Harappan | |
---|---|
Indus Valley, Mohenjo-Daro | |
Region | Indus Valley |
Extinct | c. 1300 BC, or later |
unclassified | |
Indus script | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | xiv |
xiv | |
Glottolog | hara1272 |
The Harappan language is the unknown language or languages of the Bronze Age (c. 2nd millennium BC) Harappan civilization (Indus Valley civilization, or IVC). The Harappan script is yet undeciphered, indeed it has not even been demonstrated to be a writing system, and therefore the language remains unknown.[3] The language being yet unattested in readable contemporary sources, hypotheses regarding its nature are based on possible loanwords, the substratum in Vedic Sanskrit, and some terms recorded in Sumerian cuneiform (such as Meluhha), in conjunction with analyses of the Harappan script.
There are some possible loanwords from the language of the Indus Valley civilization. Sumerian Meluhha may be derived from a Harappan term for the Indus Valley civilization, also reflected in Sanskrit mleccha meaning non-Vedic or foreign, and Witzel (2000) further suggests that Sumerian GIŠšimmar (a type of tree) may be cognate to Rigvedic śimbala and śalmali (also names of trees).[4]