isbazije-
‘bench, couch’
- Language
- Lycian A
- Grammar
- subst, n.
- ID
- 1458
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Lycian A
isbazije-
‘bench, couch’1.1.1Transmission
This word is found in grave inscriptions, one of which (TL 128) belongs to Krustti, child of the famous Trbbẽnimi, who was active during the Peloponnesian war in the second half of the 5th century BCE, whereas Perikle, Trbbẽnimi’s other child, became prominent in the first half of the 4th century BCE.
[D.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom./acc. sg. | ị?sḅ?azijẽ | TL 84.2 (Sura) |
| dat./loc. sg. | isbazi | TL 49 (Xanthos) |
| TL 128.2 (Limyra) | ||
| iṣbazi | TL 75.3 (Tyberissos) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
For a new collation of TL 75, see Christiansen 2020a:232. The reading in TL 84.2 is more difficult. Pedersen & von Luschan 1889a:44 read hrzzẽn͂ : srazijẽ, whereas Kalinka 1901a:68 reads hrzzẽ ịsp̣azijẽ with the first i and p of ispazijẽ marked as damaged. Pedersen 1945a:57 and Schürr 2001e:149 point out that the p̣ (or ṛ) could instead be read as ḅ (if not emended), which would conform to the other attestations of the lexeme (also read as ḅ by Arkwright apud Ormerod & Robinson 1914a:22 n. 26). As to the reading with ṇ instead of ị, which is phonotactically awkward (but cf. Schürr ibid., who uses aphaeresis and sandhi to explain it, although a carving mistake is always possible), the latter is preferable on comparative grounds with the other attestations. Nevertheless, pending a new reliable collation of the inscription, the word is read here with reservation as ị?sḅ?azijẽ (thus also Neumann 1999a:53f.).
[D.S.]
1.1.4Meaning
The word isbazije- n. expressed the place in the Lycian tomb, where the body lies. Its meaning was elucidated properly by Arkwright (apud Ormerod & Robinson 1914a:22 n. 26), who equates it with Greek κλίνη ‘bench, couch’ (thus also Pedersen 1945a:52, Laroche 1960a:181, Meriggi 1978c:253, Neumann 1999a:53f., Melchert (DLL:29), Schürr 2013c:27). Neumann 1999a:54 also points out that the inscription TL 49, which begins with ebehi isbazi ‘on this couch here’, is written immediately above the couch, where the body would lie. For a list of outdated hypotheses, see Neumann 1999a:53f. or Neumann 2007a:154.
[D.S.]
2. Reconstruction
2.1Reconstruction
An etymological connection between isbazije- n. ‘bench, couch’ and the Anatolian root for ‘to sit’ (Hitt. ēš-/eš-(mi) ‘to sit’, HLuw. /asa-(i)/ ‘id.’) has been suggested by Neumann 1999a:54. To explain the retention of the -s- in is-, he reconstructs a formation in *-sk̑e/o-, i.e. *es-sk̑e/o-, followed by an abstract formation in *-u̯r̥/n- (cf. Hitt. ašāwar ‘sheepfold’) with the development Pre-Lycian *war > *wa > ba- /C_. The assumption of a formation in *-sk̑e/o- is possible, but not cogent, because the final -s- of a root verb *is- would remain intact in Lycian due to the assimilation of the cluster -st-; cf. es-(ti) ‘to be’ as in esi ‘he is’ (< *h1ésti). Thus, the verbal noun would keep it in analogy to its base. Further, the i-vocalism of the root can be explained by adducing CLuw. iš-(ti) ‘to sit’ (and its derivative /išnuwa-(i)/ ‘to seat, settle’), which goes back to an acrostatic paradigm; see under lemma. Therefore, one can reconstruct straightforwardly *(h1)ēs-u̯r̥ > Lyc. A *isba-. The remaining chain of suffixes -(a)zije- n. can be interpreted as a substantivized adjectival formation in -i(je)- derived from a noun in -aza-. Contra Hajnal 1995a:110 n. 101, who suggests a phonologically and semantically unlikely etymology; cf. Neumann 2007a:154.
[D.S.]
For the lemma head see PAnat. *(h1)ḗs-/(h1)és-.