al(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.]

acc. sg.	ali	TL 44c.55 (Xanthos)
dat./loc. sg.	ali	TL 44d.3 (Xanthos)
gen. adj. nom. sg. c.	alasi	TL 44d.26 (Xanthos)

The grammatical interpretation of the forms is in agreement with that of Melchert (DLL:112) and Schürr 2018b:64f.

[D.S.]

Within a contextual analysis of the passage surrounding TL 44d.26, Sasseville 2018a:310f. interprets alasi as the genitival adjective modifying xbadasa, the deity(/genius) of river-valleys. Furthermore, he refers to the collocation of al(i)- together with pasba- ‘small livestock’ in two passages (also noticed in Schürr 2018b:64f.) pertaining to the satiety of the kingdom (contra Shevoroshkin 2002a:229), which narrows down the semantics of al(i)- to something pertaining to nourishment. In TL 44d.3, it is used together with mire as the beneficent of some kind of rituals performed. A more specific meaning cannot be given at this point.

Bugge 1901a:91 suggested the meaning ‘foreign’ based on an etymological connection with Lat. alienus (followed by Gehrisch 2018a:91), which is, however, contextually unsupported.

[D.S.]

The mutated status of the noun beside its genitival adjective in -ase/i- led to the historical interpretation of al(i)- as an original root noun (see Sasseville 2018a:314-316) or perhaps an original i-stem (if those retained a paradigmatic distinction from the original o-stem solely by the genitival adjective).

[D.S.]