*nu(n)
‘now’
- Language
- Proto-Anatolian
- Grammar
- adv
- ID
- 1320
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
*/nun/
‘now’1.1.1Derivatives
1.2 Cuneiform Luwian
*nun
‘now’1.2.1Derivatives
1.3 Lycian B
*nun
‘now’1.3.1Derivatives
1.4 Lydian
*nu
‘(particle)’1.4.1Derivatives
1.4.1.1Uncertain Derivatives
1.5 Palaic
nū, nu
‘(particle)’1.5.1Transmission
This lexeme is found across the whole Palaic corpus.
[D.S.]
1.5.2Forms
| indecl. | nu-ú | KUB 35.165 obv. 1 | (CTH 751, OS or MS) |
| nu-ú | KUB 35.165 obv. 2 | (CTH 751, OS or MS) | |
| nu-ú | KUB 35.165 rev. 19’ | (CTH 751, OS or MS) | |
| nu-ú | IBoT 2.35 + KBo 19.150 obv. 8 | (CTH 751, MS) | |
| nu-ú | KBo 19.153 iii 4’ | (CTH 751, NS) | |
| ˹nu-ú˺ | KBo 64.179 5’ | (CTH 751, NS) | |
| nu-˹ú˺ | IBoT 2.36 obv. 1 | (CTH 751, NS) | |
| [nu]-ú | IBoT 2.36 obv. 1 | (CTH 751, NS) | |
| nu | KUB 35.165 obv. 16 | (CTH 751, OS or MS) | |
| [n]u-u(=) | KUB 35.165 obv. 22´ | (CTH 751, OS or MS) | |
| nu-u(=) | KUB 35.165 obv. 22´ | (CTH 751, OS or MS) | |
| nu | KUB 35.165 rev. 11’ | (CTH 751, OS or MS) | |
| nu | KUB 32.17 + KUB 35.167 2’ | (CTH 751, MS?) | |
| nu | KUB 32.17 + KUB 35.167 7’ | (CTH 751, MS?) | |
| nu | KUB 32.17 + KUB 35.167 16’ | (CTH 751, MS?) | |
| nu | KUB 32.17 + KUB 35.167 18’ | (CTH 751, MS?) | |
| nu | KUB 32.17 + KUB 35.167 19’ | (CTH 751, MS?) | |
| nu | KUB 32.17 + KUB 35.167 23’ | (CTH 751, MS?) | |
| nu | IBoT 2.35 + KBo 19.150 obv. 7 | (CTH 751, MS) | |
| nu | IBoT 2.36 obv. 3 | (CTH 751, NS) | |
| nu | KUB 35.168 4’ | (CTH 751, OS) | |
| nu | KUB 32.18 i 16’ | (CTH 752, MS) | |
| nu-u(=) | KBo 19.157 6’ | (CTH 754, NS) | |
| nu-u(=) | KBo 19.157 10’ | (CTH 754, NS) | |
| ˹nu˺ | KBo 64.179 6’ | (CTH 754, NS) | |
| n(=) | KUB 35.165 rev. 13’ | (CTH 751, OS or MS) | |
| n(=) | KBo 48.178 iv 13’ | (CTH 751, NS) | |
| n(=) | KUB 35.168 4’ | (CTH 751, OS) | |
| n(=) | KUB 35.163 ii 22’ | (CTH 751, NS) | |
| n(=) | KBo 37.150 ii 3’ | (CTH 751, NS) |
Pace Yakubovich 2005c:112, the two examples of nu-u(š-ši) (KUB 35.165 obv. 22’) are not enclitic to the previous word, which must be part of the preceding sentence. Thus, nu has the sentence initial position; see the lemma Pal. āš-/aš-(ti) under forms.
[D.S.]
1.5.3Graphic Features
Checked against the Photographs in the Konkordanz.
[D.S.]
1.5.4Meaning ‘(1) Oh!, Hey! (2) (left untranslated)’
The lexeme nū/nu has two principal functions:
(1) The first one is used, when the speaker wishes to turn the attention of a god to something within his vicinity. In this case, nū is often spelled plene and is followed by the name of a god in the vocative. This function is comparable to the one of Hittite kāša, which is a pragmatic marker with a speaker-oriented deixis (Rieken 2009a, Sasseville 2019a:24 n. 8). It can be translated as ‘here’ or ‘look here’. The previous assumption that it means ‘now’ was biased by its etymology; cf. Kammenhuber 1959a:12f., Carruba 1970a:65, Melchert 1994a:197. There is no contextual support for the temporal meaning ‘now’. Yakubovich 2005c:112 correctly translates in this case nū dza-pár-waa with ‘Oh, Zaparwa!’ (KUB 35.165 obv. 1), but does not discuss the function of nū in this case.
