A Grammar of the Hittite Language. Part 1: Reference Grammar

by Harry A. Hoffner Jr., H. Craig Melchert

Hoffner and Melchert’s long-awaited work is sure to become both the standard reference grammar and the main teaching tool for the Hittite language. The first volume includes a thorough description of Hittite grammar, grounded in an abundance of textual examples. Moreover, the authors take into account a vast array of studies on all aspects of the Hittite language. In the five decades since the publication of the second edition of Johannes Friedrich’s Hethitisches Elementarbuch (1960), our knowledge of Hittite grammar has become more detailed and nuanced, especially because of the number of new texts available and the growing body of secondary literature. This first volume in the LANE series fills a serious gap and offers a comprehensive reference for decades to come. The second volume is a tutorial that consists of a series of graded lessons with illustrative sentences for the student to translate. The tutorial is keyed to the reference grammar and provides extensive notes. The printed grammar volume is accompanied by a CD-ROM that contains the entire text of the grammar and tutorial in searchable, cross-referenced, and hyperlinked form.

470 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Harry Angier Hoffner, Jr. American professor of Hittitology, worked for many years until his retirement at the University of Chicago.

Reviews

[Stephen Simpson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a little puzzled as to what this book would be useful for ...

Whereas many "Grammar of..." books on various languages by various publishers provide valuable insights into the language and are valid learning aids, this one isn’t written or arranged that way. I can see how/where this information is useful for more linguistically-minded study and analysis of the language, but then the organization is not so convenient for that.

All in all, a lot of work went into this, and it's interesting to a point, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to how or to whom it would be useful.