lbbewele/i-

This lexeme is attested in the poetical inscription engraved on the lion sarcophagus of Antiphellos, dated on stylistic grounds to the beginning of the 4^th century BCE (Zahle 1979a:318, Mühlbauer 2007a:91).

[D.S.]

acc. sg. (?)

lbbeweli

TL 55.6 (Antiphellos)

Melchert (DLL:119) interprets it as dat. sg., probably modifying the preceding km͂qi ‘?’ (dat. sg.), although an accusative singular modifying the following kapsaqẽ should not have been excluded. An acc. sg. agreement is preferred under the lemma kapsaqe-.

[D.S.]

Pace Schürr 2005a:137, there is no evidence supporting an elision (e)lbbeweli. Gehrisch 2018a:111 offers an unconvincing division, i.e. lbb + eweli (comparing Lyc. A ebeli).

[D.S.]

The word lbbewele/i- probably modifies kapsaqẽ, which denotes something offered or granted in relation to a war. Shevoroshkin 1977a:138 translates it with ‘enormous’, comparing it etymologically with Lyc. B lebe/i- c. ‘?’ and PIE *lab^h- ‘to grab’, which does not yield a convincing analysis. Melchert (DLL:119) prefers an etymological connection with Lyc. B alba- c. ‘?’, but without knowing the meaning of these words, no reliable hypothesis can be upheld. Shevoroshkin 2002a:219 takes lbbeweli as a divine name in the dative singular (see also Shevoroshkin 2002c:420), which is syntactically unconvincing.

[D.S.]

From a morphological perspective, lbbewele/i- can be analyzed as an adjective in -ele/i- derived from an unattested formation in -we/i- (though substantivized), i.e. *lbbewe/i-. Further, the formation in -we/i- would be derived perhaps from Lyc. B lebe/i- c. with syncope of the root vowel or from Lyc. B alba- c. with aphaeresis.

[D.S.]