/warpassahid-/, wa/i+ra/i-pa-sa-hi-
‘military career (?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst, n.
- ID
- 2190
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/warpassahid-/, wa/i+ra/i-pa-sa-hi-
‘military career (?)’1.1.1Transmission
The lexeme constitutes a hapax legomenon in the HLuw corpus. It is attested once in an inscription from Tabal, probably dating to the 8th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom./acc. sg. | /warpassahi=sa/ | wa/i+ra/i-pa-sa-hi-i-sà | EĞREK, §2 (Tabal) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
Despite this lexeme being attested only once, its phonological interpretation is secure, provided its association with the word family around /warp(i)-/ ‘weapon; tool’ is correct. The morphemes following after the verbal base, i.e. /-ssa-(i)/ and /-ahid-/ are well-known from other HLuw. lexemes and therefore phonologically clear; the stem-final dental of /-ahid-/ is dropped before the neuter particle /-sa, -za/, at least on the graphemic level. As one of a mere handful within the word family, the attested spelling of this word does not involve the logogram ARMA (*273).
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
While it has long been clear that the present lexeme constitutes an abstract noun related to the concrete noun /warp(i)-/, its interpretation was based on what /warp(i)-/ was assumed to mean, i.e. ‘virtue’, ‘skill’ etc., resulting in /warpassahid-/ to be translated as ‘Begabung’ (Starke 1990a:339 n. 1202) and ‘virtuousness’ (Hawkins 2000a:492f.). With /warp(i)-/ now interpreted as ‘weapon, tool’ (Yakubovich 2019a:582f.), the meaning of /warpassahid-/ should be changed accordingly. The sole attestation of this word occurs in the introductory part of a funerary inscription, which usually contains the name and lineage of the person commemorated and then details their accomplishments. The EĞREK inscription breaks off in its third clause, rendering the context minimal, so the new meaning for /warpassahid-/, i.e. ‘military career’, can be suggested only tentatively.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The lexeme is a neuter noun in /-ahid-/, a suffix used to form abstract nouns. It is built on the basis of a verb */warpassa-/, which has so far gone unattested in HLuw. but could be found in CLuw. and show the imperfective suffix /-ssa-(i)/ attached to a base verb /warp(a)-/ attested as a participle /warpamma/i-/, cf. Melchert 2003b:198, 200, 205.
[AH.B.]
For the lemma head see CLuw. /warp(i)-/.