šamēri-
‘ram’
- Language
- Palaic
- Grammar
- subst, c.
- ID
- 1564
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Palaic
šamēri-
‘ram’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is found in the incantations of the festival for the Palaic pantheon.
[D.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom. sg. | ša-me-ri-iš | KBo 19.153 iii 4´ | (CTH 751, NS) |
| ša-me-ri-i[š] | KBo 19.153 iii 4’ | (CTH 751, NS) | |
| ša-me-i-ri-iš | KBo 19.152+ i 9’ | (CTH 751, MS) | |
| [ša-me-i-]ri-iš | KBo 19.152+ i 9’ | (CTH 751, MS) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photographs in the Konkordanz (Mainzer Fotoarchiv).
[D.S.]
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
Based on the etymological connection with Hitt. išmeri- n. ‘rein’, which shows the Hittite reflex of an original initial cluster *sm-, the vowel in the sign 〈 ša 〉 in Pal. ša-me-i-ri-iš is interpreted as a mute vowel, i.e. /smēris/.
[D.S.]
1.1.4Meaning
Based on the relation between the Hittite and the Palaic text, Otten 1968-1969a:112 equates Pal. šameri- with the Sumerogram UDU.NITÁ ‘ram’. Watkins 1978a:308 follows Otten and brings further evidence from another Hittite ritual, where the sacrificial animal, i.e. iyant- ‘sheep’, is being iteratively uttered at the beginning of the incantation (KUB 35.148 iii 37f.). Furthermore, he adduces a lexical parallelism between Hitt. da-ak-ku-da-ku-wa-a[n-…] and Pal. ták-ku-wa-a-ti each occurring in the same incantation as the iterative utterance of the sacrifice animal. Carruba 1972a:42 objects to Otten’s interpretation on the pretense that it would be difficult to fit in syntactically. Melchert 1984b:40f. prefers to see an epithet of Ziparwa, since he expects in this case nothing else from what follows the divine name. The objections of Carruba and Melchert cannot be upheld. First, the god is being called, then his attention is turned towards the animal, which is about to be sacrificed to him. Afterwards, the incantation goes on. The interpretation of Otten (ibid.) remains the best on contextual grounds (see Sasseville 2019a).
[D.S.]
2. Reconstruction
2.1Reconstruction ‘that which binds, rein’
Palaic šamēri- c. ‘ram’ is cognate with Hitt. išmeri- n. ‘rein’. The latter goes back to a heteroclitic stem in *-mer/n-, i.e. *išmer-/išman- (Rieken 1999a:364 with further literature). Palaic seems to have derived the neuter formation with the common gender suffix -i-, i.e. *-mér- (od. -mḗr-) + -i- c. ‘ram’, just as Hittite has created a neuter i-stem išmeri- n. ‘rein’. The root is here reconstructed as *sh2eh1- (see PAnat. *sh2óh1-/sh2h1-´), which is here further supported by the Palaic root verb išḫa-. Therefore, the Proto-Anatolian pre-form can be reconstructed as *sh2h1-mer/n- ‘that which binds, rein’ (and Pre-Pal. *sh2h1-mer-i- c. > šamēri- /smēri-/ c. ‘the one pertaining to the reins, ram’.
[D.S.]
For the derivational base see Pal. išḫa-.