pttile/i-
‘(unknown)’
- Language
- Lycian B
- Grammar
- subst, c.
- ID
- 2196
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Lycian B
pttile/i-
‘(unknown)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested in the inscription of the inscribed pillar of Xanthos, dated contextually to shortly after the ascension of Artaxerxes II in 405-404 BCE and stylistically to around 400 BCE (Borchhardt & Eichner 1997-1999a:19f.).
[D.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| dat. sg. (?) | pttili | TL 44d.49 (Xanthos) |
On the uncertain case of xustti, cf. Melchert (DLL:125) and Sasseville 2014-2015a:115 “acc. sg.”, Shevoroshkin 2015a:203 and Sasseville 2021d:181 n. 16 “dat. sg.”.
[D.S.]
1.1.3Meaning
Korolev & Shevoroshkin 1969a:542 suggests a connection with Hitt. LÚpatili- (a kind of priest) (followed by Neumann 2007a:288 and Gehrisch 2018a:91), which is not possible on phonological grounds, since the -t- in LÚpatili- is lenited, whereas pttili in Lycian B contains the fortis variant. Shevoroshkin 2015a:203 compares instead Hitt. pattā(i)-(mi) (or pitta(i)-(mi)) ‘to flee’ and translates Lycian B pttili with ‘agility’, which is hardly convincing.
If pttili is taken as an accusative, it would be modified by welpumi ‘offered (vel sim.)’ and would thus refer to a sacrificial offering (cf. Sasseville 2014-2015a:115). Differently, Sasseville 2021d interprets the verb of the sentence, i.e. mrccdi, as ‘he breaks (bread)’ and xustti as ‘for the fire’, which would mean that the welpu-ed bread is broken for the pttili and the fire (pttili=ke xustti=ke). Along these lines, pttili would represent something for which the consecrated bread is designated. Awaiting further evidence, this analysis must remain highly tentative.
[D.S.]
1.1.4Origin
No etymology is offered here. For an etymological connection with Lycian personal names, see Schürr 2018b:77.
[D.S.]