diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/dialect/HSQLDialect.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/dialect/HSQLDialect.java
index 36b7005af6..fe93d4d33f 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/dialect/HSQLDialect.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/dialect/HSQLDialect.java
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 		@Override
 		public String processSql(String sql, RowSelection selection) {
 			final boolean hasOffset = LimitHelper.hasFirstRow( selection );
-			if (hsqldbVersion < 20) {
+			if ( hsqldbVersion < 200 ) {
 				return new StringBuilder( sql.length() + 10 )
 						.append( sql )
 						.insert(
@@ -93,14 +93,14 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 
 		@Override
 		public boolean bindLimitParametersFirst() {
-			return hsqldbVersion < 20;
+			return hsqldbVersion < 200;
 		}
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * version is 18 for 1.8 or 20 for 2.0
+	 * version is 180 for 1.8.0 or 200 for 2.0.0
 	 */
-	private int hsqldbVersion = 18;
+	private int hsqldbVersion = 180;
 	private final LimitHandler limitHandler;
 
 
@@ -114,8 +114,9 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 			final Class props = ReflectHelper.classForName( "org.hsqldb.persist.HsqlDatabaseProperties" );
 			final String versionString = (String) props.getDeclaredField( "THIS_VERSION" ).get( null );
 
-			hsqldbVersion = Integer.parseInt( versionString.substring( 0, 1 ) ) * 10;
-			hsqldbVersion += Integer.parseInt( versionString.substring( 2, 3 ) );
+			hsqldbVersion = Integer.parseInt( versionString.substring( 0, 1 ) ) * 100;
+			hsqldbVersion += Integer.parseInt( versionString.substring( 2, 3 ) ) * 10;
+			hsqldbVersion += Integer.parseInt( versionString.substring( 4, 5 ) );
 		}
 		catch ( Throwable e ) {
 			// must be a very old version
@@ -141,7 +142,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 		registerColumnType( Types.VARCHAR, "varchar($l)" );
 		registerColumnType( Types.VARBINARY, "varbinary($l)" );
 
-		if ( hsqldbVersion < 20 ) {
+		if ( hsqldbVersion < 200 ) {
 			registerColumnType( Types.NUMERIC, "numeric" );
 		}
 		else {
@@ -149,7 +150,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 		}
 
 		//HSQL has no Blob/Clob support .... but just put these here for now!
-		if ( hsqldbVersion < 20 ) {
+		if ( hsqldbVersion < 200 ) {
 			registerColumnType( Types.BLOB, "longvarbinary" );
 			registerColumnType( Types.CLOB, "longvarchar" );
 		}
@@ -183,7 +184,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 		registerFunction( "database", new NoArgSQLFunction( "database", StandardBasicTypes.STRING ) );
 
 		// datetime functions
-		if ( hsqldbVersion < 20 ) {
+		if ( hsqldbVersion < 200 ) {
 			registerFunction( "sysdate", new NoArgSQLFunction( "sysdate", StandardBasicTypes.DATE, false ) );
 		}
 		else {
@@ -240,7 +241,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 
 		// special functions
 		// from v. 2.2.0 ROWNUM() is supported in all modes as the equivalent of Oracle ROWNUM
-		if ( hsqldbVersion > 21 ) {
+		if ( hsqldbVersion > 219 ) {
 			registerFunction( "rownum", new NoArgSQLFunction( "rownum", StandardBasicTypes.INTEGER ) );
 		}
 
@@ -275,7 +276,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 
 	@Override
 	public String getIdentityInsertString() {
-		return hsqldbVersion < 20 ? "null" : "default";
+		return hsqldbVersion < 200 ? "null" : "default";
 	}
 
 	@Override
@@ -285,7 +286,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 
 	@Override
 	public String getForUpdateString() {
-		if ( hsqldbVersion >= 20 ) {
+		if ( hsqldbVersion >= 200 ) {
 			return " for update";
 		}
 		else {
@@ -305,7 +306,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 
 	@Override
 	public String getLimitString(String sql, boolean hasOffset) {
-		if ( hsqldbVersion < 20 ) {
+		if ( hsqldbVersion < 200 ) {
 			return new StringBuilder( sql.length() + 10 )
 					.append( sql )
 					.insert(
@@ -321,7 +322,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 
 	@Override
 	public boolean bindLimitParametersFirst() {
-		return hsqldbVersion < 20;
+		return hsqldbVersion < 200;
 	}
 
 	@Override
@@ -331,7 +332,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 
 	@Override
 	public boolean supportsColumnCheck() {
-		return hsqldbVersion >= 20;
+		return hsqldbVersion >= 200;
 	}
 
 	@Override
@@ -388,7 +389,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 
 	@Override
 	public ViolatedConstraintNameExtracter getViolatedConstraintNameExtracter() {
-		return hsqldbVersion < 20 ? EXTRACTER_18 : EXTRACTER_20;
+		return hsqldbVersion < 200 ? EXTRACTER_18 : EXTRACTER_20;
 	}
 
 	private static final ViolatedConstraintNameExtracter EXTRACTER_18 = new TemplatedViolatedConstraintNameExtracter() {
@@ -516,7 +517,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 		// the definition and data is private to the session and table declaration
 		// can happen in the middle of a transaction
 
-		if ( hsqldbVersion < 20 ) {
+		if ( hsqldbVersion < 200 ) {
 			return new GlobalTemporaryTableBulkIdStrategy(
 					new IdTableSupportStandardImpl() {
 						@Override
@@ -610,7 +611,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 			return new OptimisticForceIncrementLockingStrategy( lockable, lockMode );
 		}
 
-		if ( hsqldbVersion < 20 ) {
+		if ( hsqldbVersion < 200 ) {
 			return new ReadUncommittedLockingStrategy( lockable, lockMode );
 		}
 		else {
@@ -634,7 +635,7 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 
 	@Override
 	public boolean supportsCommentOn() {
-		return hsqldbVersion >= 20;
+		return hsqldbVersion >= 200;
 	}
 
 	// Overridden informational metadata ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@ -651,12 +652,12 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 
 	@Override
 	public boolean doesReadCommittedCauseWritersToBlockReaders() {
-		return hsqldbVersion >= 20;
+		return hsqldbVersion >= 200;
 	}
 
 	@Override
 	public boolean doesRepeatableReadCauseReadersToBlockWriters() {
-		return hsqldbVersion >= 20;
+		return hsqldbVersion >= 200;
 	}
 
 	@Override
@@ -671,7 +672,8 @@ public class HSQLDialect extends Dialect {
 
 	@Override
 	public boolean supportsTupleDistinctCounts() {
-		return false;
+		// from v. 2.2.9 is added support for COUNT(DISTINCT ...) with multiple arguments
+		return hsqldbVersion >= 229;
 	}
 
 	@Override