/wassinassahid-/, “EUNUCHUS”-hi-
‘retinue (?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst, neuter
- ID
- 1345
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/wassinassahid-/, “EUNUCHUS”-hi-
‘retinue (?)’1.1.1Transmission
This hapax legomenon is attested once on one of the letters found in, but not originating from Assur. The text is dated to the late 8th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom./acc. sg. | /wassinassahi=sa/ | “EUNUCHUS”-hi-sà | ASSUR letter f+g, §6 |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The sole attestation of this word in ASSUR letter f+g, §6 was identified as belonging to the word family around /wassinass(i)-/ ‘attendant’ by Hawkins 1980b:118, and the suffix employed is well-known from other lexemes. The suffix shows the common elision of the final stop before the neuter particle /=sa, =za/ (cf. Melchert 2003b:186). However, with much of the stem covered by the logogram EUNUCHUS (*474), it remains unclear what the exact shape of the underlying part of the word is. The suggested phonological shape is therefore tentative.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning of this lexeme is inferred based solely on its morphology, in which the concrete noun /wassinass(i)-/ ‘attendant’ is combined with the suffix /-ahid-/, which is usually used to build abstract nouns, and the resulting literal translation would be ‘eunuch-hood’ vel sim. Hawkins 2000a:550 wonders with good reason if the abstract noun might be intended to represent a semantic plural (cf. Modern German Diener ‘servant’ → Dienerschaft ‘the servants (of a household)’, because the context in ASSUR letter f+g, §6, difficult to interpret as it may be, at least clarifies that /wassinassahid-/ denotes a group of living persons: “EUNUCHUS”-hi-sà-wa/i (BRACCHIUM)hu-mi+ra/i-ha zi-ku-na-ti ARHA wa/i-la-mi-na-´ PUGNUS.PUGNUS-nu, which is only tentatively translatable so far as ‘Uphold (=keep alive) the retinue and hummiri dying from zikuna!’.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
Assuming the phonological interpretation suggested above is correct, the derivational base of this lexeme is /wassinass(i)-/ ‘attendant’, see under lemma. The present formation is more certain for being fully visible in the spelling, evidencing the well-attested suffix /-ahid-/ (thus already Hawkins 1980b:118), which forms neuter abstracts from nominal and verbal bases (cf. e.g. Yakubovich 2015b:6.2).
[AH.B.]
For the lemma head see Luw. /wassina(/i)-/