/kwissant(i)-/, hwa/i-sà-ta-
‘fearsome’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- adj
- ID
- 1881
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/kwissant(i)-/, hwa/i-sà-ta-
‘fearsome’1.1.1Transmission
This hapax is attested in a single inscription from Cilicia, dating to the early 7th century BCE.
[A.P.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom./acc. pl. | /kwissanta/ | hwa/i-sà-ta | KARATEPE 1 Hu., §33 (Cilicia) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of the adjective is reasonably secure. While the HLuw. writing system is too imprecise to convey all the details, the spelling of the cognate /kwissa-(i)/ ‘to fear’ and the transparent morphology of the form provide sufficient additional evidence; cf. the discussion of the stem below.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
Because the lexeme is used in the bilingual inscription KARATEPE 1, its meaning could be accessed via the Phoenician original of the text, which uses Phoenician nštʿ ‘fearsome’, see Bossert 1950-1951a:274f. Bossert’s etymology etc. is moot, as it relied on sign readings that have since been corrected. The entire clause in KARATEPE 1 Hu., §33 runs: á-pa-ta-za-pa-wa/i-ta “LOCUS”-la/i-ta-za-ha<<-pa-wa/i>> kwa/i-ia hwa/i-sà-ta rú-wa/i-na á-sa-ta, approx. /abattanz=ba=wa=tta allantanz=ha(=ba=wa) kwiya kissanta ruwan asta/, which translates as ‘and even in those places that were formerly feared’, with an additional particle chain surely added by mistake (cf. Hawkins 2000a:53 and 62).
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The adjective derives from the verb /kwissa-(i)/ ‘to fear’ and is formed with the participial suffix /-ant-/, which is well-known from Hittite in particular, but also present in Luwian, albeit unproductive (cf. Melchert 2003b:198).
[AH.B.]
For the derivational base see /kwissa-(i)/.