wašḫar-

Hapax in a Luwian ritual fragment (NS).

[Zs.S.]

nom.-acc. pl. n.

wa-aš-ḫa-ra

KBo 29.28, 7

(CTH 765, MS?)

The attestation follows CLL:263 (unpublished at the time of Laroche 1959a). As H. C. Melchert points out (pers. comm.), both the hand copy and the photo of the Mainzer Fotoarchiv clearly show space after wa-aš-ḫa-ra and, accordingly, Starke’s reading as wa-aš-ḫa-ra-ạt[- (Starke 1985b:257, accepted by CLL:263 and Tischler 2008a:223, HEG U-Z:429) cannot be upheld. Also the grammatical definition follows Melchert’s pers. comm., cf. under Meaning.

[Zs.S.]

Based on the false reading of Starke (see under Forms), this word (restored as wa-aš-ḫa-ra-at-[ta]) was defined as a 3sg. pret. verb of unknown meaning (CLL:263; Tischler 2008a:223, HEG U-Z:429). For the new reading, formally a nom.-acc. pl. n., Melchert (pers. comm.) offered two possible connections:

1. The Hittite word wašḫar (for the attestations see HEG U-Z:394) probably meaning ‘garlic’ (see the discussion in EDHIL:982 and HEG U-Z:393‒395 with refs., cf. also Ünal 2016a:587).
2. The Luwian word wašḫa- of disputed meaning, probably a kind of implement (see the discussion s.v.).

The context of wa-aš-ḫa-ra is unfortunately fragmentary: the only clue is that ‘cranium’ vel sim. is mentioned in the preceding sentence (see s.v. ḫupall(i)-, on the following sentence see the discussion s.v. zīdan(i)- (?)). This does not allow either to (dis)prove any of the above proposals or to establish the meaning of this word.

[Zs.S.]

Last updated: 24 November 2020