*nḗb^hes-/*néb^hes-

This lexeme is attested 64 times in inscriptions from Karkamiš, the Amuq, Commagene, Tell Ahmar, Maraş, Tabal, Malatya, Cilicia, Aleppo and Emirgazi, dating from the 13^th to the early 7^th century BCE.

[A.P.]

The above table offers a representative selection, omitting broken attestations. 

[A.P.]

The meaning of this word became clear from the context early on (thus first suspected by Demircioğlu 1939a:64 and n. 314), although the shape of the logogram and its use on cups led to some confusion regarding the meaning of the word (for references see Laroche 1960c:97). Various scholars have pointed out that the double meaning of the logogram CAELUM referencing the sky in the form of a cup was actively used in HLuw. Thus, the noun /tabisa-/ ‘cup’ is spelt 〈CAELUM.PI〉 with the reading aid 〈pi〉 added to clarify which meaning is intended, see e.g. Bossert 1954c, cautiously Melchert 2002e:299 n. 9 and Yakubovich 2013a:119, and García Ramón 2011a:88.

The most common use of the word sees it employed as an epithet for the Luw. Tiwad- ‘sun-god’. A typical example occurs in SULTANHAN, §33b: (“CAELUM”)ti-pa-sa-si-zi-pa-wa/i-na DEUS-ni-zi (“TERRA”)ta-sà-kwa/i+ra/i-si-zi-ha VIR-ti-zi FEMINA-ti-zi-ha, approx. /tiPasassinzi=ba=wa=an massaninzi taskwarassinzi=ha zidinzi wanattinzi=ha/, meaning ‘(May the gods of the entrails eat him up,) the gods of the sky and the earth, the male and the female’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:467). The attested form /tiPasassanzi/ shows clearly the possessive suffix /-assa/i-/, i.e. the word does not occur as a noun, but as an adjective in this collocation. Since HLuw. expresses possession mainly in this way, it is generally assumed that even fully logographic renditions of it represent the possessive adjective, e.g. in KARKAMIŠ A13d, §10: za-a-ti CAELUM (DEUS)TONITRUS-ti-i, approx. /zadi tiPasassan Tarhunti/, ‘to this heavenly (storm-god) Tarhunt’, although this cannot be proven, of course.

While the word is mainly used as an epithet, it can also be found in other contexts. In several instances, it is paired with HLuw. /taskwar(i)-/ ‘earth, land’. A neuter noun, /tiPas-/ is (at least historically) The corpus contains a handful of clauses in which /tiPas-/ assumes the role of subject, and at least in KÖRKÜN, §9, it appears to be an agent. It is therefore not clear whether the rule is still in place and KÖRKÜN should be regarded as an error, or whether it has broken down. barred from assuming the role of agent in a transitive clause in this form, but can be turned into a common gender noun with the ergative suffix /-ant-/, which is also known from Hittite; the same requirement applies to its antonym /taskwar(i)-/ ‘land, earth’. The alternation can be observed side by side with /tiPas-/ in its more common form e.g. in the apodosis of the curse formula in BOYBEYPINARI 2, §21: (“CAELUM”)ti-pa-sa-ti-sa-pa-wa/i-tu-u (“TERRA”)ta-sà-kwa/i+ra/i-ti-sa-ha CAELUM-sa-ha TERRA-kwa/i+ra/i-sa-ha DEUS-ni-i-zi LIS-tà-ti CUM-ni x-tu, approx. /tiPasantis=ba=wa=du taskwarantis=ha tiPas=ha taskwaras=ha massaninzi salahidadi anni …-ntu/, translating as ‘Against him (scil. any evildoer), may heaven and earth and the gods of heaven and of earth … with confrontation’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:337).

[AH.B.]

An s-stem, this neuter noun is of considerable age with respect to its formation, just like its cognates CLuw. tappaš- ‘sky’ and Hittite nepiš- ‘sky’, cf. e.g. Höfler 2018a:128f. for a recent appraisal. The nom./acc. sg. of the HLuw. can be safely assumed to show the neuter particle /-sa, -za/, like its CLuw. cognate, although this does not become visible from the HLuw. spelling, since the forms /tiPas/ and /tiPas=sa/ would both be spelt 〈ti-pa-sa〉.

[AH.B.]

This lexeme is found in various rituals such as the one of Tunnawiya, Puriyanni and Kuwattalla & Šilalluḫi (CTH 409, 758, 759, 762). It is also found in mythical passages of other types of rituals (CTH 764, 766) as well as in the cult songs of the festival of Ištanuwa (CTH 772).

[D.S.]

Checked against the photographs in the Konkordanz. The word ˹tap-pa˺-ši-i was misread by Starke 1985b:46 as ka-ši-i (following Götze & Sturtevant 1938a:10) and corrected to tap-pa-ši-i by Melchert (CLL:208). For the emendation of tap-pa-aš-ša{-it} (KUB 7.53 i 59), see Starke 1985b:44, 46, followed by Melchert (CLL:208).

[D.S.]

Rosenkranz 1952a:49 analyzes the sentence of KUB 7.53 i 58-59 of the ritual of Tunnawiya, in which tap-pa-aš-ša occurs and assigns the meaning ‘sky’ on contextual grounds, adducing further evidence from Hieroglyphic Luwian and from a parallel Cuneiform context of the same ritual, in which Hitt. ne-pí-iš (KUB 9.34 i 11-12) stands instead of Luw. tap-pa-aš-ša (followed by Laroche 1959a:91f., Bossert 1954c:68f., Starke 1990a:97-99, Melchert (CLL:208)). The semantic assignment of Luw. tappaš- could be further confirmed by the analysis of other contexts and by its frequent collocation with tiyammiš ‘earth’ (see Starke 1990a:97-99).

[D.S.]

The word for ‘sky’ is a neuter s-stem (Starke 1990a:97-99), to which the enclitic particle =ša is attached in the nominative/accusative singular. For distinguishing between Luwian neuter stems in -aš- and formations in -ašša- c., see Sasseville 2018a:303f.

[D.S.]

1. tapašallat(i)-
2. tapašuwant(i)-
3. tapašalla/i-

1. tabahaza

This lexeme is found in a mythological passage pertaining to the bull running in the sky to make the rain fall (see also Watkins 1986a:46, who calls the language of KUB 48.69 “a northern Anatolian dialect”).

[D.S.]

The meaning of nepiš- is clear from the context and from its etymological match with Hittite nēpiš- n. ‘sky’. In the mythological scene, the speaker encourages growth under the rain of the Storm-god and then calls out to the bull to run on top of the sky.

              še-er-ša-an GU₄.MAḪ-aš ne-pí-ši píd-da-an-na (KUB 48.69, 2)

              ‘Run, bull, on top of the sky!’

[D.S.]

CHD L-N:448-453.