erme-(di)
‘to announce (vel sim.)’
- Language
- Lycian B
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 2390
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Lycian B
erme-(di)
‘to announce (vel sim.)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is found 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.]
1.1.2Forms
| 3rd sg. pret. ind. act. | ermede | TL 44c.62 (Xanthos) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
Shevoroshkin 2002c:408 separates erme=de in order to retrieve the locatival particle =de, which would indicate the beginning of a new sentence. This is formally possible, but by no means convincing, especially since it would make this new sentence without a predicate.
[D.S.]
1.1.4Meaning
Schürr 1998a:157 (and Schürr 2016d:159) compares Lyc. B ermede with Car. armon ‘dragoman, interpreter’ and translates the Lycian verb accordingly as ‘to announce’. This is supported by the direct object leli ‘speech’ (followed by Melchert in DLL:115, Sasseville 2021a:208f.). Shevoroshkin 2002c:408 and Neumann 2007a:71 prefer a connection with the word for ‘moon, month’, i.e. arm̃ma- (followed by Gehrisch 2018a:83, 88), which does not shed light on the semantics of the verb and the sense of the passage.
[D.S.]
1.1.5Origin
The segment erm- is definitely cognate with arm- in Car. armon, Lyc. A armanaza- and Lyd. armτa-, but does not find a proper cognate within Hittite or Luwian. A connection with the word for ‘moon’ (cf. under the Lydian cognate) or ‘sickness’ (cf. Hitt. erman-) is possible, but not immediately appealing on semantic grounds. Further research is needed.
[D.S.]