/wassranu(wa)-(i)/, (BONUS)wa/i-sa5+ra/i-nu-
‘to treat favourably, make respectful (?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 1821
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/wassranu(wa)-(i)/, (BONUS)wa/i-sa5+ra/i-nu-
‘to treat favourably, make respectful (?)’1.1.1Transmission
This hapax legomenon occurs once in an inscription from Karkamiš, dating to the late 9th or early 8th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| 1sg. pret. ind. act. | /wassranuhha/ | (BONUS)wa/i-sa5+ra/i-nu-ha | KARKAMIŠ A6, §7 (Karkamiš) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
Because this word is part of the larger word family around /wass-/ ‘to be dear’, its phonological interpretation is reasonably secure despite only one attestation. It is most closely related to the noun /wassar-/ ‘favour; respect (?)’ and involves the suffix /-nu(wa)-(i)/, well-known from other formations. The use of 〈sa5〉 points to a /sr/ cluster rather than an intervening vowel in a potential form /wassarnu-/ vel sim. (see Skipworth 2016a:52f.).
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
An initial approximate translation (‘faire agréer’) was offered by Laroche 1961a:32, who commented on the simple transitive construction. Mittelberger 1963a:105 connected the verb to /wassar-/ ‘favour, goodness, respect’ and suggested the meaning ‘to treat favourably’ for it, an analysis then followed by Hawkins 1979a:158 incl. n. 39. Yakubovich 2002a:201 points out that the same bidirectional meaning evident in /wass-/ ‘to favour; to respect’ may also be present in /wassranu(wa)-/, i.e. it could denote ‘to make respectful (i.e. obedient)’ besides ‘to treat favourably’. The relevant passage in KARKAMIŠ A6, §7: wa/i-ta ta-ni-mi REX-ti SERVUS-la/i-ti-i-zi a-ta (BONUS)wa/i-sa5+ra/i-nu-ha, i.e. /wa=tta tanimi hantawatti hudarlattinzi anta wassranuhha/, may hence translate as ‘I treated the subjects of every king favourably’, or as ‘For every king, I made the subjects obedient’ (already implied by Laroche 1961a:32).
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The verb is built from the noun /wassar-/ ‘favour; respect (?)’ by way of a causative formation with /-nu(wa)-(i)/ (see already Mittelberger 1963a:105 and later Starke 1990a:352).
Outdated is the view of Starke 1990a:164f., who assumed /wassranu(wa)-(i)/ to derive from an unattested verb */wassariya-/.
[AH.B.]
For the derivational base, see HLuw. /wassar-/.