miwa-

This word is attested on a small jar found in a tomb of the northern slope of the Necropolis hill in Sardis. No accurate dating is available.

[D.S.]

nom./acc. sg.

miwad

LW 33 (Sardis)

There is possibly another attestation, which occurs in a completely different context, i.e. Lyd. ṃiwλ̣ (LW/N 115.5) (cf. Gusmani & Akkan 2004a). However, the uncertainty of the reading as well as the poor quality of the published picture make any comparison with miwad unreliable.

[D.S.]

The word miwad is written alone on a jar. A personal name is excluded, because miwad is inflected in the neuter case. Thus, it is more likely that miwad designates the content of the jar, e.g. ‘ointment’ (Gusmani 1964a:165). An etymological relation to Hitt. miu- ‘soft, smooth’ and CLuw. miyawa/i- ‘gentle, mild’ is very likely on phonological ground (Neumann apud HEG L-M:222). Thus, miwad could be taken as an adjective ‘mild’ describing the content of the jar or it could be substantivized referring to a type of ointment or parfum. As per HEG L-M:178, a connection to the Hittite word for ‘four’ is not supported contextually.

[D.S.]

For the lemma head see Lyd. *mi-.