pere(/i)-/pre(/i)-

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.]

dat./loc. pl.	pere	TL 44c.61 (Xanthos)
abl./instr.	predi	TL 44c.42 (Xanthos)
		TL 44d.32 (Xanthos)

The assignment of these forms to one lexeme is by no means assured. If this is correct, the syncope of the root vowel in the abl./instr., which has an extra syllable, can be due to phonological or metrical reasons. The form pere is likewise taken as dat./loc. pl. by Shevoroshkin 2002c:408, Melchert (DLL:124), and tentatively Schürr 2016d:167. It has also been compared with the Hittite adverb parā ‘out’ (whose Lycian cognate is at least found in perepñ) (cf. Houwink ten Cate 1965a:22-23, Oshiro 1995a:219 n. 17, not accepted by Neumann 2007a:265). The form predi is rightly interpreted as abl./instr. by Shevoroshkin 1969a:268, Melchert in DLL:125, Schürr 2016d:168 (contra Gusmani 1968c:4 n. 16 “3sg. pres.”).

[D.S.]

The meaning of the words pere and predi is unclear. Shevoroshkin 1969a:268 assigns the meaning ‘former’ (in an etymological comparison with przze/i- ‘first’; differently Shevoroshkin 2002a:226 and Shevoroshkin 2012a:475 “raids”). Either suggestion fails to elucidate the context, especially since both pere and predi syntactically function as substantives. No meaning is suggested here.

[D.S.]