/usuppariya-/, u-su^?-PRAE-ia-

This hapax is attested in a single inscription from Commagene, dating to the late 9^th or early 8^th century BCE.

[A.P.]

acc. pl.

/usuppariyanzi/

u-su?-PRAE-ia-zi

ANCOZ 7, §4 (Commagene)

The reading of this word is provisional, since the signs are difficult to make out. Particularly the sign 〈su〉 is very uncertain.

[A.P.]

The meaning of this word is unknown, but its morphology and context suggest that it may have to do with the sacrificial sphere, cf. /suppatt(i)-/ ‘animal offering’ and /usuppatt(i)-/ ‘bull sacrifice’, provided the reading of the attestation at ANCOZ 7 is correct. §4 runs: za-zi-i-pa-wa/i URBS-ni-i-zi-´ DEUS-na-si-i DOMUS.PONERE-ti-zi za-a-zi-ha u-su^?-PRAE-ia-zi kwa/i-i-sa i-mára/i-sa-na (DEUS)CERVUS₃-ia á-lá/í (DEUS)AVIS (DEUS)SOL-ti (DEUS)i-ku+ra/i (DEUS)ta-sà-ku ARHA CAPERE-i, approx. /zanzi=ba=wa …-ninzi massanassi …-tinzi zanzi=ha usuppariyanzi kwis immarassan Runtiya ala Kubaba Tiwadi IKura Tasku ahha lai/, meaning ‘But (he) who takes away these cities, divine habitations, and these u.-s from (the stag-god) Runtiya of the Open Country, from Lady Kubaba, from (the sun-god) Tiwad, from (the god) IKura, from (the god) Tasku’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:356). Clearly part of the protasis of a curse formula, the present word represents an entity dedicated to the gods and to be protected from harm. It is therefore reasonable, though not inevitable, that it denotes something sacrificial.

[AH.B.]

A common gender, this noun appears to be a verbal abstract noun in /-iya-/ (cf. Sasseville 2020c:281), and accordingly shows no i-mutation. If the reading of the ANCOZ 7, §4 attestation is correct, the putative base would have been a verb such as */usuppari-^(ti)/ vel sim., ultimately deriving from the same stem as HLuw. /usuppatt(i)-/ ‘bull sacrifice’ and therefore built on a borrowing of Hittite šuppi- ‘(ritually) pure’.

[AH.B.]