/walanu-(i)/, MORI-nu-
‘to kill’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 1048
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/walanu-(i)/, MORI-nu-
‘to kill’1.1.1Transmission
Attested once in one of the letters found in Assur, this hapax legomenon dates to the late 8th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| 2sg. impv. act. | /walanu/ | MORI-nu-i | ASSUR letter e, §14 (Assur) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
While there is no fully syllabically spelt attestation for this lexeme so far, the phonological interpretation can still be viewed as fairly certain because of the evidence from other members of the word family around the verb /wala-/ ‘to die’. The logogram MORI (*386.*381) is used to cover the verbal root /wala-/ ‘to die’, and the causative suffix /-nu-/ is spelt out and known from other verbs besides.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
As the suffix /-nu-/ is used to build causative verbs in HLuw. and other Anatolian languages, a meaning ‘to make die = to kill’ can be regarded as certain for the present lexeme. Furthermore, /walanu-/ is paired with the pre-verb ARHA /ahha/, which is also found with /wala-/ ‘to die’ and adds a sense of completion to it that seems necessary to be expressed explicitly with this verb (cf. /wala-/ ‘to die’ and the discussion of its semantics there).
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The verb is a causative formation in /-nu-/, a suffix well-known from other verbs in HLuw. as well as from further Anatolian languages. Although there is no direct evidence for it, /walanu-/ is presumed to inflect as a ḫi-verb, because this is the default category for nu-formations (Sasseville 2021a:463f.).
[AH.B.]