How was Hittite cuneiform related to Mesopotamian cuneiform?

The cuneiform script used by the Hittites was a direct adaptation of the Mesopotamian system. Specifically, it is considered a variant of the Mesopotamian script that closely resembles the shapes and ductus (handwriting style) found in 17th-century BCE tablets from Alalakh.1

The transmission of this writing system likely occurred through the Hurrians, who had adopted Old Akkadian cuneiform around 2000 BCE and subsequently passed it on to the Hittites after they invaded central Anatolia. It is believed that the Hittites may have initially used this acquired script to write Akkadian—the diplomatic language of the era—before later employing it for their own language.21

Hittite scribes were trained in a curriculum that included both Sumerian and Akkadian, and they utilized the Mesopotamian system's mix of ideograms and phonetic signs to record their own texts. In many cases, Akkadian versions of texts served as essential tools for modern scholars to decipher the Hittite language.134