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, l ...
spoken in the area of
Isauria
Isauria ( or ; grc, Ἰσαυρία), in ancient geography, is a rugged, isolated, district in the interior of Asia Minor, of very different extent at different periods, but generally covering what is now the district of Bozkır and its surro ...
,
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, Du ...
. Isaurian names containing clear
Anatolian 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
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