(2) The second function is never spelled plene and has been designated as a sentence initial conjunction like Hitt. nu (Carruba 1970a:66), which is mostly left untranslated. For the various syntactic functions that the Hittite conjunction nu can have, see Hoffner & Melchert 2008a:390-392.
[D.S.]
1.6 Hittite
nu, *nun
‘now’1.6.1Literature / Comments
CHD L-N:460-468, 472-474, HEG L-N:339-343, 347-350, HED K:183-185, HED N:122-124, 126-130, EDHIL:478f., 607-610, Hoffner & Melchert 2008a:390-392, Widmer 2009a:323-335. Starke 1979a:253f. (and Starke 1990a:367) claimed Luwian origin for all derivatives of *nuntar- ‘present’ in Hittite transmission. Regarding nuntar(r)iyašḫa- ‘haste’, he based the assumption on its late attestation (13th c.) and, for nuntarnu- ‘to hurry, hasten’, in spite of its occurrence in MS manuscripts, on the use of the ending 3sg. pret. -tta. Another argument is the use of the suffix -tar(r)i- (-tar- in Starke 1990a:367-370). None of these arguments, alone or in combination, is convincing, because the word family is attested in Hittite from MH onward and the suffixes *-(n)tar- and, additionally, -šḫa- are present as well. Also the 3sg. pret. ending -tta in nuntarnutta beside regular nuntarnut adduced by Starke is by no means limited to Luwian borrowings, see EDHIL:801.
[E.R.]
2. Reconstruction
2.1Reconstruction ‘now’
The conjunction nu found in Hittite and Palaic, which can be reconstructed as Proto-Anatolian *nu, has several lexical cognates within the Anatolian languages (cf. HED N:122-124, HEG N:340-343, EDHIL:607). Hittite and Luwic have derivatives from an adverbial base *nun or (in Luwian) nānun ‘now’, e.g. Hitt. nuntarnu-(mi) ‘to hurry, hasten’, Lyc. B nuni-(ti) ‘to make swift (?)’ and CLuw. nanuntarri(ya)- ‘present’. This allows the reconstruction of at least the adverb *nun for Proto-Anatolian, which must have been grammaticalized as a sentence introductory particle and in the case of Palaic also as an interjection.
Starke 1990a:366 (with further literature) suggests that the Luwian adverb nānun is composed of a pronominal stem *na- and the adverb *nun, comparing Hitt. kinun ‘now’, although the comparative evidence is weak.
See also the related Proto-Anatolian reconstruction *néu̯o-.
[D.S.]
3. Proto-Indo-European
3.1Semantic Reconstruction
The PIE temporal adverb *nū̆ means ‘now’, according to LIPP II:577–583. For further information on the function and semantics, cf. LIPP II:582f. Cf. also EIEC:397, Watkins 2000a:59.
3.2Morphological Reconstruction
In LIPP II:577–583, a temporal adverb PIE *nú ‘now’ is reconstructed, which is attested in the majority of the IE languages and served as the base of several derivatives (adverbs, particles, conjunctions, etc.) – cf., e.g., PIE *nú-h1 (> *nū́ after the loss of the laryngeal),Others, however, explain the long vowel of *nū́ as the result of a lengthening in monosyllables (rejected in LIPP II:578 n. 8, cf. also LIPP I:86–88). *nú-m, etc. An already PIE nominal derivative was *néu̯-o- adj. ‘new’ (Hitt. nēu̯a-, Ved. náva-, Gk. νέος, Lat. novus, OCS novŭ, etc.), which is usually considered to be a vr̥ddhi formation and stands next to *néu̯-i̯o- adj. ‘id.’ (Ved. návya-, Goth. niujis, Lith. naũjas, etc.). Cf. LIPP II:577–583 and NIL:524–526, each with further lit.
[T.S.]
4. Transmission
Ved. nū̆́ adv. ‘now’ (RV+), Ved. nū́tana- adj. ‘present, current, new’ (RV+), Ved. nūnám adv. ‘now, at present, today, probably, certainly’ (RV+); Av. nū adv. ‘now’, OAv. nūrǝ̄m adv. ‘now’, YAv. nūrǝm, nūrąm adv. ‘id.’, OPers. nūram adv. ‘now’, MPers. nūn adv. ‘now’, etc.Cf., e.g., EWAia II:52f. s.v. nú, nū́tana-, and nūnám, LIPP II:577–583, Schmitt 2014a:222f.