/marattam(i)-/, mara/i-ta-mi-
‘(a title)(?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Class
- Derivative
- Grammar
- subst, c.
- ID
- 231
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/marattam(i)-/, mara/i-ta-mi-
‘(a title)(?)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is a hapax legomenon attested in the inscription KULULU 1 dated to the reign of Tuwati (mid-8th c.).
[D.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| acc. sg. | /marattamin/ | mara/i-ta-mi-i-na | KULULU 1, §12 (Tabal) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
The phonological interpretation is drawn from the derivational base /maratta-/ n. ‘order, request’ and from the posited suffix mentioned under Meaning below.
[D.S.]
1.1.4Meaning
Based on the comparison between ha-sa-mi-sa zú-wa/i-ni-i-sá ‘begotten hound’ (KULULU 1, §11) and ha-sa-mi-na mara/i-ta-mi-i-na ‘begotten x’ (KULULU 1, §12), the word mara/i-ta-mi-i-na should refer to an animate being. From a morphological perspective, it is best analyzed as a substantive in /-am(i)-/ c. derived from the substantive /maratta-/ n. ‘order, request’ (differently Hawkins 2000a:444). This Luwian suffix can be used to build professional titles; cf. CLuw. maššan(i)- c. ‘god’ → maššanām(i)- c. (a title). Thus, /marattam(i)-/ could refer to a title, although its precise semantics remain obscure; cf. Payne 2012a:88. Differently, Melchert 2014d:207 analyses mara/i-ta-mi-i-na as a participle, which is formally possible, but less convincing due to the comparison with ha-sa-mi-sa zú-wa/i-ni-i-sá occurring in the previous sentence.
For a new approach offering a different etymology, see Simon 2019j.
[D.S.]
For the derivational base see /maratta-/.