Heterogramme in hurritischen Texten aus Boğazköy und Nordsyrien

Abstract

The article discusses the use of heterograms in Hurrian texts from Anatolia and Northern Syria of the second millennium BC. The frequency of Sumeroand Akkadograms is examined through a variety of Hurrian text genres. Most texts of religious content, which include rituals, festivals, or myths, exhibit only a small number of logograms and determinatives. Hurrian mantic texts from Ḫattuša and Emar offer an exception to these findings, in that they make use of a comparatively large amount of heterograms. In order to interpret these data one should consider a number of parameters, such as the scribes’ level of foreign language acquisition, the texts’ possible addressees, and the significance of text genres and styles. For comparison, a short overview of heterographic writing in Urartian texts has been provided.