In Kanišite Hittite Alwin Kloekhorst discusses the ethno-linguistic make-up of Kaniš (Central Anatolia, modern-day Kültepe), the most important Anatolian mercantile centre during the kārum-period (ca. 1970-1710 BCE), when Assyrian merchants dominated the trade in Anatolia. Especially by analysing the personal names of local individuals attested in Old Assyrian documents from Kaniš, Alwin Kloekhorst demonstrates that the main language spoken there was a dialect of Hittite that was closely related to but nevertheless distinct from the Hittite language as spoken in the later Hittite Kingdom. This book offers a full account of all onomastic material and other linguistic data of Kanišite Hittite, which constitute the oldest attested record of any Indo-European language.



"The achievement of Kloekhorst’s study is that it advances the case for classifying the local language as a predecessor of Hittite... the present
state of knowledge as presented by Kloekhorst is a huge step forward and he is to be congratulated with this important milestone in Old Assyrian and Hittite studies."

-J.J. de Ridder, BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXXVII 3-4 (2020)