Cassite language
- noun
- Specialized
- Only a few inscriptions in the Cassite language have survived from ancient Mesopotamia.
Examples
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The Cassite language remains only partially deciphered due to limited written records.
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Scholars continue to study the Cassite language to better understand Kassite culture and administration.
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The Cassite language was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia.
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Few texts remain that are written in the Cassite language.
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Only a few inscriptions in the Cassite language have survived from ancient Mesopotamia.
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Scholars continue to study the Cassite language to better understand Kassite culture and administration.
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The Cassite language remains only partially deciphered due to limited written records.
Synonyms
An ancient language once spoken in Babylonia that is now extinct
An extinct language once spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, known from a few names and words on clay tablets
An ancient language once used in Babylon, now known only from a few words
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a metonymic noun phrase formed by a proper adjective/noun plus 'language' that literally denotes the language of the Cassite people. If a B1 learner knows the constituent meanings (Cassite = relating to the Kassite people; language = a system of speech), the overall meaning is directly and compositionally derivable and follows a cross-linguistically common pattern.
Etymology
Cassite language gets its name from the people called the 'Kassites'; Cassite names that group and language simply means the tongue they spoke. So, Cassite language means the old language of the Kassites, and because only a few texts survive it is now considered extinct and partly unknown.