ḫalmaššuwitt(i)-

The sole attestation of the present lexeme is found in a NS ritual fragment.

[E.R.]

nom. sg.

ḫal-ma-aš-šu-ú-it-⸢ti⸣-[iš]

KUB 35.67 ii 2’

(CTH 759, NS)

The restoration of the nom. sg. ending -iš (after Meriggi 1957b:75) is guaranteed by the parallelism with šarḫuliš in the preceding line and the intransitive predication gangataimmiš āšd[u] “shall be propitiated.”

[E.R.]

Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv. – A part of the lower wedge of -ti- is still visible (contra DLL:39, Starke 1985b:182, CLL:48).

[E.R.]

The word is well-known from Hittite as ^(GIŠ)ḫalmaššuwit(t)- c. ‘throne’ (HW 2nd ed. H:65-78, HED Ḫ:40). Since, in Luwian context, it appears in a list between two important household items, viz. šarḫul(i)- ‘pillar’ and ḫaššan[itt(i)- ‘hearth’, there can be no doubt that ḫalmaššuwitt(i)- has the same meaning in this language (Meriggi 1957b:75, HW:384, DLL:39, CLL:48, HHw:36, HED Ḫ:40f.).

[E.R.]

In Luwian, the Hittite tt-stem was transferred to the i-mutated class as expected (Starke 1990a:450 n. 1627). Whether the Sumerographic i-stem ^GIŠDAG-(t)i- (HW 2nd ed. H:69) should be analyzed as a reintroduction from Luwian or rather as a Hittite stem that underwent Luwian i-mutation (thus implicitly HED Ḫ:40) is impossible to decide.

[E.R.]

For the Hattian origin of Hitt. ^(GIŠ)ḫalmaššuit(t)-, see HEG A-K:134, HW 2nd ed. H:65f., HED Ḫ:43, and Soysal 2004b:446 s.v. ^DḪa-an-u̯a-aš-šu-ú-i-it with references. The idiosyncratic dissimilation of -nm- (in Hatt. ^DḪanu̯aššuwit) > -lm- common to Hittite and Luwian makes an independent borrowing from Hattian into both languages unlikely. Moreover, the probability of a chain Hattian → Hittite → Luwian is further enhanced by the wide distribution of the word in Hittite contrasting with the isolated occurrence in Luwian, as well as the existence of an athematic -tt- stem in Hittite (Starke 1990a:450 n. 1627).

[E.R.]