ḫapittala-
‘member, penis’
- Language
- Palaic
- Grammar
- subst, c.
- ID
- 1581
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Palaic
ḫapittala-
‘member, penis’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is found in a mythical passage of a ritual pertaining to the disappearing deity.
[D.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| acc. sg. | ḫa-pí-it-ta-la-an | KUB 32.18 i 11’ | (CTH 752, OS or MS) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photograph in the Konkordanz (Mainzer Fotoarchiv).
[D.S.]
1.1.4Meaning
The word ḫapittalan refers to a body part just like šāwitira-/šāwidār ‘horn’, which the ritual requires to be pressed by the eagle in order to rouse the missing deity. Oettinger 1986b:48 suggests an etymological connection with Hitt. ḫapuš- ‘penis’ and suggests the same meaning for Pal. ḫapittala- (followed by Melchert 1994a:190). The suggestion is plausible from an etymological perspective, considering that the root ḫap(p)- means ‘to join, attach’. Contextual confirmation is still missing, but one should notice the visual resemblance of the šāwitira-/šāwidār ‘horn’ and the ḫapittalan ‘member, penis’ as the body parts of the missing deity that need to be pressed on, which makes the hypothesis very appealing.
[D.S.]
1.1.5Stem
The noun ḫapittala- is built with the agent suffix -ala- (= Hitt. -ala- c.), also attested in the Palaic title watḫala-. This implies that the member in question is capable of acting, which makes the translation ‘penis’ quite adequate.
[D.S.]
For the derivational base see PAnat. *Hep-.