/makkissa-(i)/, ma-ki-sa-
‘to drain (in order to make arable) (?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 2260
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/makkissa-(i)/, ma-ki-sa-
‘to drain (in order to make arable) (?)’1.1.1Transmission
This verb is attested once in the Karatepe bilingual inscription, which is dated to the early 7th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| 1sg. pret. act. | /makkissahha/ | ma-ki-sa-há | KARATEPE 1 Hu., §11 (Cilicia) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this lexeme is tentative, since only its suffix and ending are well-known from other words, whereas its lexical base does not have secure links to cognates in the other Anatolian languages. The connection with Hittite mekki- ‘big, much’, as suggested by van den Hout 2010b:236-241, is unlikely; see the discussion of the meaning below.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
Despite the fact that the HLuw. word appears in the Karatepe bilingual, in which the clause at KARATEPE 1 Hu., §11: kwa/i-pa-wá/í (HORREUM)mara/i-ia-ní-zi ARHA ma-ki-sa-há, approx. /kwippa=wa mariyaninzi ahha makkissahha/, translates Phoenician wšbrt mlṣm, the meaning has proven difficult to assess, since the short clause includes at least three hapax legomena across the two languages. van den Hout 2010b:236-241 offers a reinterpretation of the passage, taking into account the use of the logogram HORREUM (sign *255/256) used with the only noun in the clause, (HORREUM)mara/i-ia-ní-zi, and translates it as ‘I thus accumulated the m.-field crops in great quantities’, which does, however, encounter problems with the preverb /ahha/ ‘back, away’ and what would seem to be an unusual application of it. Building on van den Hout 2010b’s work, a different analysis is advanced by Oreshko 2019b:230-233, 239-242. He can show that the object of the clause, the acc. pl. /mariyaninzi/ likely means ‘swamps, marshes’, and that the verb /makkissa-/, in connection with the preverb /ahha/ ‘back, away’, denotes the draining of said wetlands, resulting in the following translation: ‘I thus drained the swamps’.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
This verb is a formation in /-ssa-(i)/, which marks imperfectives. The remainder of the stem remains largely opaque, however, for a lack of cognates in the Anatolian languages.
[AH.B.]
1.1.6Origin
For an Indo-European etymology, see Oreshko 2019b.
[AH.B.]