ora-
‘month’
- Language
- Lydian
- Grammar
- subst
- ID
- 2393
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Lydian
ora-
‘month’1.1.1Transmission
The forms come from inscriptions attested in a wide variety of locations. Some of them (LW 1, 2, 41, 50) can be dated rather precisely based on the information of the dating formulae. Among them, LW 1 most likely was inscribed in the first half of the 4th century BCE, while the rest are datable to the second half of the same century. (Gusmani & Akkan 2004a:141). Other inscriptions can be only dated within the broader period of 6th-4th century BCE.
[I.Y.]
1.1.2Forms
| dat. sg. | oraλ | LW 2.1 (Sardis) | |
| LW 41.3 (Falaka) | |||
| LW 43.2 (Manisa) | |||
| LW 50.1 (Tire) | |||
| [o]raλ | LW 1.2 (Sardis) | ||
| ora[λ] | LW 42.1 (Emre) | ||
| or[aλ] | LW 59.1 (Sardis) |
The form in LW 59.1 is badly preserved and its status is problematic.
[I.Y.]
1.1.3Meaning
The word occurs in the dating formulae, preceded by the designation of the year and followed by a variety of obscure nominal or adjectival forms, apparently indicating different month names. The meaning ‘month’ was first suggested in Mentz 1922a:191. This analysis is universally accepted at least since Gusmani 1964a:178 and should definitely be preferred to the interpretation ‘day’, which was offered in Brandenstein 1933a based on incomplete evidence.
[I.Y.]
1.1.4Stem
Synchronically, this is an a-stem, although its gender cannot be determined yet.
[I.Y.]
For an etymology proposal, see Reconstruction under CLuw. ār(i)-.