pitocν
‘like a gift or pledge (vel sim.)’
- Language
- Lydian
- Grammar
- u
- ID
- 1702
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Lydian
pitocν
‘like a gift or pledge (vel sim.)’1.1.1Transmission
This word is found in an inscription from Sardis datable to the Achaemenid period.
[D.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| indecl. (?) | pitocν | LW 24.5 (Sardis) |
The ending -cν, which is found multiple times in the Lydian corpus, is treated in several instances as an adverbial marker (following Carruba 1960a:32 n. 6). Differently, Gusmani 1964a:82 interprets it as acc. sg. c., which is problematic because of the enclitic pronoun =ad (nom./acc. sg. n.).
[D.S.]
1.1.3Meaning
The sentence puk=mλ=ad amu pitocν pidν (LW 24.5) seems to contain some kind of figura etymologica. Vetter 1959a:44 suggests for pitocν the meaning ‘pledge’ ‘Germ. Pfand’ and translates ‘oder auch nun ihm es ich als Pfand (?)’ (followed by Dusinberre 2003a:231, Bouzid-Adler 2014a:16, Probert 2018a:365). Carruba 1960a:32 n. 6 prefers the adverbial interpretation, which is fine, although it does not tell us exactly what the adverb would mean. However, since it is certainly related to the non-attested Lydian *pita- (= Lyc. pijata-), the sentence can be understood as follows: ‘whether he… or I gave it to him “like a gift/in the manner of a present”.
[D.S.]
1.1.4Stem
The underlying base *pito- should be related in some way to Lyd. *pita- ‘gift, delivery (vel sim.)’, the base of the denominatives pita-(t) and pita-(d). However, the formation in -o- remains unclear.
[D.S.]
For the derivational base see Lyd. *pita-.