zajala-

This lexeme is found in the inscription of the inscribed pillar of Xanthos, dated contextually to shortly after the ascension of Artaxerxes II in 405-404 BCE and stylistically to around 400 BCE (Borchhardt & Eichner 1997-1999a:19f.).

[D.S.]

nom. sg. (?)

zajala

TL 44d.24 (Xanthos)

Thus Sasseville 2014-2015a:112, following Shevoroshkin 1969a:271, who sees an agent noun formation in -ala- c. Differently, Melchert (DLL:137) takes it as a nom./acc. pl. n. of an adjectival suffix in -ele/i-, which is formally possible. The interpretation depends on the syntactic and semantic analysis, see below.

[D.S.]

The word zajala can be taken as the subject of the verb pssat[.] or as a (substantivized) adjective in -ele/i- agreeing with sxxaija. Shevoroshkin 1969a:271 sees in zajala an agent noun in -ala- c. related to Hitt. zāi-^(ḫi) ‘to cross (over)’ and translates it with ‘transgressor’ (tentatively followed by Neumann 2007a:429, differently Shevoroshkin 2014a:248 ‘tax-payer’ connecting it to the noun zata-). The first etymological approach of Shevoroshkin can be given some credibility, when one considers that the following clause contains the verb mrssxati ‘he desecrates’. Therefore, the semantics would be contextually supported (pace HEG W-Z:621), but, needless to say, further evidence is needed, especially since the clause in which zajala occurs remains obscure. The word is left untranslated by Melchert (DLL:137), Gehrisch 2018a:90, and Schürr 2018b:85.

[D.S.]

For a possible but very tentative etymological connection with Hitt. zāi-^(ḫi) ‘to cross (over)’, see under Meaning. No reconstruction is offered here.

[D.S.]