Editing Kassites (section)

==Kassite language==
[[File:Caillou Michaux CdM.jpg|thumb|Babylonian [[Kudurru]] stele of the late Kassite period, in the reign of Kassite king [[Marduk-nadin-akhi]] (c. 1099–1082 BC). Found near [[Baghdad]] by the French botanist [[André Michaux]] ([[Cabinet des Médailles]], Paris)]]

The [[Kassite language]] has [[Unclassified language|not been classified]]. The few extant sources consist of personal names, a few fragmented documents, and some technical terms related to horses and chariotry.<ref>Brinkman, J. A. "Foreign Relations of Babylonia from 1600 to 625 B. C.: The Documentary Evidence". ''American Journal of Archaeology'' vol. 76, no. 3, 1972, pp. 271–281</ref> What is known is that their language was not related to neither the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language group, nor to [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] or other [[Afro-Asiatic]] languages. It is most likely to have been a [[language isolate]], although some linguists have proposed a link to the [[Hurro-Urartian languages]] of the [[Armenian highlands]] and [[Upper Mesopotamia]].<ref>Schneider, Thomas (2003). {{lang|de|italic=no|"Kassitisch und Hurro-Urartäisch. Ein Diskussionsbeitrag zu möglichen lexikalischen Isoglossen"}}. {{lang|de|Altorientalische Forschungen}} {{in lang|de}} (30): 372–381.</ref>

It has been suggested that several Kassite leaders bore [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] names, and they might have had an [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] elite similar to the [[Mitanni]]. Over the centuries, however, the Kassites were absorbed into the Babylonian population. Eight among the last kings of the Kassite dynasty have [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] names. It has also been suggested that the first element in [[Kudur-Enlil]]'s name is derived from [[Elamite]] but that is disputed.<ref>{{ cite book | title = Languages and Cultures in Contact at the Crossroads of Civilizations in the Syro-Mesopotamia Realm | chapter = The adaptation of the Kassites to the Babylonian Civilization | author = L. Sassmannshausen | editor = K. Van Lerberghe and G. Voet | publisher = Peeters Publishers | year = 2000 | page= 413 }} footnote 22.</ref><ref>Brinkman, J. A. "Administration and Society in Kassite Babylonia". ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' vol. 124, no. 2, 2004, pp. 283–304</ref>