/warma-/, wa/i+ra/i-ma-
‘(unknown)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst, gender unknown
- ID
- 1542
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/warma-/, wa/i+ra/i-ma-
‘(unknown)’1.1.1Transmission
Attested five times, this lexeme is limited to the letters found in Assur, but of uncertain origin. The letters date to the late 8th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| dat./loc. sg. | /warma/ | (“*286.*317”)wa/i+ra/i-ma-a | ASSUR letter a, §12 |
| (“*286.*317”)wa/i-ara/i-ma-a | ASSUR letter f+g, §37 | ||
| (“*286.*317”)wa/i-ara/i-ma | ASSUR letter a, §10 | ||
| (*286.*317)wa/i-a+ra-ma-i | ASSUR letter c, §9 | ||
| (“*286.*317”)(-´)wa/i-a+ra-ma | ASSUR letter b, §5 |
The spelling differences recorded for ASSUR letter a, §10 and §12 are indeed real and clearly legible on the photograph (the original lead strips have since been lost).
Hawkins 2000a:534f. transcribes the forms attested in ASSUR letters b, §5, and c, §9, as 〈wa/i-ra+a-ma-〉, adhering to the usual order of transcription for the combination (cf. Hawkins 2000a:31), but probably does not reflect the underlying phonological form in this case. Instead the additional 〈a〉 is most likely used as an indicator for the quality of the preceding vowel in 〈wa/i〉, which is otherwise underspecified for that.
All ASSUR letter attestations of /warma-/ are analysed as nom./acc. pl. n. by Hawkins 2000a:543f., which is possible, but syntactically less likely; cf. the discussion of the meaning below.
[AH.B.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this word as /warma/ is tentative and may have to be revised if further evidence and especially cognates in the other Anatolian languages surface; alternatively a form /warama/ may be possible. As it is, the syllabic spelling shows some variation, because the word-internal /r/ is rendered in different ways. Twice sign *133 (read AQUILA and 〈ara/i〉) is used, another two times a combination of the signs 〈a〉 (*450) and 〈+ra/i〉 (*383) represents the same phonology, and once the enclitic sign 〈+ra/i〉 attaches directly to the initial 〈wa/i〉 (*439). The fact that ASSUR letter a contains two of the three variants strongly indicates that they are not conditioned in any way, and it is likely that the different combinations all reflect the cluster /rm/. The syllabic spelling is consistently preceded by a combination of two logograms, *286 and *317, whose meanings have remained opaque so far.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
Hawkins 2000a:543-545 very tentatively suggests to translate the thrice attested phrase (“LEPUS”)ta-pa-sà-la-ia-a (“*286.*317”)wa/i-ara/i-ma (in this form taken from ASSUR letter a, §10), possibly /tapsallaya warma/, as ‘urgent demands (?)’, but also concedes that it may instead denote a concrete object that can be transported in baskets, because it tends to occur in contexts with the noun /arud(i)-/ ‘basket’ (see under lemma). As it is, neither /warma-/ nor its preceding adjective /tapsallaya-/ are at all clear, since both words have remained unconnected to any cognates so far. Moreover, the contexts the word appears in are only partly understood, and while it is likely that /warma/ represents a dat./loc. sg. in each case, even that cannot be taken for granted.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
Unclear. If the attested forms are indeed dat./loc. sg., the grammatical gender of /warma-/ remains unclear. If, however, they turned out to be nom./acc. pl. after all, /warma-/ would be neuter gender.
[AH.B.]