āštayarattar-/-t(ta)n-
‘(an act of witchcraft)’
- Language
- Cuneiform Luwian
- Class
- Derivative
- Grammar
- subst
- ID
- 2436
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Luwian in Hittite transmission
āštayarattar-/-t(ta)n-
‘(an act of witchcraft)’1.1.1Transmission
The word occurs in ritual texts, mostly in NS copies of the MH rituals of Allaituraḫḫi and Tunnawi.
[E.R.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom./acc. sg. | aš-ta-ia-ra-at-tar | KBo 41.13, 8’ | (CTH 470, NS) |
| aš-ta-ia-ra-⸢tar⸣ | KBo 12.85 ii 6 | (CTH 780, NS) | |
| a-aš-ta-ia-ra-tar | KUB 27.29 i 27’ | (CTH 780, NS) | |
| a-aš-ta-ia-ra-tar | KUB 12.58 ii 11’, iii 9 | (CTH 409, NS) | |
| KUB 7.53 iii 6’, iii 16’ | (CTH 409, NS) | ||
| ⸢a-aš-ta-ia⸣-ra-tar | KUB 12.58 ii 24’ | (CTH 409, NS) | |
| a-aš-ta-i[a-r]a-tar | KUB 12.58 iii 4 | (CTH 409, NS) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.
[E.R.]
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The word-initial plene writing at KUB 27.29 i 27’ shows that its lack at KBo 12.85 ii 6 (same tablet) is due to a deficient spelling. While it is missing also in aš-ta-ia-ra-at-tar at KBo 41.13, 8’, this attestation features a geminate -tt- in the suffix. Therefore, a full spelling of the word would point to phonological /astayarattar/ in Luwian.
[E.R.]
1.1.4Meaning
In multiple attestations of the Tunnawi ritual, the noun is part of a list of negative acts from which the ritual client has to be cured. It follows alwanzatar ‘sorcery, witchcraft’ and precedes ḫurtai- ‘perjury, curse’. The connection with sorcery is also confirmed by the co-occurrence of 7 uḫ₇-an ‘sorcery’ (alwanzaḫḫan) and 7 āštayaratar at KUB 27.29 i 26’f. (Allaituraḫḫi ritual). The countability of āštayaratar points to an act that can be performed either in seven ways or seven times, but its specifics remain unknown (see Starke 1990a:522f.). The rhyme of ašta- wašta- ‘a. and sin’, epithet of the Tutelary Deity and his consort DĀla-, does not help to identify the precise meaning, although it is likely that āštayaratar is ultimately a derivative of āšta- (see under Stem).
Attempts to narrow down the meaning are based on Goetze’s (Goetze 1938a:87) erroneous etymological connection with aštaniya-(i) translated as ‘to recite charms/spells’ (CLL:38, Sasseville 2021a:412) and on his overly optimistic interpretation of ašta- as ‘sin’ (Szemerényi 1979a:616-619, implicit Haas & Wegner 1988a:131), whence also Beckman’s (Beckman 1983a:237) translation of aštaniya-(i) ‘to perform a sin-offering (?)’, but see under Lemma. Since these assumptions are false or at least impossible to prove, the conclusions based on them are not followed here. Instead, the interpretation is confined to a more generic ‘(an act of witchcraft)’ (thus also HHw:28: ‘Hexerei (?)’; different, but also unspecific HW 2nd ed. A:491: ‘ein böser Zustand oder Unreinheit’ and Ünal 2007a:74: ‘something unfavorable’).
[E.R.]
1.1.5Stem
For the nom./acc. sg. in -attar as suggested in Starke 1990a:522f., see under Phonological Interpretation. Starke 1990a lists the lexeme under the heteroclite stems in -attar/-at(ta)n-. Attested in Hittite transmission, the suffix is adapted graphically or morphologically to Hitt. -ātar/-annaš. The nominal base *āstayara- can be analyzed as āsta- (HEG A-K:86, HED A, E, I:219; contra HW 2nd ed. A:491) + relational suffix -i(ya)- (i.e. āstai(ya)-) + non-mutating abstract suffix -a- (i.e. *āstaiyā- found as the base of the factitive verb āštaiya-(ti), see CLL:38, HHw:28, Sasseville 2021a:37) + adjectival suffix -ra/i-.
[E.R.]
1.1.6Origin
The Luwian origin (assumed in Melchert 2005a:405) of āštayarattar is revealed by the final suffix -attar (with obl. -at(ta)n-; see Starke 1990a:522f.), typical for Luwian, and the sequence -ai(ya)- (< *-eh₂-i̯o-) with the preservation -y-. The basic stem ašta- attested in a rhyme with Luwian wašta- (also in Hittite transmission; see under the respective Lemmata) adds to the probability of a borrowing.
[E.R.]
For the lemma head see CLuw. āšta-.