"girdle, belt,
sash"

"girding on,
cincture"

"gird"
Phaistos Disk

𐇝

"double
yoke"





Indo-
European
e.g. Latvian
JŪGS
„yoke”
ŽOGS
„enclosure”
No comparable Axe sign
_______
Thumb of photo of
British oxen before
industrialization - The
(see quote right)
double yoke for oxen
 Photo courtesy of South
Dakota State Historical
Society” at the website
No Elamite
sign yet

_______
“[O]xen
achieved
[power] via
a ... collar
or yoke ...
held in
place by an
ox-bow...

Egyptian

wSICH
determinative
and ideogram
“neck collar”
Sumerian

ŠUDUN
ŠUDUL
„yoke“
written
with
ŠŪ2
“cover”
+#645)
(i.e. a single
yoke top)
ZI3
“belt”