/wazza-/, (“CONTRACTUS”)wa/i-za-
‘to trade (?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 1272
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/wazza-/, (“CONTRACTUS”)wa/i-za-
‘to trade (?)’1.1.1Transmission
Attested just once, this hapax legomenon originates from one inscription from Tell Ahmar. The text is tentatively dated to the 8th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| 3pl. pres. ind. act. | /wazzanti/ | (“CONTRACTUS”)wa/i-za-ti-i | ARSLANTAŞ, §3 (Tell Ahmar) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
With the use of the sign 〈wa/i〉 (*439), the phonological interpretation of this verb is tentative, and an alternative form may be /wizza-/. It is not clear if the present lexeme has any cognate links within the Anatolian languages, although Hawkins 2000a:247 (followed by Yakubovich 2016a:88) has suggested a connection with Hittite waš- ‘to buy’ and explicitly dissociates it from /wazza-/ ‘to lead’.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The proposed meaning is to be taken with caution, because the word is attested in a fragmentary context and hence difficult to assess semantically. As it occurs in a building inscription for a city, and involves the logogram 〈CONTRACTUS〉 as a determinative, this can imply that the meaning should be sought within the semantic field of trading, and Hawkins 2000a:247 connects it semantically to Hittite waš- ‘to buy’. The use of said logogram suggests very strongly that it is not connected to /wazza-/ ‘to lead’, which is usually preceded by the logogram 〈PES2〉, cf. Yakubovich 2016a:88.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The verb could be a stem in factitive /-a-(ti)/ or in /-a(i)-(di)/, both of which can have 3pl. pres. act. in /-anti/ in Iron Age Luwian in the 1st millennium BCE (see Sasseville 2021a:19-21, 80-83), or a root verb, but for lack of a reliable cognate, the remaining stem formation of this lexeme remains in the dark.
[AH.B.]