/isarwil(i)-/
‘right (side/hand)’
- Language
- Common Luwian
- Class
- Derivative
- Grammar
- subst
- ID
- 2040
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/isarwil(i)-/, (“BRACCHIUM”)i-sa5+ra/i-wa/i-li-
‘right (hand)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested three times in the HLuw. corpus in inscriptions from Karkamiš, which date to the 11th or 10th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| dat./loc. sg. | /isaruli/ | BRACCHIUM-ru-li | KARKAMIŠ N1, §5 (Karkamiš) |
| unknown | /isarwila-.../ | (“BRACCHIUM”)i-sa5+ra/i-wa/i-la[...] | KARKAMIŠ A15a, §9 (Karkamiš) |
There is another reading of of KARKAMIŠ A4b, §5 as BRACCHIUM-˹ru˺-[li] which is different to what Hawkins 2000a:80 proposed because of the subsequent discovery of KARKAMIŠ N1, §5 which shows a new perspective on how to interpret the sign remnants (Dinçol, Dinçol, Hawkins, Marchetti & Peker 2014a:149).
[AH.B.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this lexeme seems generally clear, because it is likely cognate with CLuw. išarwil(i)- ‘right (hand)’ (Hawkins 2000a:189), but scholars have hesitated to combine the forms in /-ruli/ into the same paradigm with the fully spelt out version attested in KARKAMIŠ A15a, §9. However, HLuw. has been shown to contract sporadically a number of sequences containing the glides /y, w/ (see Melchert 2003b:183), and Simon 2016f:40f. has shown that such syncope probably also occurs in the sequence /-uwi-/, then shortened to /-u-/.
It should be mentioned that the vagaries of the HLuw. writing system also permit a different phonological interpretation, viz. /isarwalla/i-/, and while this remains a possibility, the shape of the CLuw. cognate išarwil(i)- ‘right (hand)’ strongly suggests that same form should also be assumed for HLuw.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
Hawkins 2000a:189 proposes an equation with CLuw. išarwil(i)- ‘right (hand)’ and assigns the same meaning, but the semantic interpretation of this lexeme has faced some difficulties in that two of the HLuw. contexts of attestation are not very well preserved and hence difficult to understand in addition to having been considered different lexemes for a long time. In fact, even for the well-preserved KARKAMIŠ N1, §5, Dinçol, Dinçol, Hawkins, Marchetti & Peker 2014a:149 refrain from assigning any meaning. However, the logogram *32 (BRACCHIUM), which pictures an arm, certainly supports Hawkins’ suggestion regarding a connection with CLuw. išarwil(i)- ‘right (hand)’, and the same is assumed here as the most likely option. The relevant clause in KARKAMIŠ N1, §5 runs: *a-wa/i-tú BRACCHIUM-ru-li PONERE-wa/i-ta, approx. /a=wa=du isaruli tuwanta/, in the context of several gods assisting the person in whose name the stele was put up and probably meaning ‘And for him they put (it, scil. the aforementioned weapon) in (his) right (hand)’ vel sim.
[AH.B.] [D.S.]
1.1.5Stem
The adjective is formed from an unattested base */isaru-/, probably by way of the suffix /-il(i)-/, cf. Melchert 2003b:195, which further textual evidence may either corroborate or disprove. The same base can probably be found in what may be a noun, /isarulla-/ ‘(an occupation?)’.
[AH.B.]
1.2 Cuneiform Luwian
išarwil(i)-
‘right side’1.2.1Transmission
Attested in Luwian rituals from MS to NS.
[Zs.S.]
1.2.2Forms
| abl.-instr. | [i]-˹šar˺-ú-i-la-ti | KUB 35.20 obv. 7’ | (CTH 761, MS) |
| i-šar-ú-i-la-˹ti˺ | KUB 35.43 ii 17 | (CTH 761, NS) |
Sumerographically:
| abl.-instr. | ZAG-la-ti | KUB 35.102 obv. 8’ | (CTH 766, MS) |
The attestations are based on CLL:94 (cf. also Laroche 1959a:53 and HED K:164), checked against the photographs of the Mainzer Fotoarchiv. However, contra these scholars, išarwiliš (KBo 29.31 iv 3’, 4’; KUB 35.133 iv 10’) and ZAG-iš (KUB 35.133 iv 11’) are adjectives meaning ‘1. right (in physical sense), 2. favourable’ (see s.v.) and thus, they do not belong here.
[Zs.S.]
1.2.3Meaning ‘right side’
There is a general agreement that this word refers to the right side, but it is usually associated with the right hand (Laroche 1958a:103, 113 n. 57, 1959:53 [‘droite’]; HED K:164 and CLL:94 [‘right (hand)’], explicitly EDHIL:471 and Marcuson 2016a:292, 300 [‘right hand’]), although it is contextually clearly the right side without specifically referring to the hand (with Starke 1990a:390 and Ünal 2016a:960 [‘rechts’, cf. also Tischler 2008a:70, Tischler 2016a:129, but as ‘richtig, günstig; rechts’]), which is supported also by the Sumerographic spelling.
[Zs.S.]
1.2.4Derivatives
For the lemma head see CLuw. īš(ša)r(i)-.