*debh-ó-lā-
‘clouds (coll.)’
- Language
- Proto-Luwian
- Grammar
- subst, coll.
- ID
- 1723
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Cuneiform Luwian
tapāla-
‘storm clouds’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is found exclusively in the incantations of the festival of Ištanuwa so far. It is also attested as the name of the moutain ḪUR.SAGtapāla (on the transmission of the name, see Starke 2019a:612f.).
[D.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom./acc. coll. | ta-pa-a-la | KUB 35.139 i 10’ | (CTH 773, MS) |
| KUB 35.139 i 12’ | (CTH 773, MS) | ||
| ta-ba-a-la | KBo 64.185, 3’ | (CTH 771, NS) | |
| [t]a-pa-a-la | KBo 14.121 iii? 9’ | (CTH 773, MS?) | |
| ta-pa-la | KBo 4.11 rev. 47 | (CTH 772, NS) | |
| KBo 4.11 rev. 48 | (CTH 772, NS) | ||
| t[a-pa-a-la] | KBo 40.256, 4’ | (CTH 773, MS?) | |
| [ta-pa-a-l]a | KBo 14.121 ii? 12’ | (CTH 773, MS?) | |
| [ta-pa]-a-la | KBo 14.121 iii? 5’ | (CTH 773, MS?) | |
| ta-[pa-a-la] | KUB 35.139 i 13’ | (CTH 773, MS) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photographs in the Konkordanz (Mainzer Fotoarchiv).
[D.S.]
1.1.4Meaning
The tapāla refer to something that is located in the sky (KBo 4.11 rev. 47, 48) (see Watkins 1995b:144-151, Katz 2001a:222f.). In all other passages, it refers to something that can be feared, i.e. the direct object of duwayai ‘fears’ (Sasseville 2021a:346f.). Drawing from the context and adding an etymological comparison with Greek νεφέλη ‘mass of clouds’ and Latin nebula ‘fog’, both Carruba 1998c:75-77 (followed by Schürr 2003b:110) and Sasseville 2021a:346f. suggest the meaning ‘clouds’ (and the latter author specifies it to “storm clouds” in communication with Craig Melchert and Ilya Yakubovich). This is further supported by the fact that the incantations in which the storm clouds are mentioned are introduced by ] ḫa-me-eš-ḫi ku-wa-pí ḫé-e-un kar-ap-zi [kiš-]ša-an SÌRRU ‘when in the spring (the earth) devours the rain… They sing as follows:’ (KUB 35.139 i? 6’-7’). Therefore, tapāla refers to the storm clouds that bring rain.
[D.S.]
1.1.5Compounds
- mTapalazunauli- (see also under CLuw. zunauli-).
2. Reconstruction
2.1Reconstruction ‘clouds (coll.)’
Carruba 1998c:77 and Sasseville 2021a:347 n. 17 compare Luw. tapāla with Greek νεφέλη ‘mass of clouds’ and Latin nebula ‘fog’. As pointed out by Sasseville, the Luwian formation must go back to the suffix -ó-lo- and not *-é-lo-, which becomes CLuw. -alla/i- because of Čop’s Law. Both Carruba and Sasseville reconstruct a collective formation in *-eh2 and, thus, we posit a pre-Luwian form *debh-ó-lā- (coll.) < *nebh-ó-leh2. For the assimilation of initial *n to *d, see lemma head PAnat. *nḗbhes-/*nébhes-.
[D.S.]
3. Proto-Indo-European
3.1Semantic Reconstruction
The continuants of PIE *nebhElo/eh2- mean ‘(mass of) cloud(s); haze, mist, fog; darkness, night’. A conceivable semantic development that would account for the variety of meanings attested is: (1) ‘(mass of) cloud(s)’ (Gk., Luw.) > (2) ‘haze, fog, mist’ (Lat., Germ.) > (3) ‘darkness, night’ (Germ.) vel sim. seems likely.
3.2Morphological Reconstruction
The two noun stems PIE *nebh-(E)lo- (m.) and *nebh-(E)le-h2- (coll. > f.) live on in CLuw. tapāla- ‘storm clouds’ (< PLuw. [coll.] *debh-ólā- ← *nebh-óleh2-), Gk. νεφέλη f. ‘(mass of) cloud(s)’, Lat. nebula f. ‘mist, fog’, OIr. nél ‘cloud’, and PGerm. *neƀ(V)la- m. (OHG nebul ‘mist, fog’, OS neƀal ‘id.’, etc.), *neƀ(V)lō(n)- f. (ON njól(a) ‘darkness, night’). The underlying root is PIE root *nebh- ‘to become wet, become cloudy’ (LIV²:448). The suffix *-(E)lo- can either be analyzed as *-(E)l-o- or *-(E)-lo-, thus pointing to a thematization of an athematic stem in *‑(E)l- or to a thematic stem in *-lo-, respectively. Since some forms, however, seem to point to a preform *nebh-lo- (e.g., OIr. nél, W ni(f)wl, etc., as per Lucht 2007a:83f.; perhaps also some Germanic forms, cf. the discussion in EDPG:386), a suffix analysis *-(E)l-o- makes more sense. For further nominal derivatives of the root *nebh-, cf. the overview in NIL:499–504; particularly noteworthy is the neuter s-stem PIE *nē̆́bhes- ‘cloud; (cloudy) sky’.
[T.S.]