Fred Woudhuizen

Fred Woudhuizen graduated from high school in 1977. He finished his history studies in 1985 with an exam in Ancient History and specializing in Prehistory and Early History of the Mediterranean region. His education included Provincial Roman Archeology and the study of Classical languages, including Latin and Greek, as well as Luwian languages, Italian dialects and Mycenaeology. In 2006 he obtained his doctorate from Erasmus University Rotterdam with a Dissertation on The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples. From 1986 to 1989 and 1992 to 1995 Woudhuizen was editor of the Dutch journal Talanta, Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society and from 1990 to 1992 director of the “Henri Frankfort Foundation”.

Woudhuizen examined in particular the writing systems of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age of the Mediterranean, including Luwian hieroglyphs, Cretan hieroglyphs, Linear A, Cypro-Minoan and the Byblos Script. He has also dealt extensively with the Luwian language and with "Trümmersprachen" (Lycian, Lydian, Sidetic, Carian) and investigated Etruscan and Southwest Iberian. Woudhuizen applied a methodical principle to his work, which Stefan Hiller describes as a “paleographic-comparative procedure”.{{cite journal |last1=Hiller |first1=Stefan |title=Die kyprominoische Schriftsysteme |journal=Archiv für Orientforschung |date=1985 |issue=Beiheft 20 |page=83}} A similar approach had been used by Michael Ventris in the deciphering of Linear B.{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=The Decipherment of Linear B |journal=The Earliest Cretan Scripts [1] |date=2006 |issue=Sonderheft 125 |pages=15–28 |series=Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft}} Similar or comparable character forms in related writing systems are used and their known phonetic values are transferred to the script to be deciphered. Woudhuizen described the most difficult part of his deciphering work as “hunting for sound values”. If the character sequence of the writing to be deciphered can be translated into a sequence of phonetic values, the writing becomes legible. In order to make them understandable, word parallels in other languages must be used. Due to the close relationship of the language branches within the Indo-European language family, the meaning of some terms is obvious.

Until 2008, Woudhuizen worked for two decades jointly with Jan Best, at that time a lecturer in Ancient History and Prehistory at the University of Amsterdam. Best had deciphered the libation formula in Linear A in 1981: “I have given and my hand has made as an expiatory offering, oh Asherah.”{{cite journal |last1=Best |first1=Jan G. P. |title=YAŠŠARAM! |journal=Supplementum Epigraphicum Mediterraneum and Talanta, Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society |date=1981 |issue=13 |pages=17–21}} According to his studies, this sentence showed that it is a Semitic language, which was written in a linearized script derived essentially from the Cretan hieroglyphs. Woudhuizen continued this work on his own from 2009, mainly transferring the phonetic values from the later Linear B to the signs of Linear A. He then identified the words using a Semitic dictionary – and was thus able to read Linear A. According to Woudhuizen, the language of the Linear A tablets is identical to the Semitic dialect that was spoken in Byblos at the same time.{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=Various Versions of the Linear A Libation Formula, again, but now in their entirety |journal=Ugarit-Forschungen |date=2008 |issue=40 |pages=571–585}}

The deciphering of Linear A triggered a domino effect, because the transfer of phonetic values between similar characters in different writing systems also made other scripts that were previously considered undeciphered readable, including the Byblos Script{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=On the Byblos Script |journal=Ugarit-Forschungen |date=2007 |issue=39 |pages=689–756}} and Cypro-Minoan.{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=The Language of Linear C and Linear D from Cyprus |journal=Publications of the Henri Frankfort Foundation |date=2017 |volume=15 |url=https://www.academia.edu/7961366}} According to Woudhuizen, the situation on Crete, with regard to languages and scripts, was complicated, as in addition to Semitic, Luwian and Pelasgian were also spoken and written on the island.{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=Documents in Minoan Luwian, Semitic, and Pelasgian |journal=Publications of the Henri Frankfort Foundation |date=2016 |volume=14 |url=https://www.academia.edu/33572402 |publisher=Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society |location=Amsterdam}} The Luwian language turned out to be particularly helpful in deciphering Cretan hieroglyphs, the longest text of which, according to Woudhuizen, is the famous Phaistos Disc.{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=Documents in Minoan Luwian, Semitic, and Pelasgian |journal=Publications of the Henri Frankfort Foundation |date=2016 |volume=14 |url=https://www.academia.edu/33572402 |publisher=Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society |location=Amsterdam |pages=19–212}}

