Luvian

In the early 20th century, archeologists had collected a large quantity of inscriptions presumed to be in the ancient Hittite language. Unfortunately, these writings were totally incomprehensible until one scholar discovered the key. Many of the words in the inscriptions were names of regions, cities or kings. This key allowed the scholars to unlock the secrets of this ancient writing system. However, it was also discovered that the language was not Hittite! Rather it is an Anatolian language called Luvian (or Luwian). Some of the important names were the following: Regions: Khamatu, Palaa. Cities: Kurkuma, Tuvarnava. Kings: Varpalava, Tarkumuva.

1. The following are the inscriptions that correspond to these names. Your job is to match each inscription with the name that it represents. The process you use to solve this puzzle is very similar to what archeological linguists actually do when they discover writings and inscriptions in unknown languages.

2. Now, the next step is to use what you have just learned to determine what the Luvian inscription would probably be for each of the following names:

The king Parta:

The king Armura:

The region Tarmu:

The region Tuva:

The region Narva:

Original puzzle by A. Zhurinsky. English adaptation by Valentin Vydrin.

English version copyright (c) 1998. Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon.