/wasi/, wa/i-si-

Attested only once, this hapax legomenon occurs on one of the lead strips from Tabal, dating to the mid- or late 8^th century BCE.

[AH.B.]

The meaning of this word long escaped scholars, although its identification as a verb was clear, cf. e.g. Morpurgo Davies 1979a:587 and Hawkins 1987a:148, 150. Meriggi & Poetto 1982a:107 explicitly negate the link with Hittite wāš-^(ḫi) ‘to buy’ and instead propose a connection with Hittite wēšiye/a-^(mi) ‘to graze’. More recently, the likely etymological link with Hittite wāš-^(ḫi) ‘to buy’ and the context of attestation in KULULU lead strip 2, §1.2 prompted scholars to assign the present meaning (cf. HEG U-Z:381 and Vernet 2017a:64): 68 OVIS-na ^Ila-li-sá ^Imara/i-sà-ta-ia pi-ia-i ku-ki-sà-ta-za kwa/i-za wa/i-si-i, approx. /… hawin Lalis Marsattaya piyai kuKisattanza kwanza wasi/, which probably translates as ‘Lali gives 68 sheep to Marsatta, so that he will buy them for the kuKissatta-’. However, it should be noted that the KULULU lead strips are, for all their regular structure, difficult to understand, and that further evidence is needed to prove the semantic assignment and the proposed etymological connection.

[AH.B.]

The word appears to be a root verb inflecting according to the ḫi-conjugation, as is evident from the attested 3sg. pres. act. form, see Vernet 2017a:64. Other proposals for a stem /wasa-/ vel sim. (see e.g. HEG U-Z:381) do not reflect the evidence from the attested form.

[AH.B.]