Social Sciences in China, 2025

Vol. 46, No. 1, 2025

Anatolians during the Old Assyrian Period from the Etymological Perspective

(Abstract)

Shi Xiaowen

Prior to the emergence of the Old Hittite Kingdom, the history of Anatolia remains shrouded in mystery, as Hittite texts rarely delve into the region’s past. During the first quarter of the second millennium BCE, Assyrian merchants left a significant number of cuneiform tablets in Anatolia. These tablets offer a wealth of etymological evidence that the local population’s ethnic composition was predominantly Hittite, with deep integration of Luwian, Hurrian, and Hattian elements. These indications suggest that the Hittite people, who later established the Old Hittite Kingdom with Hattusha as its center, had already been present in the region for hundreds, if not a thousand, years. They were not barbaric nomadic tribes that suddenly invaded Anatolia from the wilderness at the dawn of the second millennium BCE. Instead, through continuous interaction and integration with other ethnic groups, those pre-Hittite communities had evolved into a sophisticated political power, absorbing advanced civilizational achievements from neighboring regions, particularly Mesopotamia.

Keywords: Old Assyrian Period, Anatolian, Hittite, etymology