/pittahaliya-/, pi-ta-ha-li-ia-
‘to obtain legally, purchase(?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 1709
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/pittahaliya-/, pi-ta-ha-li-ia-
‘to obtain legally, purchase(?)’1.1.1Transmission
Occurring in just one text, this lexeme has two attestations in one of the Karkamiš inscriptions, dating to the late 10th or early 9th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| 1sg. pret. ind. act. | /pittahaliyah(h)a/ | (LOCUS)pi-ta-ha-li-ia-ha | KARKAMIŠ A11b+c, §4 (Karkamiš) |
| KARKAMIŠ A11b+c, §31 (Karkamiš) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation given should be understood to be tentative. For despite the fully syllabic spelling, the interpretation very much depends on the morphological analysis of the verb and the cognates it is linked with in the other Anatolian languages; there is no direct cognate in CLuw. The word may constitute a compound of the HLuw. cognates of Hittite piyetta- ‘allotment (of land)’ and ḫāli- ‘share, portion’ (Melchert 2011b:77), see the discussion of the stem below.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
While the meaning ‘to purchase’ is not entirely assured, the verb definitely denotes a transfer of ownership by legal means, i.e. ‘to obtain legally’. As laid out in Melchert 2011b:76f., the two occurrences of the verb in KARKAMIŠ A11b+c come up in neatly contrasting contexts. While the first in §4 states *a-wa/i-na IMAGNUS+ra/i-TONITRUS-tá-sa-za INFANS.NEPOS-sa-za CUM-ní (LOCUS)pi-ta-ha-li-ia-ha, approx. /a=wa=an Urattarhuntassanz hamsanz anni pittahaliyaHa/ ‘I purchased it (scil. the city Karkamiš) from Urattarhunza’s grandsons’, the second occurrence towards the end of the inscription invokes the gods as witnesses to this deal having been done legally: kwa/i+ra/i-i IMAGNUS+ra/i-TONITRUS-ta-sa-za INFANS.NEPOS-sa-za (“*314”)ha-sá-ti-i ARHA CAPERE-ha NEG2-wa/i-na kwa/i+ra/i-i (LOCUS)pi-ta-ha-li-ia-ha a-wa/i za-a-zi DEUS-ní-i-zi AUDIRE+MI-ta+ra/i-ru, approx. /kwari Urattarhuntassanz hamsanz hasadi ahha lahha na=wa=an kwari pittahaliyah(h)a a=wa zanzi massaninzi tummantararu/ ‘If I took it from Urattarhunta’s grandsons by force, if I did not obtain it legally, (then) these gods shall be heard (i.e. let people know about it)’.
Outdated are previous attempts at assigning a different meaning to the verb, e.g. in Poetto & Salvatori 1981a:51 n. 100 and Hawkins 2000a:105, 107.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The verb was identified as a compound from the start, albeit with various and now void cognate links, see below. Melchert 2011b:77 analyses it as a combination of the Luw. cognates of Hittite piyētta- ‘allotment (of land)’ and ḫāli- ‘share, portion’. Regarding the stem, the exact formation of the verb remains unclear until more attestations surface, because it could either belong to the class in /-i(ya)-(di)/ or into the one in /-iya-(i)/; cf. Sasseville 2021a:403.
Previous attempts to recognise the HLuw. word for ‘place’ vel sim. as a first part of this verb (e.g. Poetto & Salvatori 1981a:51 n. 100; Hawkins 2000a:105, 107; Tekoğlu & Lemaire 2000a:988; and still Frotscher 2012a:160) Kloekhorst mentions the verb in EDHIL:672f., but is already doubtful on grounds of spelling. have been refuted by Melchert 2011b:76f. and do not match the HLuw. word since then identified as denoting ‘place’, viz. /allant-/, at any rate.
[AH.B.]
For the lemma head, see HLuw. /piya-(i)/.