ebinube/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.

ebinube

TL 44c.39 (Xanthos)

Kalinka 1901a:96 hesitates over whether to divide the string into ebi and nube. Shevoroshkin 2011a:30 and Gehrisch 2018a:85 divide it into ebi (= Lyc. A ebi ‘or’) n(e) ‘not’ and ube. Pending further evidence, a unitary word is preferable (thus also Neumann 2007a:49).

[D.S.]

The word ebinube agrees with the following word kere ‘in territories, districts’ and, therefore, it is likely to represent an adjective in -we/i- (with Lycian B sound change -w- > -b-). For a comparison with personal names ending in -ube-, see Schürr 2016d:158, but pace Melchert (DLL:114), ebinube is not likely to be a personal name on contextual grounds. The sentence can be best interpreted as follows:

                ebinube kere : seb[(e)=eb]udi : slãmati : zrbblã : m͂qrẽ… (TL 44c.39-40)

                ‘In the ebinube districts and [he]re, he (Gergis) makes into offerings zrbblã, m͂qrẽ, etc.’

Pending an etymological approach, no semantics are assigned here to ebinube.

[D.S.]

If the word ebinube is correctly interpreted as an adjective in -we/i-, it is probably derived from a noun *ebin- (or *ebina-). For the segment -in-, cf. Erbbina- (PN), Erzesinube- (PN).

[D.S.]