ñtewẽ
‘in front of’
- Language
- Lycian A
- Grammar
- adpos
- ID
- 1794
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Lycian A
ñtewẽ
‘in front of’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is found in a grave inscription from Limyra as well as on 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.]
1.1.2Forms
| indecl. | ñtewẽ | TL 44a.25 (Xanthos) |
| TL 44a.26 (Xanthos) | ||
| TL 44a.27 (Xanthos) | ||
| TL 44b.38 (Xanthos) | ||
| TL 44b.62 (Xanthos) | ||
| TL 44b.63 (Xanthos) | ||
| TL 109.2 (Limyra) | ||
| N 320.35 (Xanthos) | ||
| N 320.36 (Xanthos) |
Yakubovich (pers. comm.) suggests equating dewẽ and ddewẽ with ñtewẽ, adducing the two consecutive lines: ñtewẽ : {n}emu (TL 44b.38) and dewẽ emu (TL 44b.39) (cf. Laroche 1979c:90 and Yakubovich 2005b:79f. n. 26). However, the context is deceiving and the analysis not supported by the overall data, which shows that Lycian initial ñt- and d- cannot be equated; see under Lyc. da-(di) and Lyc. B dewis.
[D.S.]
1.1.3Meaning
The lexical match between Lyc. ñtewẽ and HLuw. /tawiyan/ was proposed in Carruba 1969b:31. According to Eichner 1985a:19 n. 26 and Melchert (DLL:46), ñtewẽ can be analyzed as *en + *tewẽ ‘in(to) the face/eye’ (Lyc. A tawa ‘eyes’); cf. Boroday & Yakubovich 2018a:17f. for an explanation of the final -ẽ in ñtewẽ. The adposition ñtewẽ always precedes a dative construction (except in TL 109, where it follows the enclitic pronoun =i ‘him’), for which the meaning ‘opposite, in front of’ makes sense and is generally accepted (Neumann 2007a:251f., Schürr & Dönmez 2015a:145, Gehrisch 2018a:62).
[D.S.]
For the second member of the compound, see Lyc. tawa-.