ñnaza-

This word is found in a grave inscription from Limyra.

[D.S.]

dat. sg.

ñnazi

TL 143.4 (Limyra)

Contra Bryce 1975a:35 and Melchert (DLL:40), the stem-final -azi of a formation in -aza- must be taken as dative singular and not nominative, which would be *ñnaza.

[D.S.]

The sequence mlã : ñnazi has often been treated as one word in the literature and emended to mlã{:}ñnazi (see Meriggi 1978c:255, DLL:40 and Neumann 2007a:218. with further literature), though without any cogent argument. Since a substantive mla- c. is independently attested, it is preferable to take the word divider seriously and assume two separate nouns; see under Meaning.

[D.S.]

The sentence in which mlã : ñnazi occurs can be interpreted as follows:

se=pij[ete] mlã : ñnazi : ebẽñnẽ : ñtatu : pttlezeje se=ladi e[h]bi mam͂mahaje : kbatri : ehbi : se=tideime : ehbije (TL 143.4-5)

‘He (scil. Xudara) gave as mla-offering this chamber here to the ñnaza Pttlezẽi, his wife Mam̃maha (Xudara’s) daughter, and his children.’

Syntactically speaking, mlã may be in apposition to ñtatu, while ñnazi would modify Pttelezẽi. For a translation and a contextual interpretation of the inscription, see Neumann 2012a:402f. Considering that the noun ñnazi is an agent noun formation in -aza-, it probably denotes the profession of Pttelezẽi. Nonetheless, no semantic assignment can be given as long as the meaning of the root ñn- remains unknown.

[D.S.]

The comparison by Melchert (DLL:40) between Lyc. †mlãñnazi and Lyd. mλwẽnda- is no longer tenable.

[D.S.]

For the lemma head see ñne-^(ti).