ḫarš(a)-

The word is found only in three NS ritual fragments, two of them from the Zarpiya ritual.

[E.R.]

nom./acc. sg.	ḫa-ar-ša-an-za	KUB 35.67 ii 5’	(CTH 759, NS)
	ḫar-ša-an-za	KUB 9.31 ii 33	(CTH 757, NS)
		HT 1 ii 9’	(CTH 394, NS)

Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv. Following Otten 1953a:58, the reading ḫar-ša-an-za (instead of ḫur-ša-an-za) is clearly demonstrated by ḫa-ar-ša-an-za.

[E.R.]

Most handbooks and modern articles do not offer a translation for the syntagma ḫupalziyatiya〈n〉za ḫaršanza (DLL:43, CLL:60, HHw:s.v., Melchert 1989b:33f., Görke 2015a).

The early suggestion of Schwartz 1938a:353 to translate ‘head’ on account of assonant Hitt. ḫaršar/n- had been rejected by Otten 1953a:58 n. 195, who pointed out that a different Luwian word for ‘head’, viz. ḫarmaḫ(i)-, is known. However, Meriggi 1957b:74 did not accept Otten’s argument and returned to the translation ‘head’, which he tried to support with the collocation ḫarmaḫin ḫupalliš ‘head (and) skull’ at KUB 35.107 ii 14’ pointing to the fact that, in this passage too, a word for head is combined with another word beginning with ḫupal- (thus also Rosenkranz 1952a:22, without comment).

Suggestive as the apparent parallel may seem, ‘head’ does not conform with the context of the Zarpiya ritual (KUB 9.31 ii 33’f. and duplicates), in which a few lines earlier (ii 5’) bread (ninda.gur₄.ra) is offered and the god Ea is said to have supplied ḫupalziyatiya〈n〉za ḫaršanza for a meal to pacify Šanta, the Annarumm(i)- and the Lūlaḫiya-deities (ii 9’, cf. Melchert 1989b:34). Therefore, Bossert’s old proposal for ḫarša- as a word for ‘(bread)loaf’ has much more to recommend itself (Bossert 1960a:314, cited in also in HW:424 and followed in Yakubovich 2017d). It does not only make sense in the given context, but also has a close cognate in Hitt. ^NINDAḫarši- ‘(bread) loaf’ (whereas Bossert’s reading NINDAă+r-sa-n at karkamiš A11a § 12 is based on an erroneous segmentation). Bossert’s semantic interpretation is also at least compatible with the attestation at KUB 35.67 ii 5’. In this fragment, several parts of the household are treated ritually and, besides the gangati- treatment, probably also bread loaves are supplied to this end. Accordingly, the translation is provisionally accepted here.

[E.R.]

The neuter nom./acc. sg. in -anza points to a neuter n-stem or – statistically more likely – a neuter thematic stem. The base, not further analyzed here, is *ḫarš- (probably related to PAnat. *h₃ór-/h₃r-´), which should be compared with Hitt. ḫarši- ‘thick’ (EDHIL:315), HLuw. /haristan(i)-/ ‘upper floor’ and Lyc. A xrssẽ(n)-.

[E.R.]