/ussalli(ya)-/, (“ANNUS”)u-sa-li-
‘annual, yearly’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Class
- Derivative
- Grammar
- adj
- ID
- 1152
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/ussalli(ya)-/, (“ANNUS”)u-sa-li-
‘annual, yearly’1.1.1Transmission
The four occurrences of this lexeme originate from different regions of the HLuw. area and attest to its wide-spread usage with inscriptions found in Tabal in the north, Amuq in the south, Karkamiš towards the east, and Maraş in the middle. While most of the texts date to the 8th century BCE, the one from Karkamiš is older with a dating to the late 10th or early 9th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| acc. sg. c. | /ussalliya(n)/ | (“ANNUS”)u-sa-li-ia(=) | MARAŞ 3, §6 (Maraş) |
| /ussalin/ | u-sa-li(=) | SULTANHAN, §29 (Tabal) | |
| acc. pl. c. | /ussallinzi/ | ANNUS+ANNUS-la/i/u-zi | TELL TAYINAT 2, §2b-a (Amuq) |
| unclear | /ussalli-.../ | “ANNUS”-li-i-x | KARKAMIŠ A 29f2, l. 2 (Karkamiš) |
The above forms are combined into one paradigm here, but it is possible that they actually represent two different stems, viz. /usalla/i-/ and /usalli(ya-)/; cf. the discussion of the stem below.
Both attestations from MARAŞ 3, §6 and SULTANHAN, §29 are followed by a string of clitics, starting with 〈-pa〉, i.e. /=ba/. The word-final /n/ of the acc. sg. c. case ending is dropped in this environment in accordance with HLuw. orthographic practice, cf. e.g. Melchert 2003b:182.
[AH.B.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of the present lexeme is reasonably secure. Not only are there fully syllabic renditions of the word available, but it is also part of the word family around /uss(i)-/ ‘year’ and employs suffixes well-known from other HLuw. lexemes. Still, it should be noted that the forms attested for the acc. sg. c. show different spellings with regard to their stem finals: the attestation from MARAŞ 3, §6 clearly shows a stem in /-i(ya)-/; the same stem may underlie the spelling attested in SULTANHAN, §29, as contractions of /-iya-/ to /-i-/ occur in HLuw., cf. e.g. Melchert 2003b:183, but it may in fact represent a stem in /-alla/i-/ instead; see the discussion of the stem below.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning was assigned by Laroche 1960c:178f., following the identification of /uss(i)-/ as ‘year’ by Bossert 1952-1953a:171f. In its contexts, the adjective is always used to modify nouns denoting items such as sheep or bread, intended as regular sacrifice to an aforementioned deity.
The once-used logogram ANNUS+ANNUS (sign *340) remained unclear for some time, but was eventually identified by Laroche 1960c:180 as a doubling of sign *336 (ANNUS) into a saltire-like design.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The present adjective is ultimately based on the noun /uss(i)-/ ‘year’. The form /ussalliyan/ attested in MARAŞ 3, §6 shows that two suffixes are added to it, /-alla/i-/ and /-i(ya)-/, both of which are used to derive adjectives of appurtenance. Yet many of the forms derived with /-alla/i-/ were substantivised at some point and apparently no longer offer an adjectival reading (cf. e.g. the brief summary in Sasseville 2014-2015a:109f.), instead requiring further derivation to that end with the present lexeme being a case in point. In fact, the HLuw. corpus provides evidence for another suffixation to derive an adjective from the stem in /-alla/i-/, viz. /ussallizza-/ (see under lemma), with the same denotation as the present lemma.
However, as mentioned above, the spelling of most attestations of the present lexeme is rather less clear, since all rely on a single sign involving i-vocalism, which can either represent a contracted stem in /-i(ya)-/ (cf. e.g. Yakubovich 2015b:6.2) or a stem only in /-alla/i-/ with no further derivation. Considering the fact that /-alla/i-/ has ceased to be productive in Iron Age Luwian and only persists in some rare and highly frequent forms (notably /tadalla/i-/ ‘paternal; see Bauer 2014a:162-164), it is more likely that a contraction has taken place than to assume two different stems for the present lemma, although further textual evidence may change that analysis.
[AH.B.]