/astadura-?/, á-sa-tara/i-MAGNUS+RA/I-ia
‘(a title)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst
- ID
- 2437
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/astadura-?/, á-sa-tara/i-MAGNUS+RA/I-ia
‘(a title)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested only once in the HLuw. corpus. It can be found on one of the lead strips from Tabal, dating to the mid- or late 8th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| dat./loc. sg. | /astaduraya?/ | á-˹sa?-tara/i?˺-MAGNUS+RA/I?-ia | KULULU lead strip 1, §7.43 (Tabal) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this lexeme is very tentative, because neither the reading nor the interpretation of the individual signs are altogether certain. As it is, the given interpretation rests mainly on two assumptions, one being the possible cognate HLuw. /asta(/i)-/ ‘(an act of witchcraft)(?)’ and thus the CLuw. noun āšta- ‘(an act of witchcraft)’, the other being the existence of a number of titles involving the lexeme /ura(/i)-/ ‘great’, see the discussions under meaning and stem below. Compared to CLuw. āšta-, the possible cognate part in the present lexeme seems to represent 〈á-˹sa?-tara/i?˺-〉, which is here interpreted as /astad°/, i.e. with an intervocalic /d/ that has rhotacized.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning of the present lexeme remained in the dark for a considerable time, and only because of its context of attestation has it been assumed to represented either a profession or some other kind of status (see Hawkins 2000a:508f.; cf. Giusfredi 2010b:162). The relevant attestation in KULULU lead strip 1, §7.43 runs: 200 “HORDEUM”-za-´ Ihu-li-ia-ia CUM-ni á-˹sa?-tara/i?˺-MAGNUS+RA/I?-ia, approx. /…=za Huliyaya anni astaduraya/, probably meaning ‘200 (measures of) barley for Huliya, the astadura-’. In his investigation of HLuw. titles, Yakubovich 2017a:44 included the present lexeme as a possible further example and labelled it a title, but refrained from analysing the first member of the compound. If the link with HLuw. /asta(/i)-/ ‘(an act of witchcraft)(?)’ and CLuw. āšta- ‘(an act of witchcraft)’ should hold true, a possible meaning could be ‘chief of the spells’ vel sim.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
If the phonological interpretation of the present lexeme should prove to be correct, the word would appear to be a compound of */astad(i)-/ vel sim. ‘spell (?)’ and /ura(/i)-/ ‘great’, the latter of which occurs in a number of titles, e.g. /ussinassura(/i)-/ ‘chief eunuch’ (see Yakubovich 2017a:43f.). This analysis is to be seen as very tentative until further evidence is uncovered.
[AH.B.]