Woudhuizen's works show that characters, scripts and languages of the 2nd millennium BC were largely derived from one another across the entire Mediterranean region. With regard to the transcription of Luwian hieroglyphs, Woudhuizen insisted that the sound values of the Luwian language, which are known for around 90 percent of the words, ought to be used. The standard method for transcription, as established in 1973, however, uses Latin terms. The well-known Luwian word “parna” (for house) is therefore transcribed with the Latin term “DOMUS”.{{cite journal |last1=Marazzi |first1=Massimiliano |title=Il Geroglifico Anatolico, Sviluppi della ricerca a venti anni dalla sua "ridecifrazione" |journal=Atti del Colloquio e della tavola rotunda, Napoli-Procida, 5-9 giugno 1995. Istituto Universitario Orientale, Dipartimento di Studi Asiatici, Serie Minor LVII. |date=1998 |publisher=Istituto Universitario Orientale |location=Napoli}} Woudhuizen argued that the translation into Latin hinders access to the Luwian language, thus making it unnecessarily difficult to understand.{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=Selected Luwian Hieroglyphic Texts: The Extended Version |journal=Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft |date=2011 |volume=141 |pages=Esp. Concordance, 20–44 |location=Innsbruck}} He also assumed a position against the so-called “new reading” advocated by J. David Hawkins and suggested replacing this with an “adapted old reading”.{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=Four Notes on Luwian Hieroglyphic |journal=Ancient West & East |date=2019 |issue=19 |pages=245-264 (esp. notes Three and Four, pp. 251-262)}}

Woudhuizen's arguments have been confirmed by the subsequent studies in a number of instances:

