Isaurian is an
extinct language
An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, especially if the language has no living descendants. In contrast, a dead language is one that is no longer the native language of any community, even if it is still in use, li ...
spoken in the area of
Isauria,
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
. Epigraphic evidence, including funerary inscriptions, has been found into the 6th century AD. The personal names of its speakers appear to be derived from
Luwian
The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian sub-fam ...
and thus
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
. Isaurian names containing clear
Anatolian
Anatolian or anatolica may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the region Anatolia
* Anatolians, ancient Indo-European peoples who spoke the Anatolian languages
* Anatolian High School, a type of Turkish educational institution
* Anatol ...
roots include Οαδας ''Oadas'', Τροκονδας ''Trokondas'' (cf.
Luwian
The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian sub-fam ...
''
Tarḫunt,''
Lycian 𐊗𐊕𐊌𐊌𐊑𐊗 ''Trqqñt''), Κουδεις ''Koudeis'' (cf. Lycian ''Kuwata''), and Μοασις ''Moasis'' (cf.
Hittite ''muwa'' "power").
The Isaurian personal name Τουατρις ''Touatris'' may reflect the Indo-European word for 'daughter' (compare Hieroglyphic Luwian ''
FILIAtú-wa/i-tara/i-na'').
[Blažek, Václav. “Indo-European kinship terms in *-ə̯2TER”. (2001). In: ''Grammaticvs: studia linguistica Adolfo Erharto quinque et septuagenario oblata''. Šefčík, Ondřej (editor); Vykypěl, Bohumil (editor). Vyd. 1. V Brně: Masarykova univerzita, 2001. p. 25. http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/123188]
References
Extinct languages
Languages of ancient Anatolia
Unclassified Indo-European languages
Unclassified languages of Asia
{{IndoEuropean-lang-stub