ūmmaya-

The verb is found in a song called “the song of growth” sung by the chanter of the Palaic god Ziparwa during the ritual for the disappearing deity. This song, previously thought to be Palaic, has now been re-interpreted as an archaic Luwian dialect by Sasseville 2021a:368-371, comparable to the one of the town of Ištanuwa.

[D.S.]

nom./acc. pl. or coll.	[ú-um-m]a-ia	KUB 32.16, 2’	(CTH 752, OS)
	ú-um-ma-i-i[a]	KUB 32.16, 4’	(CTH 752, OS)
	[ú-um-ma-]⸢i-ia⸣	KUB 32.16, 7’	(CTH 752, OS)
	[ú-um-ma-]⸢ia⸣	KUB 32.16, 9’	(CTH 752, OS)
	ú-um-ma-ia	KUB 32.18 iv 9’	(CTH 751, MS)
	ú-um-ma-i-ia	KUB 32.18 iv 11’	(CTH 751, MS)
	[ú-]um-ma-i-ia	KUB 32.18 iv 13’	(CTH 751, MS)
	⸢ú-um⸣-ma-i-ia	KUB 32.18 iv 15’	(CTH 751, MS)
	[ú-u]m-ma-i-ia	KUB 32.18 iv 17’	(CTH 751, MS)
	[ú-um-]⸢ma-i⸣[-ia]	KUB 32.18 iv 19’	(CTH 751, MS)

Checked against the photographs in the Konkordanz (Mainzer Fotoarchiv).

[D.S.]

The word ūmmaya represents something that should grow. By using the etymological approach with the root for ‘to grow’ (cf. Hitt. māi-/-i(ya)-^(ḫi)), Sasseville 2021a:369 analyzes ūmmaya as a compound made of the privative suffix ūm- (< *ḿ̥- (assimilated) < *ń̥) and an abstract (or collective) noun maya- ‘growing, growth’ (see Pal. mayant-). Therefore, the word can be translated as ‘the non-growing, ungrowth’, i.e. ūmmaya maiu ‘The non-growing must grow!’.

[D.S.]

The exact stem of the word is unclear due to its sole attestation in the neuter plural or collective, which allows for different stem formations.

[D.S.]

1. ūmmayalla/i-

For the lemma head see CLuw. mai-/-iya-⁽ⁱ⁾.