/wa(n)Tula(/i)-/, (“FLAMMAE.SOL”)wa/i-tú-la-
‘radiance (?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst, gender unknown
- ID
- 1851
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/wa(n)Tula(/i)-/, (“FLAMMAE.SOL”)wa/i-tú-la-
‘radiance (?)’1.1.1Transmission
The present lexeme is a hapax legomenon in the HLuw. corpus, and its sole attestations occurs on a stele from Tell Ahmar, dating to the late 10th or early 9th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| poss. adj. acc. sg. c. | /wa(n)Tulassa/i-/ | (〈“〉FLAMMAE?.SOL”)wa/i-tú-la-si- | TELL AHMAR 2, §6 (Tell Ahmar) |
The attestation in TELL AHMAR 2, §6 is followed by a string of clitics: 〈-pa-wa/i〉, i.e. /=ba=wa/, which, because of their consonantal onset, obscure the final /-n/ of the accusative ending, see e.g. Melchert 2003b:182. The reading order of the signs is somewhat unusual, since there is a significant spatial overlap with the preceding word, cf. the comments in Hawkins 2000a:229.
[AH.B.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this word largely depends on whether a cognate link with Hittite wantā(i)-(mi) ‘to be warm, glow; to be angry (with)’ (thus tentatively Hawkins 2000a:229 and HEG U-Z:283f.) is accepted or not; Yakubovich 2017e:s.v. tentatively suggests /widula-/, linking it with Hittite widuli- ‘(room) divider (?), (building element of a temple that also receives sacrifice)’ (cf. HEG U-Z:578f.), but it remains unclear how this could work semantically; cf. the discussion of the meaning below. As it is, the HLuw. spelling is ambiguous regarding the root vowel because of the sign 〈wa/i〉, and in addition to that, a pre-consonantal /n/ would not appear in writing, resulting in several possible interpretations for the first syllable of the word: /wa(n)T-/ and /wi(n)T-/ with the cover symbol /T/ representing a dental of unclear quality. The word has perhaps a cognate in CLuw. wandani(ya)- possibly meaning ‘radiant’ (but also cf. CLL:256).
Solely the stem-final suffix /-assa/i-/, which forms possessive adjectives from nouns, is fully clear regarding its phonological interpretation, because it is well-known from a large number of other words.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The assigned meaning is suggested tentatively by Hawkins 2000a:229, based on both the context and the possible cognate link with Hittite wantā(i)-(mi) ‘to be warm, glow; to be angry (with)’ (followed in HEG U-Z:283f.). The context in TELL AHMAR 2, §6 runs: (〈“〉FLAMMAE?.SOL”)wa/i-tú-la-si-pa-wa/i (DEUS)SOL-wa/i-ti-i-na CUM?!-na CRUS-nú-wa/i-ha, approx. /wa(n)Tulassin=ba=wa tiwatin anna tauwahha/, possibly translating as ‘I set up Tiwat (i.e. the sun-god) of wa(n)Tula(/i)-’. The word clearly serves as a possessive adjective to the noun following it, i.e. the sun-god, and it is hence very likely that it denotes one of the common epithets used with the name of that god. In fact, the logograms used as determinatives for the adjective, i.e. FLAMMAE (sign *477) and SOL (sign *191), graphemically link the word to the name of the sun-god, which is also spelt with SOL, and a meaning from the semantic field of ‘brightness’ and/or ‘burning’ therefore seems likely. An approximative meaning such as ‘glow, radiance’ vel sim. seems likely.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The attested word constitutes a possessive adjective in /-assa/i-/, derived from an otherwise unattested stem */wa(n)Tula(/i)-/ vel sim. If the word is indeed cognate with Hittite wantā(i)-(mi) ‘to be warm, glow; to be angry (with)’, a possible morphological structure for the noun could be /wanT-/ + /-ul(i)-/.
[AH.B.]
For the lemma head see CLuw. wandani(ya)-.