išmẽn-

This lexeme is found in a metrical inscription carved on a funerary stele from the necropolis that has not yet been dated accurately.

[D.S.]

The base išmẽn- has been compared to the name Ἰσμήνη (daughter and half-sister of Oedipus, and general personal name) and Ἰσμηνός (river in Boeotia) found in Greek Transmission (Buckler 1924a:27, Brandenstein 1929a:300; the comparison is doubted by Gusmani 1964a:136). Although the Lydian išmẽn- is not likely to be a personal name in this case, since it modifies sfatos ‘owner’, it could nonetheless represent the appellative upon which the personal name is ultimately based. Later, Gusmani 1979e:136 n. 30 equates Lyd. išmẽn- to Lyc. sm̃ma- c. ‘binding, obligation’ (and Hitt. išḫima(n)- c. ‘rope’) and suggests a similar meaning for Lydian, while admitting that the context neither proves nor disproves his hypothesis. Since išmẽnliš modifies sfatos ‘owner’, i.e. ‘owner of the išmẽn’, one would rather expect that išmẽn- refers to some kind of property or object related to the necropolis or the nearby Artemision, i.e. širmaλ ẽn.

[D.S.]

Morphologically speaking, the most direct interpretation would be a stem in -mẽn- to a root iš-. Whether the i- can be considered the result of an epenthesis as expressed by Gusmani 1979e:136 n. 30 depends on the etymology and the postulation of a syncope, i.e. *iš(H)i-mẽn- > išmẽn-.

[D.S.]

No etymological proposal can be synchronically sustained and, therefore, no Proto-Anatolian reconstruction will be offered here.

[D.S.]