tala-
‘allurement (?)’
- Language
- Lycian B
- Class
- Derivative
- Grammar
- subst, c.
- ID
- 217
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Lycian B
tala-
‘allurement (?)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested once on the Xanthos stele, which was inscribed shortly after the ascension of Artaxerxes II in 405-404 BCE.
[D.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| acc. sg. | talã | TL 44c.51 (Xanthos) |
| dat. sg. | tali | TL 44c.62 (Xanthos) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
There has been some disagreement, whether the sequence neitalã in TL 44c.51 is to be taken as a single word (Shevoroshkin 1977b:127 n. 1, Borchhardt; Eichner 1997-1999a:24) or as two separated words, i.e. nei and talã (Shevoroshkin 2011b:143 n. 2, DLL:123, 129). The latter option is here preferred, since both words nei- (TL 44d.70) and tala- are attested once more in different passages within the same text.
[D.S.]
1.1.4Meaning
The Lycian B word tala- c. occurs in a religious context. In one instance (line 62), it is the head of the possessive adjective trqqñtasi ‘of the Storm-God’. In the other instance (line 51), it is the target of an action (padrete) performed by Gergis for/at the high precinct (zriqali). The root is compared to the one of Hitt. talliye/a-(mi) by Shevoroshkin 2011b:143 n. 2, which poses no phonological problems. In confirmation of this, Melchert 2010g demonstrates that Hitt. talliye/a-(mi) can have the meaning of ‘to allure a deity’.
Considering its word formation (see below), the meaning ‘allurement’ for the lexeme tala- c. may be tentatively posited (for the semantics, cf. Hitt. talliyauwar in KUB 58.11 obv. 6). This is appropriate for the context of the Lycian poem, where Gergis (Lyc. Xeriga) performs various religious actions. However, this remains a semantic assignment by means of an etymological approach.Differently, Schürr 1997b:67. He takes the word tali (line 62) to mean ‘Tloan’. This is linguistically unconvincing, since the word tali shows no traces of an ethnicon suffix at all as opposed to tlãñna- or tlawe/i- ‘Tloan’ (< *tlawawe/i-). Moreover, the city name tlawa- ‘Tloos’ shows the initial sequence tl- and not tal-.
[D.S.]
2. Reconstruction
2.1Reconstruction
The lexeme tala- c. is a common gender a-stem going back to *-eh2. Based on the τόμος-type, i.e.*dólH-o-, which is reconstructed as the base of Lyc. teli- and Hitt. talliye/a-(mi), one may posit a τομή-type noun for Lyc. B tala- c.: tala- (+ vowel harmony) ← PLyc. *telá- < PA *Tolléh2- ´allurement (?)´. For the posited root *delH- see under *Toll-i̯é/ó-.
[D.S.]
3. Proto-Indo-European
3.1Semantic Reconstruction
If the meaning of Lyc.B tala can be secured as ‘allurement’ vel sim. (cf. Part I), it can, together with ON tál ‘trap, deceit, allurement; (pl.) devices’, be traced back to PIE directly. The reconstructed noun PIE *dolH-éh2- ‘allurement’ may be interpreted as an abstract formation derived from the root *delH- ‘to draw, (al)lure’.On the root, cf. PAN *doll-i̯é/ó-.
3.2Morphological Reconstruction
Lyc. B tala ‘allurement(?)’ and ON tál ‘trap, deceit, allurement’ form a Germanic-Anatolian isogloss.Alb. tall ‘tease, trick’ does not belong here because this is phonologically impossible, cf. Schumacher & Matzinger 2013a I:234, 235.
Lyc. B tala can be traced back to PIE *dolHéh2-, while ON tál descends from PGerm. *tēlṓ- ‘trap, deceit, allurement’.Schaffner 2014b:539 reconstructs PIE *dēl(h1)-eh2-.According to Darms 1978a:97, this form can be interpreted as a substitution for PGerm. *talō- ‘id.’. This replacement is, at least in part, caused by the homonymy with PGerm. *talō- ‘number’.Cf. also Bammesberger 1990a:119.Furthermore, it is not uncommon in Germanic that ē-grades appear in eh2-stems where one would expect o-grades.The origins of these ē-grades in feminine ō-stems is unclear, cf. Darms 1978a: 91–102, esp. 101f. However, these formations often correspond to class IV–VI verbs (cf. Bammesberger 1990a:112 on OS quālā ‘torment’), a pattern the root PIE *delH- fits into.
On the root, cf. PAN *doll-i̯é/ó-.
[A.O.]
4. Transmission
ON tál f. ‘trap, deceit, allurement; (pl.) devices’Cf. also the secondary derivative ON, ModIc w.vb. tæla (jan) ‘to entice, betray’, cf. de Vries 1977a:604, Jóhannesson 1951/56a:491 s.v. 1. del-.
PGerm. *tala- m. ‘number; speech’, PGerm. *taljan- vb. ‘to tell; to (re)count’, PGerm. *talō- f. ‘speech; recount’ and Arm. toł ‘row’ cannot be associated semantically, cf. Darms 1978a:470 n. 159 pace Boutkan-Siebinga 2005a:391 s.v. tele, de Vries 1977a:580f., Falk-Torp 1960a:1243. Their primary meaning is derived from ‘to count’ vel sim. which cannot be connected with a root meaning ‘to draw, allure’.