lusa-

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.]

The genitival adjective lusasi modifies esẽnemla- ‘lord’, a divine title applying in this case to the Storm-god Trqqiz. Meriggi 1938a:154 n. 3 suggests speculatively the meaning ‘loss’. Neumann 1984b:90 translates it as ‘defeat’ on contextual grounds. Shevoroshkin 2002a:229 compares HLuw. /luslusa-⁽ⁱ⁾/ ‘to sacrifice by burning’ and translates Lyc. B as ‘fiery’, which is not entirely fitting. Adducing an etymological connection with HLuw. /lusi-^(ti)/ ‘to disappear’, the semantics posited by Meriggi and Neumann become more plausible. However, a more neutral term such as ‘destruction’ would be more adequate, especially considering the predicate of the sentence, i.e. tubidi ‘he destroys’, and the derivative lusali(je)-.

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, lord of destruction, destroy the great deceit?’

No semantics are assigned by Melchert (DLL:120), Neumann 2007a:188 or Gehrisch 2018a:90. Schürr 2018b:71 compares the place name ijal^!usas (the Greek town Iyalysos on Rhodos), which does not lead anywhere.

[D.S.]

1. lusali(je)-

For the lemma head see Lyc. B *lus-.