Hattic language
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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 language (see Hittite language), eventually absorbed or replaced the Hattic speakers (Hattians), but continued to use Hattic for religious purposes.
Hattic 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 terms, and both are apparently derived from the same word, the ancient name of the 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 given in the early 20th century (rightly or wrongly) to the more recent culture and its Indo-European language; the names "Hattian" and "Hattic" were then coined decades late for the older culture and its non-Indo-European language. It is still not known what the Hattians called themselves and their language.es:Idioma hatti