ašta-

In Cuneiform Luwian context, the lexeme is found only once in the Ištanuwa songs (NS).

[E.R.]

The morphological analysis is based not only on ašta itself, but also on the preceding adjective tarupiyalla, which can confidently be identified as an adjective in -alla/i- ending in a nom./acc. pl. -a.

[E.R.]

Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.

[E.R.]

No mention of ašta- in Cuneiform Luwian transmission is made by Goetze 1938a:87, DLL, HED A, E, I:219, HEG A-K:86, and Starke 1990a:186 with n. 613. The meaning assignment hinges almost entirely on that of the assumed cognates and the derivatives in Hittite transmission. Thus, Melchert (in CLL:37, followed in HHw:27; contra Melchert 1987b:185f.) translates ‘(evil) spell, charm’ and puts it together with āštayarattar-/-t(ta)n- and HLuw. á-sa-ta-ri+i (ASSUR letter e, §10). In doing this, he adopts Starke’s (Starke 1990a:186 with n. 613) considerations about āšta- in Hittite transmission, obviously equating the two lexemes.

In contrast, the word families of aštaniya-⁽ⁱ⁾ and āštaya-^(ti) are separated here on semantic grounds (see under the respective Lemmata). CLuw. ašta-, governed by the verb piunni ‘we give’, fits better into the preserved context under the assumption that it means ‘penance, compensation’ than it would if denoting an ‘(act of witchcraft)’. In addition, this agrees well with the single spelling of initial a- in aš-ta as featured in aštaniya-⁽ⁱ⁾ and aštaniyawar-/-un-  (although, admittedly aš-ta-aš in Hittite transmission shows the deficient spelling instead of expected *a-aš-ta-aš, see CLuw. āšta-).

[E.R.]

The analysis of the stem emerges only from its phonological structure, which suggests a root aš-, with short a- contrasting with the long a in āšta- ‘(an act of witchcraft)’, derived with an abstract suffix -ta- (c. or n.).

[E.R.]

1. aštaniya-⁽ⁱ⁾

2. aštaniyawar-/-un-