/marnussa-(i)/, DELERE-nu-sà-
‘to destroy, to make disappear’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 1447
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/marnussa-(i)/, DELERE-nu-sà-
‘to destroy, to make disappear’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested twice within the same inscription from Tell Ahmar, dating to the late 10th or early 9th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| 1sg. pret. ind. act. | /marnussahha/ | DELERE-nu-sà-ha | TELL AHMAR 6, §6 (Tell Ahmar) |
| “DELERE”-nú-[sà]-ha | TELL AHMAR 6, §5 (Tell Ahmar) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological
Despite a lack of fully syllabic spellings, the phonological interpretation of this verb is quite secure, because it clearly derives from the verb /marnu(wa)-(i)/ ‘to destroy, to cause to disappear’, see the discussion of the stem below.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The assigned meaning is based both on the contexts of attestations and on the fully transparent morphology of the word; it was first suggested by Hawkins 2006a:13, who does not even comment on this form. As it is, the verb is used twice in adjacent clauses in TELL AHMAR 6, §§5-6: *a-mu-pa-wa/i *a-mi-zi tá-ti-zi a-la/i-ní-zi (DEUS.ORIENS)ki-sà-ta-ma-si-zi (DEUS.ORIENS)ki-sà-ta-ma-ti ARHA “DELERE”-nú-[sà]-ha [...]-wa/i (OCCIDENS)i-pa-ma-si-zi ARHA DELERE-nu-sà-ha *a-mi-ia-ti (DOMINUS)na-ní-ia-ti *314-sa-ta-na-ti, approx. /ammu=ba=wa amminzi tadinzi aluwanninzi kistamassinzi kistamadi ahha marnussahha ...=wa ibamassinzi ahha marnussahha ammiyadi naniyadi hastanadi/, translating as ‘I destroyed my father’s enemies utterly, the eastern (ones) from the east, […] I utterly destroyed the western (ones) with my lord’s support’ (cf. Hawkins 2006a:13). It is possible, though not provable, that the verb denotes a less concrete ‘to make disappear’ vel sim.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The verb clearly belongs to the class in /-ssa-(i)/, which frequently marks imperfectivity, but Sasseville 2021a:496f., with good reason, argues here for a marking of distributivity instead, cf. the contexts of attestation cited under Meaning.
[AH.B.]
For the base of the derivative, see HLuw. /marnuwa-(i)/.