zarp(i)-

The attestations of this word come from an incantation and the incipit of a song sung by the people of Lallupiya.

[E.R.]

The grammatical analysis of za-ar-pa-a in KUB 25.37 ii 29’ is far from assured. Given the fragmentary context, a 2sg. impv. is equally possible (for the 2sg. impv. ending -a, see Sasseville 2021a:20, 82, 342).

[E.R.]

Checked against the photographs in the Konkordanz.

[E.R.]

The classification of zarp(i)- as one of the evils that befall the head goes back to Meriggi 1957a:217 (followed in HEG A-K:515), but must be discarded.Also outdated is Laroche’s (DLL:114) comparison with Hitt. šarpa-. Instead, the relevant nouns designate entities or marks applied to a pot in order to fashion a human head as a substitute (Melchert 1988b:213, Steitler 2017a:398f., see under tamma). After eyes, nose, probably ears and hair, another feature of the head, i.e. zarp(i)-, is added below (ānnan). This can only be the mouth, lips, teeth, chin, hairs of the beard or, less likely, the neck, as they are prominent lower parts of the head.

The use of the plural (zarpinza) probably excludes mouth, chin and neck. Another piece of circumstantial evidence comes from the use of the figura etymologica zarpinza zarpainta. While ‘to “tooth” the teeth’ and ‘to “lip” the lips’ make no sense in the context of fashioning the head, a meaning ‘to brush the brushes’ (NHG ‘die Borsten bürsten’) could refer to ‘etching (with a brush) (etches) to imitate the hair of a beard into the surface of the vessel. This is at least a possible line of thought, but further support is needed. However, it is difficult to square this hypothesis with the proposed meaning of the gloss wedge word zarp(i)-, which seems to denote parts of a bed (see under Lemma).

[E.R.]

The acc. pl. zarpinza belongs to a mutated noun zarp(i)-. The collective form zarpā (if to be thus interpreted) is likewise compatible with such a stem and would be the base of the denominative verb zarpa(i)-^(di) (see under Lemma).

[E.R.]

1. zarpa(i)-^(di)
2. ^mZarpiya (PN) (Otten 1953a:30, 35, Laroche 1966b: no. 1538)

The word is attested in two NS fragments, a cult inventory and a historical text.

[E.R.]

The only hint as to the semantics of this noun can be drawn from the isolated syntagm in the cult inventory za-ar-pí-in-zi ŠA ^GIŠNÁ ‘the z. of a bed’, which points towards regarding zarp(i)- (pl.) as parts of a bed. It remains unclear, however, in what way this is compatible with the assumption that the zarp(i)- (pl.) used in a Cuneiform Luwian incantation designate lower parts of the human head (see under Lemma). The idea that zarp(i)- could mean ‘straw (for the bed)’, but also be used metonymically for the beard (cf. NHG Stoppeln for a ‘badly shaved beard’ and ‘cut grass’) probably crosses the line into pure speculation.

[E.R.]