māuwani-^(ti)

The Luwian word is a hapax, attested in a MH horse training text.

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Checked against the photograph in the Konkordanz.

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While CHD L-N:211 cautiously refers to māuwani(ya)- very generally as ‘an action of horses’, the derivational relationship of the denominal verb with its base word māwa(/i)- ‘four’ has been widely acknowledged (Otten 1953a:27f., Rosenkranz 1956a:289 n. 7, DLL:70, Kammenhuber 1961b:153 n. c, CLL:145, HED M:118, HEG L-N:169 and 223, HHw:103, also CHD L-N:309, Ünal 2007a:440, EDHIL:571f.). However, the exact meaning does not immediately emerge from the connection. Otten 1953a: 27f. seems to think of something like ‘to run four miles’; Melchert (CLL:145) proposes transitive ‘to hitch a four-span’; CHD L-N:309 suggests intransitive ‘to run in fours, run in (teams of) four’, considering the context with DANNA ‘mile’ and the parallel Hittite derivative m(i)uwaniyant-, e.g. in nekumantiš=at 1[/2 DANNA zallaz(?) u]wanzi miuwaniyantiš=at x [DANNA uwanzi] ‘naked they go [trotting] ha[lf a mile], in a team of four [they go] x [miles]’ (see already Kammenhuber 1961b:153 n. c, 190f., 212f. For 1 DANNA = 900 m, see Starke 1995a:21f.). Tischler (HEG L-N:223) points to parallel formations from Latin, Arabic, Turkish and Persian, where the word for ‘to gallop’ is derived from the lexeme ‘four’, e.g. Latin quadrupedo currere ‘to gallop’. Finally, Starke 1995a:44 n. 105 argues for the opposite: “… meuu̯anii̯antes uwe- ‘als vier (Hufschläge) Machende gehen’ = ‘im Schritt gehen’.” The intransitive use with DANNA ‘mile’ permits all of the last three options.

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Starke 1989a:667 offers two explanations for māuwani(ya)-: a denominative -i(ya)- verb built on *māuwann(i)-, or a derivative of māuwa(/i)- with the denominative suffix -(a)ni(ya)-. The single spelling of -n- in both Luw. mauwani(ya)- and its Hittite equivalent m(i)uwaniye/a-^(mi) favors the latter solution. This, in turn, speaks for a verb in -i-^(ti); for the suffix -ani-^(ti) see Sasseville 2021a:148-151.

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The similar contexts of māuwani-^(ti) and Hitt. m(i)uwaniyant- (an action of horses) in a text containing many other Luwianism, combined with the obvious derivational relationship between CLuw. māuwa(/i)- ‘four’ and māuwani-^(ti), permit a secure attribution of the verb to Luwian origin.

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HED M:117, HEG L-N:223, HHw:107, CHD L-N:308f., Ünal 2007a:452, EDHIL:571f., Starke 1989a:667.

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