esẽnẽmla-

This lexeme is found in a dedicatory inscription pertaining to Arbinas, son of Gergis, who ruled towards the beginning of the 4^th century BCE.

[D.S.]

abl./istr.

[esẽ]nemladi

N 324.9 (Xanthos)

Bousquet 1992a:184 restores [esẽ]nemladi based on Lycian B esẽnẽmla-. This is further supported by the context; see under Meaning.

[D.S.]

Sasseville 2014-2015a:113 brings support to the restoration by pointing out that the word [esẽ]nẽmladi, interpreted as a divine epithet in Lycian B (see below), is likely to stand in apposition to the Storm-god, i.e. trqqñt[edi] (likewise Schürr 2016d:159f.).

[D.S.]

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.]

nom. sg.	esãnãmla	TL 44c.39 (Xanthos)
	esẽnẽmla	TL 44d.37 (Xanthos)
	asãnãmla	TL 44d.64-65 (Xanthos)
	esẽnẽ[m]la	TL 44d.13 (Xanthos)

Differently, Melchert (DLL:115) takes most of the attestations as locative singular, which is not supported by the overall contexts, where it must be subject of the verb and thus an agent.

[D.S.]

Neumann 1984b:89f. recognizes that Lycian B esẽnẽmla constitutes an apposition to the Storm-god trqqiz in the following passage:

me=pe=ne=tubidi : urtu : mrssxã : trqq[i]z : esetesi=[k]e er[b]besi=ke : lusasi esẽnẽ[m]la (TL 44d.11-13)

‘Does not the Storm-god of peace and war, the esẽnẽmla of lusa, destroy the great deceit?’

Therefore, he suggests translating esẽnẽmla- as an epithet of the Storm-god, meaning approximately ‘possessor’. Schürr 1997b:69 translates instead ‘lord, overseer’ (also in Schürr 2003b:113 and Schürr 2018b:68). Sasseville 2014-2015a:112f. analyzes the word morphologically as ese-nẽm-la, i.e. as an agent noun in -ala- derived from a root verb nem- combined with the preverb ese, comparing similar formations such as asawãzala- and asaxlaza- (likewise Schürr 2016d:159f.). Adducing evidence from the Proto-Indo-European root *nem- ‘to distribute’, he suggests that the formation could mean approximately ‘distributer, assigner’, but admits that the noun may have come to simply mean ‘lord’. In other passages, esẽnẽmla- is coordinated with other deities and modified by various genitival adjectives such as pasbasi ‘of the small livestock’, xbadasi ‘of the river-valleys’, which further sustains the hypothesis that it is a divine epithet (see Sasseville 2018a:310, 312).

Scholars have translated esẽnẽmla- with ‘blood clan/offering’ instead, based on an etymological approach with *esen- ‘blood’ (Hitt. ēšḫar/išḫan- n. ‘blood’) and Lyc. mla-. However, these semantics are not supported by the contexts where the lexeme occurs (contra Shevoroshkin 1977a:137, Shevoroshkin 2002c:415, DLL:115, Neumann 2007a:28, Gehrisch 2018a:82, 90f.).

[D.S.]

Sasseville 2014-2015a:113 argues that it is an agent noun in -ala- (with syncope of the first vowel of the suffix).

[D.S.]

Due to the obscurity of the preverb ese and the uncertainty of the connection with the root *nem-, it is preferable not to reconstruct anything until further evidence has been found. For the presence of the PIE root nem- in Hittite, see lamar/lamn- n. ‘moment’ (with dissimilation of *nam- > lam-) (EDHIL:519).

[D.S.]