turawa-

This lexeme is found in an inscription contextually datable to the reign of Alexander the Great.

[D.S.]

acc. pl.

turawas

TL 29.18 (Tlos)

The nominative singular of a stem in -a(s)- is possible (cf. arñnas), but seems less likely.

[D.S.]

For the latest collation of the inscription TL 29, see Tekoğlu 2006a and for the confirmed reading of turawas, see Schürr 2001e:136. Gehrisch 2018a:45 discusses the word as tupawas in her commentary, although she records it as turawas in her transliteration on page 39. Her etymological assignment of the word based on her copying mistake is therefore invalid.

[D.S.]

The word turawas appears in a religious and administrative context, in which something beneficial was made for the Storm-god of the Lycians and the Greeks. It is the direct object of the verb [ … ]tẽ lost in the lacuna, whereas the subject of the action is possibly Alexander the Great mentioned earlier in the inscription in relation to the incorporation of Lycia into his kingdom. Without a proper cognate, it is not possible to venture any further regarding the meaning of turawas.

[D.S.]

The word is most likely an abstract noun in -wa- c. (cf. arawa- c.), derived from a base tura- (or ture/i-). Any relation to Luwian tūr(i)- ‘spear’ is unprovable.

[D.S.]