km͂masa-
‘(unknown)’
- Language
- Lycian B
- Grammar
- subst, c.
- ID
- 2378
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Lycian B
km͂masa-
‘(unknown)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is found in various grave inscriptions as well as on 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.). It is also attested once in the poetical inscription engraved on the lion sarcophagus of Antiphellos, dated on stylistic grounds to the beginning of the 4th century BCE (Zahle 1979a:318, Mühlbauer 2007a:91).
[D.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| abl./instr. | km͂masadi | TL 44d.62 (Xanthos) | |
| TL 55.2 (Antiphellos) |
1.1.3Meaning
The word km͂masadi seems to be the instrument with which a sacrifice is performed (TL 44d.62), whereas in TL 55 it is modified by the participle qereimedi in a sentence with a verb of speaking for a predicate.
Carruba 1977a:305 and Melchert (DLL:118) assume that km͂masadi is a derivative of km͂me/i- ‘as many as’ (found in Lycian A), which is semantically unappealing. Carruba 1979a:202 n. 12 suggests that it means ‘assembly’, which is possible, but speculative. Moreover, the Lycian B word for ‘assembly’ is tulijele/i-, although one cannot exclude a synonym. Schürr 2018b:70 translates km͂mẽt(i)- as ‘mortal’ and thus assumes a similar meaning for km͂masa-, which is completely unfounded.
Sasseville 2018a:309 analyzes the word morphologically as a formation in -asa-, designating agent nouns or deities. Despite the well-founded morphological approach, no meaning can be assigned without a solid etymological perspective.
[D.S.]
1.1.4Stem
For the suffix -asa- c., see Sasseville 2018a. The base could be the same as the one of Lyc. B kemi(je)- (with syncope of the root vowel).
[D.S.]