/warzan(i)-/, (CURRUS)wa/i+ra/i-za-ní-
‘campaign’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst, common
- ID
- 1291
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/warzan(i)-/, (CURRUS)wa/i+ra/i-za-ní-
‘campaign’1.1.1Transmission
The word is attested three times in inscriptions from Karkamiš and Tell Ahmar, dating to the 10th and the early 9th centuries BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom. sg. | /warzanis/ | (CURRUS)wa/i+ra/i-za-ní-i-sa | TELL AHMAR 6, §27 (Tell Ahmar) |
| acc. sg. | /warzanin/ | (CURRUS)wa/i+ra/i-za-ni-ná | KARKAMIŠ A11b+c, §7 (Karkamiš) |
| (CURRUS)wa/i+ra/i-za-ní-na | KARKAMIŠ A12, §4 (Karkamiš) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation followed here was proposed by Yakubovich 2016a:83 and constitutes the most likely interpretation. However, other interpretations are also possible, viz. /warrazan(i)-/ vel sim., because the HLuw. spelling system is too imprecise to render consonant clusters and geminates faithfully, and so far the word lacks cognates in the other Anatolian languages that could aid in the interpretation.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning suggested first was ‘chariot’, proposed by Hawkins 1975a:126 on the basis of the shape of the logogram, but more recently, Yakubovich 2016a:83f. could show that a meaning such as ‘(military) campaign’ fits better in all contexts of attestation. It is possible that the meaning ‘(military) campaign’ developed metonymically in a pars pro toto fashion. This becomes most obvious in KARKAMIŠ A11b+c, §7: a-wa/i kwa/i-a-ti-i (ANNUS)u-si-i ka-wa/i-za-na(URBS) (CURRUS)wa/i+ra/i-za-ni-ná PES2-za-ha, approx. /a=wa kwadi ussi kawizzan warzanin wazzahha/, translating as ‘In which year I led a campaign against (the town) Kawa’, which captures the action described in a more sensible way.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The word is a common gender noun and likely conforms to the i-mutated conjugational pattern, although that is not obvious from the attested forms. The stem appears to be a formation in /-an(i)-/, cf. Melchert 2003b:197, but the derivational base is not otherwise attested and hence opaque.
[AH.B.]
*This lemma was written in collaboration with the trainee Marian Wehrstein.