†zuwai-

This word is only assumed to appear once in Pittei’s ritual (CTH 767) on a LNS Sammeltafel.

[A.B.]

3sg. pres. ind. act.

x(-)zu?-wa-iz-zi

KUB 44.4+ rev. 10

(CTH 767, LNS)

Ünal 2007a:828 lists a verb zuwai- with the meaning ‘feed, cater, cook for so?’ as a Glossenkeilwort (in addition to a Hittite verb zuwai-), cf. Ünal 2016a:613. He does not cite any attestations for this word, but probably means the uncertain attestation x(-)zu^?-wa-iz-zi in rev. 10 of the LNS Sammeltafel KUB 44.4+, for which Beckman 1983a:176 had suggested the reading zu-wa-iz-zi, (based on a collation of Klengel rejecting an older reading ḫu^!-iš^!-wa-iz-zi). Starke 1985b:234 read the sequence similarly, but without gloss marker, and in note 106 he states that there are two small wedges before zu-wa-iz-zi, but does not interpret them as Glossenkeile. Cf. below for a discussion of other interpretations of this form.

[A.B.]

According to the photo from the Mainzer Fotoarchiv (cf. the hand copy), the first sign shows two short verticals on the upper part of the line, but they are not similar to the other gloss markers on this tablet, which are usually diagonals. There are also traces of a horizontal below these two verticals. Hence, it is more likely that they represent the remains of another sign.

[A.B.]

The context of KUB 44.4+ rev. 10 shows the following (the transliteration is based on the photo of the Mainzer Fotoarchiv, and in addition, the hand copy as well as the transliterations, restorations and translations of Beckman 1983a:176f., 184; Starke 1985b:234; Giorgieri 2004a:410, 413f.; Bachvarova 2013a:137, 139 and HEG U–Z:794 have been taken into account):

⁽¹⁰⁾nu gim-an ul ku-it-ki na-at da-pí-an egir-pa qa-tam-ma x(-)zu^?-wa-iz-zi

⁽¹⁰⁾and if there was nothing, likewise he/she (...) it all afterwards

Giorgieri 2004a:413f. suggested to emend the form to kap^!-wa-iz-zi (cf. also HEG U–Z:794 under the lemma zuwai-) according to parallel text passages with the sequence āppa qatamma kappuwai-^zi (which he regards as a phraseological construction), followed by Bachvarova 2013a:137, 139. While such a proposal is semantically plausible, unfortunately the sign (or signs) at the beginning of this word do(es) not actually look like the sign KAB (the deviating sign form is also indicated in Giorgieri’s transliteration), most of all with regard to the two final verticals that do not appear in the sign forms listed for KAB in Rüster & Neu 1989a:115.

Since the second sign indeed looks like the ZU-sign, other similar verbs could be considered (e.g. Hitt. genzuwai-^zi ‘to treat friendly’, but it is unlikely that the sign before ZU could be EN and there is not enough room for another sign before this one).

To conclude, the beginning of this word remains largely unidentifiable, a gloss marker does, however, seem unlikely in comparison with the other gloss markers in the same text. Hence the form remains acephalic for the moment with presumably two signs at the beginning, of which one is probably ZU: x(-)zu^?-wa-iz-zi. In any case, the assumed Glossenkeilwort †zuwai- is not attested and is treated here as a ghost word.

[A.B.]