Hattic language

Hattic was a non-Indo-European language spoken in Asia Minor between the 3rd and the 2nd millennia BC, before the appearance of the Hittites.

The Hittites, who spoke an Indo-European tongue (see Hittite language), eventually absorbed or replaced the Hattic speakers (Hattians), but contined to use Hattic for religious purposes.

Hattic was a non-Indo-European language, and it appears to be related to the Northwest Caucasian (Circassian) family. Its position in the hypothetical North Caucasian family and other proposed classifications of the languages of the Caucasus is still the subject of much debate among linguists.

The names "Hattic" and "Hittite" are modern designations, and both are apparently derived through tortuous routes from the same word, the ancient name of the core region where the two cultures flourished — which has been reconstructed as Hatti in the Hittite language. The term "Hittite", taken from the Hebrew Bible, was first assigned in the early 20th century (rightly or wrongly) to the more recent culture and their Indo-European language; the names "Hattian" and "Hattic" were then coined, decades later, to designate the prior culture and their non-Indo-European language. It is still not known how the Hattians called themselves or their language.