hrixñtawata-

This lexeme is found in the inscription of the inscribed pillar of Xanthos dated contextually to shortly after the ascension of Artaxerxes II in 405-404 BCE and stylistically to around 400 BCE (Borchhardt & Eichner 1997-1999a:19f.).

[D.S.]

gen. adj. nom. sg. c.

hrixñtawatahi

TL 44a.51-52 (Xanthos)

The word hrixñtawatahi is a genitival adjective derived from the abstract noun xñtawata- ‘rule’ (Laroche 1979c:105, DLL:24). A derivation from the word xñtawate/i- ‘king’ is not possible (contra Neumann 2007a:99), because the genitival adjective of stems in -e/i- is -ehe/i- (see Sasseville 2018a:314-316 with further literature). Thus, Lyc. hrixñtawata- is a compound made of hri- ‘up(per), high’ (DLL:ibid., Schürr 2013d:266) and xñtawata- ‘rule’, which can be translated more elegantly as ‘higher rule’. Contextually speaking, it occurs within the listing of the military exploits of the Lycian king. It agrees syntactically with haxlaza- ‘governor’ (vel sim.), i.e. ‘governor of the supreme rule’ (thus also Schürr 2012a:121 and Serangeli 2015b:166). The locative xbide ‘in Kaunos’ specifies only where this governor, who has power over the Lycian ruler in Xanthos, is located.

se haxalza pabrati xbide hrixñtawatahi ese tabãna terñ ijãnã ijal^!usasị krzzãnase hãtahe (TL 44a.51-53)
‘As the governor of the higher rule in Kaunos ordered (him) to defeat the Greek from Ialysos on the Chersoneses in honor of the god of war, …’

For the translation of the passage see Sasseville 2021c and Serangeli 2019a:231. Differently, Laroche (ibid.) assumed that hrixñtawatahi modifies xbide ‘in Kaunos’, which however results in a nonsensical interpretation, since the city does not specifically belong to the higher kingship, but it is rather the governor in Kaunos who has a rank higher than the one of the Lycian ruler in Xanthos.

[D.S.]

For the lemma head see PAnat. *Hant-.