• Since the 1980s, Woudhuizen has argued that the coming of the Greeks should be placed around 1600 BC.{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |editor1-last=Best |editor1-first=Jan |editor2-last=de Vries |editor2-first=Nanny |title=Thracians, Luwians and Greeks in Bronze Age Central Greece |journal=Thracians and Mycenaeans, Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of Thracology, 24–26 September 1984 |date=1989 |pages=191–204 |publisher=E.J. Brill |location=Leiden}} Historian Robert Drews, in his work, The Coming of the Greeks, seems to agree with this late date.{{cite book |last1=Drews |first1=Robert |title=The Coming of the Greeks, Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean and the Near East |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, New Jersey |date=1994 |pages= 22, 126, 159, 194, 222 |isbn=0691029512 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fcVIcaJxgdUC&q=1600}}
• Woudhuizen argued that Luwian has to be centum like all other Early Indo-European languages.{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=Selected Luwian Hieroglyphic Texts: The Extended Version |journal=Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft |date=2011 |volume=141 |pages=407–409 |publisher=Institut für Sprachen und Literaturen der Universität Innsbruck |location=Innsbruck}} This suggestion was accepted by Craig Melchert in 2012.{{cite journal |last1=Melchert |first1=H. Craig |editor1-last=Sukač |editor1-first=Roman |editor2-last=Šefčík |editor2-first=Ondřej |title=Luvo-Lycian Dorsal Stops Revisited |journal=The Sound of Indo-European 2, Papers on the Indo-European Phonetics, Phonemics and Morphophonemics |date=2012 |pages=206–218 |publisher=Lincom Europa}}
• According to Woudhuizen, Luwian hieroglyphic came into use as early as 2000 BC,{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=Stamp Seal from Beycesultan |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |date=2012 |volume=40 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–10 |publisher=Institute for the Study of Man}}{{cite book |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=The Luwians of Western Anatolia, Their neighbours and predecessors |date=2018 |publisher=Archaeopress |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-78491-827-9 |pages=36–54}} and Willemijn Waal in a 2012 paper confirmed the existence of Middle Bronze Age Luwian inscriptions.{{cite journal |last1=Waal |first1=Willemijn |title=Writing in Anatolia: The Origins of the Anatolian Hieroglyphs and the Introductions of the Cuneiform Scripts |journal=Altorientalische Forschungen |date=2012 |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=287–315|doi=10.1524/aofo.2012.0020 |s2cid=163730722 }}
• The word tíwaná occurs frequently in the Late Bronze Age Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions from Yalburt and Südburg. Already in the 1990s, Woudhuizen interpreted this word to represent “enemy,” which helped understanding the texts much better.{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=Luwian Hieroglyphic Monumental Rock and Stone Inscriptions from the Hittite Empire Period |journal=Talanta, Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society |date=1994 |volume=26-27 |pages=182–183}} This interpretation was later confirmed by Ilya Yakubovich.{{cite journal |last1=Yakubovich |first1=Ilya |title=The Luvian Enemy |journal=Kadmos |date=2008 |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=1–9|doi=10.1515/KADMOS.2008.001 |s2cid=161147045 }}
• Piero Meriggi in 1964 read the sequence ma-sà-ka-na- as “Phrygians” in Kızıldağ 4{{cite journal |last1=Meriggi |first1=Piero |title=Una prima attestazione epicorica dei Moschi in Frigia |journal=Athenaeum |date=1964 |volume=42 |pages=52–58}} – and Woudhuizen was the only scholar who maintained this identification ever since.{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=Luwian Hieroglyphic Monumental Rock and Stone Inscriptions from the Hittite Empire Period |journal=Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft |date=2004 |volume=Sonderheft 116 |pages=161–162 |location=Innsbruck}} In 2019, the word “Muski” turned up in the Türkmen-Karahöyük inscription and was then interpreted to mean “Phrygian” – as it does in Kızıldağ 4.{{cite journal |last1=Goedegebuure |first1=Petra |last2=e. a. |title=Türkmen-Karahöyük 1: a new Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription from Great King Hartapu, son of Mursili, conqueror of Phrygia |journal=Anatolian Studies |date=2020 |volume=70 |page=32|doi=10.1017/S0066154620000022 |doi-access=free }}
• The Tuscany Dice bears the Etruscan words for the digits 1-6, where θu has been read as “one” and zal as “two”. Woudhuizen suggested swapping the numbers so that θu stands for “two” and is thus typically Indo-European.{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=Etruscan Numerals in Indo-European Perspective |journal=Talanta, Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society |volume=20-21 |pages=109–124}} This interpretation was later adopted by John Ray.{{cite journal |last1=Ray |first1=John D. |editor1-last=Bombi |editor1-first=R. |editor2-last=e. a. |title=Is Etruscan an Indo-European language? The case revisited |journal=Studi Linguistici in onore di Roberto Gusmani |date=2006 |volume=III |pages=1467–1482 |location=Alessandria}}
• In the late 1990s, Woudhuizen suggested that Southwestern Iberian is Celtic{{cite journal |last1=Woudhuizen |first1=Fred C. |title=The Celtic Nature of the Southwest Iberian Inscriptions |journal=Talanta, Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society |date=1998 |volume=30-31 |pages=159–174}} – an idea subsequently advocated by John Koch.{{cite journal |last1=Koch |first1=John T. |title=Tartessian [1]: Celtic in the South-west at the Dawn of History |journal=Celtic Studies Publications |date=2009 |volume=13 |location=Aberystwyth}}

• Luwian hieroglyphic monumental rock and stone inscriptions from the Hittite Empire period
• Selected Luwian hieroglyphic texts 1
• Selected Luwian hieroglyphic texts 2
• Selected Luwian hieroglyphic texts, the extended version
• The earliest Cretan scripts
• The earliest Cretan scripts 2
• The Phaistos Disc: A Luwian letter to Nestor
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20211202165119/http://www.woudhuizen.nl/fred/downloads/2006_The_Ethnicity_of_the_Sea_Peoples,Woudhuizen,F.C..pdf The ethnicity of the Sea Peoples]
• Ethnicity in Mediterranean Protohistory, with Wim M.J. van Binsbergen
• [https://www.academia.edu/7181437/Some_More_Etruscan_Inscriptions Some More Etruscan Inscriptions]
• [https://www.academia.edu/7181400/Two_Notes_on_Lydian Two Notes on Lydian]
• Etruscan as a colonial Luwian language, Amsterdam 2019
• The Liber Linteus

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web|url=https://independent.academia.edu/FredWoudhuizen|title=Fred Woudhuizen - Academia.edu|website=Independent.academia.edu|access-date=30 December 2017}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.woudhuizen.nl/|title=Woudhuizen|website=Woudhuizen.nl|access-date=30 December 2017|archive-date=6 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006214901/http://www.woudhuizen.nl/|url-status=dead}}

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Category:1959 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:Independent scholars

Category:20th-century Dutch historians

Category:People from Zutphen

Category:Dutch philologists

Category:Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni

Category:Luwian language

Category:21st-century Dutch historians