āštarala-

Hapax in a Luwian passage of an Ištanuwan ritual or festival (on the problem of the genre of these texts see Mouton 2016b).

[Zs.S.]

acc. sg. c. / nom.-acc. sg. n.

GIŠa-aš-ta-ra-la-an[

KUB 35.142 rev. iv! 9

(CTH 772, NS)

The attestation follows CLL:38 (who suggested both morphological analyses [Ünal 2016a:94 confusingly booked two different forms, without explanation]; DLL:34; Ertem 1974a:78, and Tischler 2008a:31, Tischler 2016a:40 assumed only the former one, but with question mark), checked against the photograph of the Konkordanz.

[Zs.S.]

The meaning of this word is unknown according to most of the scholars (Laroche 1959a:34; Ertem 1974a:109; CLL:38; Tischler 2008a:31, Tischler 2016a:40). The word appears as the first word of an Ištanuwan song, but the text is immediately broken and the meaning of the entire passage is unknown. It is only the determinative that limits the possibilities, thus this word means either a type of a tree or a wooden object (HW 2nd ed. A:492; Ünal 2007a:74, Ünal 2016a:94 [but without meaning in Ünal 2016a:953]).

I. Yakubovich (pers. comm.) suggested a meaning ‘throne’. Although this would lead to an etymologically transparent and meaningful formation (cf. Hieroglyphic Luwian ása- ‘to sit’, the abstract suffix -tar-, and the adjective suffix -alla/i-, the latter would require to analyse the attestation as nom.-acc. sg. n.), it is not supported by the context, as per above. Note also that the word for ‘throne’ appears in Hieroglyphic transmission as ist(a)r(a/i)ta- (see s.v.), which also argues against this proposal.

Finally, the assumption of Tischler 2008a:31, Tischler 2016a:40 that there is a homonymous Hittite word must be a misunderstanding, since there is no evidence for such a Hittite word and the Luwian status of this word is beyond doubt (it is preceded by the sentence nu kišan SÌR-RU ‘they sing as follows’, which introduces the Luwian passages in this text, cf. Starke 1985b:324).

[Zs.S.]